Like our culture, we tend to divide people into winners and losers, admiring and hating the former, looking down on the latter, constantly sizing each other up, rating each other’s bodies, hair, intelligence, clothing, talents and achievements. We likewise defraud the poor while taking care of ourselves, and yet the Gospel this weekend shows us a way to be prudent and win even while losing.
But, as we do these comparisons and divisions, we vacillate between feeling depressed and belittled when others outscore us, or inflated and pompous when we appear superior to them. And this becomes ever more difficult to overcome as we become more obsessed with our need to stand out, be special, to sit above, to make a mark for ourselves. We live in a chronic, inchoate jealousy where the talents of others are perennially perceived as a threat to us. This keeps us both anxious and less than faithful to our Christian faith.
Our Christian faith invites us not to compare ourselves with others, to not make efforts to stand out, and to not let ourselves be threatened by and jealous of other’s gifts. Our faith invites us to join a circle of life with those who believe that there is no need to stand out or be special, and who believe that other people’s gifts are not a threat, but rather something which enriches all lives, our own included.
When we divide people into winners and losers, then our talents and gifts become sources of envy and weapons of competition and superiority. This is true not just for individuals but for nations as well.
One of these competitive slogans within our culture tells us: Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser! Well, seen in this light, Jesus was a loser. People were shaking their heads at his death, and there was no championship ring on his finger. He didn’t look good in the world’s eyes. A loser!
But, in his underachieving we all achieved salvation. Somewhere there’s a lesson there!