Playing Second Fiddle

It's said that the hardest instrument to play is second fiddle. I thought of that old adage this morning as I read Saint Jude's letter.

I noticed that Jude never mentions the fact that he was Jesus' brother, though clearly he was a sibling (1Corinthians 9:5). (Our Catholic friends regard him as Jesus' older half-brother, Joseph's son by a prior marriage.) 

Jude describes himself as a "bond servant" of Jesus and "the brother of James," who was Jesus' brother, but he never mentions the fact that he was part of the family. Not even once—unlike Diotrephes, a contemporary Church leader "who loved to be first" (3John 9,10), and who went on to achieve prominence in the worst sort of way. He became a heretical gnostic bishop.

It’s hard to be overlooked and undervalued—when someone gets the credit for something we've done, or someone less qualified gains prominence and is promoted over us. We're told that Jesus honors those who "take" the lower seat, but we do get our knickers in a twist when someone gives it to us.

Those are the days that we have to look to Jesus, who was himself "despised and rejected," and ask him for the grace to stay at our post and carry on—joyfully, dutifully—and to do so out of our love for him. It's not easy, but that's how we learn to play second fiddle. 

David Roper

12.8.18