Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 25, 2024 : Remembering St. James
2 Corinthians 4: 7-15; Matthew 20: 20-28 

Feast of any Apostle could remind us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless, the gift that they are and the blessings that they possess, surpass everything, as God's power and might is revealed in them. 

Feast of St. James, with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today, reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching to it, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find every time that Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with a discourse on servant leadership (for instance, as we see in Mtt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). 

James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant! Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did: James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself, and shed his blood just like his Master (Acts 12:2). As first Bishop of Jerusalem, he has indeed been a tremendous custodian of the people of God. 

Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!