He took the harder road so that when my road was hard, I would know that I was following the footsteps of nobody less than my God.
My mother used to say, “Jealousy is a curse.”
And I grew up during the course of my life to feel a certain type of revulsion to jealousy of any kind.
Jealousy or envy, is in fact one of the Cardinal Sins. It is very strongly connected to the sin of Pride. When Lucifer decided to rebel against the Will of God and was cast into Hell when the Angels were tested at the beginning of time, he was too proud to accept God’s Will because – according to the revelations made to the Spanish Medieval nun, Venerable Maria Agreda – he was jealous of the plan for the Blessed Virgin to be Queen of Heaven.
In other words, the Evil One became the evil one because he did not wish to see someone do any better than him. He wanted to be the best and considered the best. He wanted to be first – and not last – in Heaven…
When Christ came to Earth He was no king. He was the poorest of the poor. He was a migrant without a home. He was a poor man with a poor family.
When you think about that from the perspective of the world, that is a strange way for God to be born. You see, if we consider this in a purely physical way, it would make sense for God to have been born as the most powerful man in the world (by Earthly standards). He could have been born as Caesar – the emperor and dictator of all of Rome and the colonised world. In this position He could have commanded everyone to listen to His teachings. Perhaps there would have been no martyrs after His death. Maybe He would not have had to die – instead He would be revered and respected and in a position of power for as long as He wanted.
Alternatively, He could have been born into a family that was wealthy enough to provide Him with the opportunities to become a High Priest. He could have used His position of power to educate the Pharisees from within. He could have changed the world through His teachings without fighting in a public spat that landed Him in a position as a victim of political corruption and misuse of bureaucratic power, which ultimately resulted in His death.
Instead, my God was born poor. And He walked among us – the lowest and most miserable of souls. And He spoke out against the proud and the envious and the vain. And He did this for me – for my miserable soul. He took the harder road so that when my road was hard, I would know that I was following the footsteps of nobody less than my God. And I would have the Grace of being in His Shadow and His Strength. Because my God is not a God of envy. He is a God of giving…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.