Joke: Tom’s wife was screaming at him, “Leave! Get out of this house!!’ she ordered. As he was walking out the door she yelled, “I hope you die a slow and painful death!” he turned around and replied, “So, now you want me to stay?”

In his homily for the opening of the year of faith in our diocese, Bishop Mulvey stressed faith which is like the two sides of a coin: One side is always the unknown which is that we do not know nor understand; and the other side of it is to let go of oneself, to abandon oneself. We are invited to look at the person of Jesus Christ whose will is the will of the Father, and his self-abandonment is his total acceptance in obedience to God the Father even to the point of death, death on the cross. So, the faith that Jesus taught us is not only following the will of the Father but also living out that will as he invited us in today’s Gospel to serve our brothers and sisters with love and humble service if we wanted to be great among our brothers and sisters.

In all the services, it is either the service to the country, to the Church, to the community, to one another, to your spouse, or even to your children, we are all called to have a humble heart of service to follow the model of our Lord Jesus that Saint Mark repeated the teaching of Jesus to his disciples reported in today’s Gospel saying, “whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Humanity is called to humility. How does humanity have a heart of humility? Do we have to serve in militaries to serve the country? Do we have to be involved in many activities in the Church to serve the Church? If we can be involved in many activities in the Church, we should and ought to. Do we have to be this person or that person to be a servant to others? In all today’s readings, the Church invites humanity to turn to humility to have a humble heart of service to others.

In today’s first reading, Prophet Isaiah shows us how the promised Messiah would save mankind by sacrificing himself as the atonement for our sins when he said, “If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.” Jesus did this sacrificial service of love for us as the Suffering Servant by offering his life on the cross as an offering for our sins, interceding for us, and taking our punishment on himself. The moment that he humbly vested in himself our human flesh, he accepted his sacrifice for the sake of the salvation of the whole human race. His last whispering to God the Father on his last breath on the cross, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46) Had God the Father abandoned him or was his will to choose to die for the sake of the salvation of humanity? Jesus did die on the cross for our sins, therefore, we don’t need to do anything, just enjoy and we will inherit the kingdom of God. Is it so? I hope it is so, but it’s not so.

Listen to Saint Paul reported in today’s second reading, he reminded the Hebrew community and every one of us that, as God, Jesus vested in himself our very human flesh to become a man like all of us, except sin; and to be a mediator, the High Priest, who is sympathized with our weaknesses and to offer a fitting sacrifice to God the Father by offering himself as ransom to liberate us from the slavery of sin. Jesus liberated us from the slavery of sin, but it didn’t mean that we did not sin. We do sin, and when we habitually give in to temptations, we will become slaves to sins. In Jesus’ time, a ransom was the price paid to free someone from slavery. Sometimes, the ransomer had to offer himself or herself as a substitute for the slave. Recalling in the book of Genesis, the story of Jacob with two wives, Leah and Rachel, both are the daughters of Laban. Jacob loved Rachel because of her shape and her beauty so he agreed to work for Laban for seven years to marry Rachel. However, on the night of his wedding, Laban tricked him and gave him his other daughter Leah instead of Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel so much that he would not mind staying for seven more years to work for Laban to have Rachel. Jacob was a ransomer who worked free for fourteen years to have Rachel whom he loved; Jesus, as a ransomer, loved us so much that he even bent his back and his knees to wash the feet of his disciples. Not only bent down from his divinity to vest on himself our humanity, but he also bent his head down when he was nailed on the cross to surrender himself completely in obedience to God the Father because of his great love for us. He sacrificed himself as a ransom to wash away our original sins and to show us the way to the Father. His sacrificial offering in his humanity invites us to humility.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explained how he accomplished his mission of saving mankind from the slavery of sin by becoming the “Suffering Servant.” This suffering servant is accomplished through a single act of humility. Here, Jesus challenged his followers and challenged us to become great by serving others with a sacrificial love of humility when he said, “Whoever wishes to be great must be a servant.” Jesus commanded us to liberate others as he freed all of us, by rendering them love and humble service. He came to show us the way of doing service to our brothers and sisters with humility. How do we follow his model of doing service to others? There are at least two possible ways of doing service to others that we often ought to choose either doing service to others with a condition or doing service to others without any condition. Have we come to serve one another with a condition entailed or do we come to serve one another without any condition attached? Jesus unconditionally sacrificed himself to become a humble servant to save us from the slavery of sin, how would we become a humble servant in following the Lord Jesus to bring peace, happiness, and joy to others? A humble servant sacrifices unconditionally for others to be great among all. Your decision is a request.