Reflecting on the readings for today reminded me of something said by Dr. Tricia B. Bent-Goodley, Ph.D., this year’s keynote speaker at the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Prayer Luncheon.  Quoting from a sermon given by Reverend King Jr. called The Drum Major Instinct, she reminded us that too often we spend our lives chasing “shallow things, awards, recognition, and praise instead of what truly matters. 

“...If you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice.  Say that I was a drum major for peace.  I was a drum major for righteousness.  And all the other shallow things will not matter.” Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georiga, February 4, 1968.

In today’s gospel, Jesus takes the disciples aside and tells them he is going to die a horrible death.  These twelve are his closest companions.  He shares everything with them.  They have stood witness to healings, teachings, how to embrace one’s enemies, and that God is a loving father.  They break bread with Jesus every day, and they are his family.  I wonder what sort of response he expected.   

If I shared similar news with my family, I hope they would respond with expressions of sympathy and concern, asking how they could help. Nothing in the reading indicates the disciples expressed empathy or sadness over the impending loss of their teacher.  Were his words too shocking for them to absorb?  We only hear that the mother of James and John comes to Jesus, saying she is “wishing to ask him something.”  Jesus’ reply is gracious and loving, “What do you wish?”  She proceeds to ask Jesus to allow her sons to sit one on his right, the other on his left in his kingdom.  Wow!  Talk about being focused on “shallow things.”

We do not know Jesus’ inner response to this request.  Perhaps it was similar to Jeremiah’s plea to God found in today’s first reading.  Did Jesus silently cry out to his Father, “Here I am, Father, laboring on their behalf, offering all that I am.  These are my beloved friends and family, the people that should know me.  I just told them I am going to die, but they are still focused on things of this life (shallow things), rather than on You.  Will they ever open their hearts, minds, and eyes to see what is most important?  When will they learn?”

Here we are, some two thousand years later, and it seems we have not yet learned where to direct our focus.  If we had, there would not be a need for leaders like Dr. King, Jr. to remind us we should not be drawn to “shallow things.”  For me, this sounds very much like St. Ignatius of Loyola’s teaching on disordered attachments, which is anything that we put ahead of our relationship with God.  Fortunately, we have resources available to us, such as the Daily Examen, that can help us identify our disordered attachments or the “shallow things” that draw us away from God.    

Although we persist in seeking “shallow things,” we can remind ourselves God is loving, kind, and always laboring for our good.  During the season of Lent, we can choose to slow down.  We can sit with Jesus, share everything with Him, and ask for help to turn away from our disordered attachments.  Like the Psalmist, we can trust in God’s mercy and God’s desire to draw us back to Him, leaving behind our desire for “shallow things.” 

“But my trust is in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ In your hands is my destiny;” Ps 31:14-15