25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

It is not easy to build a relationship or gain friendship. It takes time for a relationship and friendship to become strong and mature. However, there are two attitudes which can destroy relationship and friendship. What are the two attitudes? They are jealousy and ambition, as they can cause soured relationships, rifts and disharmony. As St. James warns us in the second reading: "Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done..."

Relationships and friendships breakdown, deteriorate or even disintegrate because we develop feelings of jealousy against one another, and this is often fueled by ambition for power and status. What is the cause of jealousy and ambition? St. James in today’s second reading gives us a clue: "Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it; so you are prepared to kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force." Moreover, in today's gospel, we see the disciples of Jesus fighting among themselves over the issue of power. They were arguing over which of them was the greatest.

Why do we need to be jealous and ambitious? Why do we need to be the greatest? It is precisely because we are insecure; we are not comfortable with ourselves; we feel that we are not good enough and that others are better off than us; we feel that others threaten our status and position; and all these could lead us to become more and more jealous until we come to a point where jealousy consumes us, and we become more interested in working towards the downfall of others. Jealousy leads us to gossip and slander, and we end up wasting all our time and energies in our petty squabbles and in our scheming, instead of building God’s kingdom.

So what do we need to do to break the deadly and poisonous grip of jealousy in our lives? We need to put a stop to all the nonsense we are doing immediately, no ifs, maybes or buts. We cannot go on being jealous, as it will only lead us to our ruin. Jesus reminds us in today's Gospel: "If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all." This means we should strive towards serving with humility, we should strive to work with one another in building God’s kingdom, and we should strive towards a conversion of heart. This can come about if we pray earnestly for ourselves, for one another, and for the community. But prayer alone is not enough. We must be prepared to change our ways and heal our relationships with one another, instead of continuing to point fingers at one another and hurting each other with our words and deeds. May we let the Lord be our guide and strength, and release us from our jealousy, so that in all we do, His name be glorified.