It Is Our Duty
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 11, 2022
- 3 min read
To be Catholic, to follow Jesus does not come without responsabilities. There are obligations and duties that come with following Christ. We are called to carry out our duty quiety, hidden without our complaint. The ultimate symbol of this duty is the cross. Jesus did the will of his Father, mounted the cross, and died for us. He did that not for adulation but because it was his duty. It is our duty to follow him: to follow him all the way to the cross if that is what is asked of us. As we read the Gospel let us ask for the courage to do our duty.
Some Sayings of Jesus
“Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17 : 7-10
Scriptural Analysis
Jesus, continuing his teachings, offers a short parable where he asks the listeners to compare themselves to a master in relation to a servant. The servant returns at mealtime from working in the field all day. They are most certainly tired and hungry. However, the master is thinking more about t own hunger than the well-being of the servant. Instead of inviting the servant to sit at the table, would not the master instruct the servant to get him food? The master would and what’s more, he shows no gratitude for the servant doing as he is told. The master expects the servant to do his job and carry out what was commanded.
Jesus now flips the narrative and identifies the apostles with the servant, not the master. The Apostles were thinking that they were to be men of importance and have a place of prominence. Jesus, however, is telling them that they need to carry out what they have been commanded and to do without complaint or a sense of entitlement. He is trying to teach them that to follow him does not mean to be served but to serve with complete humility.
Daily Application
Watching a NFL football game I was struck with how much celebration occured during the game. It felt like everytime someone made a tackle or caught a pass, they celebrated. These weren’t plays to win the game in the final 10 seconds. This behaviour occured right from the getgo, in the first quarter. I thought that making those routine plays was their job, was their duty.
We live in a culture where duty has become less and less important. Why is that? What is duty? The dictionary defines duty as a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility. It is no wonder that the idea of duty has been shoved asside. The idea of objective morality has been pushed asside. Each person has “my truth” and that can be different for each and every person. In such a worldview, duty becomes a nonsensical concept. When you define for yourself what is right then you also decide what you have to do. there is no objecitve expectation of behavior.
This worldview is not of God. God has revealed truth to us and that truth is a person, Jesus Christ. Through his word we have been given our moral obligations, our responsabilites, or duty. We are to carry out our duty even when there is noone around to praise us or give us adulation. We are to carry out our duty when it gets hard and it will get hard. In fact Jesus tells us that to follow him, to carry out our duty we must, “deny oursleves and take up our cross daily and follow him.” (Luke 9:23) The duty of the Christian is to embrace the cross with humility.
A life lived doing one’s duty is not flashy. It most likely will not win us fame and fortune. It will require sacrafice and hardship. However, what we stand to gain is far greater than anything we may give up. Doing our duty, doing what Christ has commanded of us will lead us to him, not only in this life but in the life to come. That is worth every sacrafice we can possibley imagine.
Comments