The greatest a servant

A reflection on the Gospel According to Matthew 23:1-12.

Transcript

00:00 Jesus says in the Sunday Gospel, "The greatest among you must be your servant."

00:08 Why is that? I'm going to use an example that some of you might think is silly,

00:14 but I really like it. It's from the movie Babe, which, yes, is about a talking pig,

00:19 but at least he talks to other animals. But it's really a very deep movie

00:25 because it's about communication. It's about not judging others, and it's about community.

00:32 And at one point, this pig, who has great talents, so much so that he's going to serve

00:39 as a kind of a sheepdog for his master, who has a sheep ranch,

00:48 he is told by the cat what pigs are really for. And the pig had no idea.

00:56 And the cat tells him, "Pigs are just to be eaten." And when he hears this,

01:03 he loses all of his desire for life, and he gets lost, and he almost dies in a rainstorm.

01:12 But the master, the rancher, rescues him and brings him back, but the pig won't eat.

01:21 The pig just wants to languish and fade away, because what's worth living

01:27 if you're only living to be eaten? And what does the rancher do?

01:32 He takes the pig, puts a pillow on his lap, puts the pig on the pillow,

01:37 and he starts to feed the pig, I guess, vitamins or something, from a baby bottle.

01:43 And at one point, when the rancher gets up to refill the bottle,

01:48 suddenly the little pig is there, not there anymore, babe.

01:52 The pig is out eating his supper heartily. What has saved him?

01:58 Being served by one who is greater. The love that we are looking for in our life

02:05 is best shown in the service that we give to one another, when we serve in a humble,

02:13 generous way, out of an awe and a gratitude for the greatness which is the other, which is you.

02:24 So if we have sadness in our life, if we have depression in our life,

02:27 if there are things of, if we have great feelings of loss,

02:30 and there are things that really get in our way,

02:32 one of the best ways that we can regain our desire to live is by serving another.

02:40 And of course, that's what the Eucharist is all about.

02:43 And when we enter into that mystery, it's amazing the miracles that can happen.

02:49 [Silence]