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Being the oldest of many children provided me with the opportunity to do a lot of (free) baby-sitting. When my parents took a rare night off or mom had to run to the store in the middle of the day or take someone to the doctor, these were all times I would be drafted to hold down the fort and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to until one or both of the parental units returned to resume control. Now, I’m not going to pretend I was always a benevolent sitter. I, like many oldest siblings, would sometimes turn to threats, martial, and scorched-earth policies in the hopes of maintaining order. Sometimes this came from a place of laziness or arrogance. Other times, it was in the interest of self-preservation. A horde of younger siblings can sense weakness and self-doubt like a shark senses blood in the water. If you don’t immediately maintain order and control, they will band together and turn the house into a modern-day French revolution. If that happens, the parents might return to nothing more than your bleached bones and full anarchy.
As a young person, that was my first real practice of authority. And it taught me a lesson we’ve all learned one way or the other: we humans struggle with authority! I can’t count how many times I would tell a sibling to do some task required by mom and dad but was told: “you’re not the boss of me! Have you ever noticed how quickly a young child learns how to say the word “no”? And it’s not just children either. How many of us like to be told what to do? Ever since Adam and Eve, we haven’t been great at obedience. Sin has placed a resistance within us to authority, even when that authority is legitimate and in our best interests. We all want to be our own master in some way, shape, or form. But no matter how strong, successful, powerful, or independent we are, we all serve someone, something.
The readings today challenge the fantasy of total autonomy and force us to acknowledge who or what we serve. Joshua gathers the tribes of Israel and recounts the saving work of God throughout history. It wasn’t always clear how the Lord would save his people, it certainly wasn’t always easy, popular, or without sacrifice. But in the end, those who served the God of Moses and Abraham were vindicated and rewarded. Joshua called on the people to make their decision once again and to make it freely and deliberately. He didn’t ask whether or not they wanted to serve a god; the question is what god they will decide to serve. Joshua’s statement of faith and obedience is beautiful, so beautiful that it is often displayed in the homes of many families, thousands of years later. He says, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Encouraged by his humility and conviction, the people of Israel promised to serve the Lord with renewed faith and trust.
This theme of obedience and service is also at work in our second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians. Most priests avoid this reading like the plague because the phrase, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord” always stirs up angry looks and sore ribs among married couples. But this reading never was meant to aggravate the power struggle introduced by sin between men and women, husbands and wives. This reading is meant to change the argument completely from who has the power, who is charge to whom will you serve? St. Paul tells the Ephesians, and us, that marriage is meant to be a sign of the relationship which exists between Christ and his bride, the Church. Just as Jesus came, not to be served but to serve. Just as Jesus told God the Father during his agony in the Garden that he wanted “not his own will but his Father's to be done.” So too with married couples. You are supposed to enter into marriage in order to serve your spouse...and not the other way around. Both husband and wife are called to lay down their lives, their wills, even personal ambition in order to promote the happiness and holiness of their spouse. It is never about who is right, who has the power, or who has the final say. This is a very lofty view of married life but it is the ideal Christians strive for.
Finally, we have the gospel. Jesus has just finished his teaching on the Bread of Life, which is his own Body and Blood. It is a difficult teaching, so difficult and challenging, that many of Christ’s followers leave him that day and never return. They were willing to follow him until that point but then it became too much, too difficult. Notice what Jesus doesn’t do! He does not go back to the huge group leaving him and say, “sorry guys for what I said, I didn’t really mean it!” He doesn’t try and water down his teaching or make it easier to stomach. He simply turns to the apostles and says, "Do you also want to leave?" St. Peter speaks on behalf of all twelve when he wisely answers, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Even though it is difficult, the apostles decided to serve Christ and obey his teaching, Even though many others walked away, they stayed and served and God took care of them.
We for our part, need to ask ourselves: who it is we serve. Maybe especially so for us who are cradle Catholics and had our faith handed to us as small children. Do we intentionally serve the Lord? Even when his teachings are difficult? Even when we don’t quite understand? Even when his teachings are unpopular? Or judged by the “wise” of the world to be irrelevant or outdated? Do we serve the Lord AND see obedience to the Catholic Church as part of following him?
Or do we serve ourselves? Our own egos, our own ambitions, our own comfort zones, our own laziness, our own selfishness? Do we serve God or do we serve the opinions and approval of others?
Whether we like it or not, we all must serve someone or something. And that choice must be made over and over again; not just once. Every day we wake up, we are given the opportunity to choose: will we serve God or someone, something else. May we decide wisely like Joshua and the Apostles, “that as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
