Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Competition seems to be part and parcel in our lives these days. Maybe it starts as siblings. I imagine that those of you who have brothers and sisters have argued about who is mom and/or dad’s favorite, who’s the smartest, most athletic, etc. I am, in case you were wondering. We have competitions in schools to attend the most days and get the highest grades. Sports are über competitive, with people vying for the top spot and the starting position. The arts are similar, as musicians vie for first chair or the lead in the play or musical.
Hyper-competitiveness can be a problem. It can lead to cheating, or doing anything to get that top spot. It can create the mentality that if you’re not a winner, then you’re a loser, which is not true. Of course, sometimes we go to the opposite extreme and try to eliminate all competition. We give everybody a trophy, whether they were first or last. In my Italian classes in Rome when I was doing a study abroad, the director of the program was so afraid of competition that instead of calling the Italian classes Italian A and B, or Italian 1 and 2, based upon the language proficiency of the students in two groups, our two classes were called Italian A and Italian 1, to make sure that it didn’t seem like one group was smarter than the other.
Jesus seems to support the lack of competition in the Gospel today, and St. James in the epistle backs Jesus up. Jesus gives silent chastisement (maybe all Jesus had to do was give “the look” that parents are so good at giving) when he asks the disciples what they were arguing about as they walked. And He instructs them that to be the greatest, they have to be the last and the servant of all. And St. James talk about the exterior conflicts come from the interior conflicts, from jealousy and selfish ambition.
But if we give more than just a passing glance, Jesus is not condemning competition. He is just asking for a conversion of competition. Jesus doesn’t say, “Nobody’s first, because first doesn’t matter.” He says, “‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last and the servant of all.’” Jesus teaches that we should compete for being the greatest servant, because the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who is looked upon as the least in the eyes of the world. We could even broaden what Jesus says and say that, if we are competing about anything, we should compete about being saints, about being followers of Jesus. Not that we compete about who has the most power or authority, but that we compete about living life in accord with what Jesus taught in our different vocations and avocations in life. Imagine if the thing we competed for the most was the eternal prize, the trophy of being in heaven with God, which we won through giving our all to be like Jesus as a priest, consecrated man or woman, husband or wife, father or mother, child, and classmate. Imagine if we converted our view of success so that, we weren’t concerned first and foremost with getting the best job that pays the most and has the most power and prestige, but instead if we were working with all of who we are to use our gifts and talents that God has given us to further the kingdom of God. We may still be in the same job, but it wouldn’t be about getting the title, but rather about doing all we can to share our talents for the betterment of our city, church, State, and country.
Competition is not bad. But like all things in life, it has to be converted according to the pattern of Jesus. If we compete to get the most publicity, the most honor, the most money, then St. James will continue to be right and we will continue to have wars and conflicts among each other. Instead, if we compete to be saints, to be the best servants of the church and the building up of society in justice, truth, and integrity, then many of the wars would probably cease, and our cities would be better instances of how living according to the Gospel is the means of happiness for all people.
