25th Sunday: Jealousy will undermine us

September 22, 2018

What would happen if you were feed two-year old boys baby like this?

You give one spoon of baby food to little Paul. You then do the same for little Michael.
You then give one spoon of baby food to little Paul. You then, again, do the same for little Michael.
You then give two spoons of baby food to little Paul. You don’t do the same for little Michael.

What would happen? Would little Michael turn to little Paul, beaming at little Paul’s good fortune or would there be an explosion? My guess; explosion! Doesn’t unequal treatment violate some primal sense of fairness? There is a connection between our need to fight for survival and our propensity to take more than we need. A necessary instinct can develop into an evil and dangerous desire and way of life. The psychiatrist would say that we are hard-wired to expect our share and rejoice when we get ahead of another. We are hard-wired to respond with jealousy when our ambitions are thwarted. The theologian would call it a sign of original sin.

James: The logic of jealousy and ambition

We see the effects of original sin everywhere. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans observed

“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want.” Rom. 7:19.

St. James, in the second reading, expresses the same understanding:

“Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain…” James 3-4

The marks of original sin are the rule of jealousy and ambition in our preoccupations. The prevalence of these tendencies, rooted deep in our being, suggests that we cannot overcome our darker inclinations by ourselves. Our Savior leads us out of the cul-de-sac of our own self-concern. We need a goal outside ourselves to be saved. Jesus does not give us a recipe for being more successful or more powerful. He does teach us to serve the weakest among us.

Jesus and the Gospel: The role of children

The irony of the Gospel is that while Jesus is teaching his disciples about his own crucifixion and resurrection, they are arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. They weren’t listening. How do you know this story is true? Because the apostles tell it about themselves.

“Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Mk. 9:36-37

Who are the people in your life that have had the greatest influence, for the good, on you? Mick Jagger or any president? Most likely someone who received you, cared for you, provided for you and taught you? Children have always been powerless. In the first century, a parent could sell their child into slavery. No one would blink at using children in the most abominable way. Our current struggles are not the result of the 1960’s but are the perennial plight of children throughout all times and in all places. To be the servant of the least, in God’s world, is to be the greatest.

When is jealousy and ambition sin-filled

Christ and his cross refuse the power of self-preservation at all costs. He trusted, instead, the goodness of God. Underneath jealousy, ambition, child abuse and murder is the bottomless pit of death and hell. Jesus entrusted his future into the hands of God and on the third day he rose from the dead. St. James' explains the emptiness that jealousy and ambition can hide:

“You covet but do not possess. ... You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” James 4:3

There is a role for a healthy ambition that rises to challenges and directs our talents in service of others. That same instinct however, if wrongfully directed, will be our undoing. St. James teaches that the cure for our disordered desires is prayer. Prayer places us in the world of the covenant with God, the Giver, and gives us a goal in life that transcends our seizing on success on our terms as the goal of our life. Jealousy and ambition that undermine another’s true good, is sinful because it is the opposite of love.

Focusing on our good and the good of others

As we grow we don’t leave our past behind. We just add layer upon layer to ourselves. Little Michael and little Paul are buried in each of us. The joy at getting more than we need and anger when others do the same nags at everyone. Our experience helps us to understand our past and to make choices that enable us to develop our nature towards a transcendent goal, union with God. That goal cannot be obtained through selfish self-concern. To the extent we have grown up, we do so, in part, by learning to control our jealousy and focusing our ambitions in a positive direction. We grow by embracing the least powerful among us and by refusing to buy into the logic of jealousy and ambition.