Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 388

“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!

The Scottish philosopher, John Macmurray described three levels of being as mechanical, organic, and personal. We do not know how the Universe came to be although we can study, research, and speak endlessly of its material existence. 

Nor do we know how the organic developed out of the chemicals of a material universe. As I understand, even if scientists figure out how to manipulate the right chemicals into living cells, they would not know if that's how it happened a billion or more years ago. 

And finally, some people become fully human -- that is, persons -- with an awareness of their divine nature. We're still trying to figure out how that happens; and are often disappointed. Some, it seems, never get there; while others attain it and then fall back into a pointless existence of mindless reactions to appetite and desire, fear and sadness, pain and pleasure. 

Jesus, the man who is entirely human and completely divine, first reveals what it means to be human, and then leads us by his Holy Spirit toward that blessed achievement. It's not easy; it's not supposed to be easy. He has shown us that by his birth in poverty, his homelessness, and his death in agony. And yet, upon his death, his executioner declared, "Truly this was the Son of God." 

No one else can be the Son of God, as he said, "...there is no slave above his master.' And yet we can and must become like him, for he is the Way to Truth and Life. 

Oddly, that Way lies in our own becoming more human, and not less so. Adam and Eve foolishly aspired to be like God, and their children have followed them. As Saint Paul said, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That divine aspiration -- to be all powerful, all wise, supremely beautiful, and to live forever -- is our undoing. 

In the imitation of Christ, we aspire to be ourselves, human beings made from the dust of the earth. 

Fully human beings recognize their Lord and Savior, and that they can neither rule nor save themselves. They're not unhappy with that. Serving the master, they become like the Master, and have no desire to replace or displace him. Should their accomplishment of becoming fully human be recognized, they direct that attention to the Master: 

"He must increase and I must decrease."