13 May 2023
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesmen stands as one of the great examples of tragic drama. With only minor adaptations it could be produced alongside any of the works of Aeschylus, Euripides, or Sophocles in an amphitheater in ancient Greece. Miller’s drama touches a common nerve of all humanity, the need to be important. One of the key lines from the play occurs when Willy Loman, the protagonist of the drama, tells his son “remember Biff, it is important to be well liked.” Certainly, we cannot go through life imagining ourselves as a doormat, but an over exaggeration of our own self worth and the need to assure that supremacy over others stands as sinful if not a real annoyance. Jesus reminds us that a servant cannot have two masters and perhaps the worst master we could have would be an image of ourselves that necessitates its supremacy over others.