29.05.2024 – St Patrick Catholic Church, Largo, FL

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Self-giving and discipleship

1Peter 1:18-25, Psalm 147, Mark 10:32-45

In Mark´s gospel, Jesus predicts his passion and death three times, and each time, at least one of the disciples just doesn’t get it. (cf. Mk 8:27-33, 9:30-34 and 10:32-34). Today´s gospel reading is located in the context of Jesus´ third prediction. It is the most graphic of the three predictions. Jesus details how the Gentiles will “mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”

Today´s gospel tells us one of the several clashes of misunderstanding and values between Jesus and his disciples, as they journeyed toward Jerusalem. Jesus and his disciples are clearly on different wavelengths, as is clear from the different kinds of questions they ask each other. While Jesus is telling them how he will give his life as a ransom for many; how he will be crucified; how he will undergo suffering etc; James and John are scheming for power and authority. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand, one at your left, in your glory” (v. 37).

What James and John ask for has to do with glory, honour and status. What Jesus asks them is whether they are ready to share in the rejection and suffering that lies ahead for him. “Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I must be baptized?” This was referring to the cup of suffering and the baptism of fire. What James and John wanted was self-promotion. What Jesus asks for is self-giving. At the heart of discipleship is the giving of unselfish love, becoming the servant of others. In the end, it involves the way of the cross, as Jesus knew from experience.

Jesus uses the situation as an opportunity to teach all the disciples once again what it means for them to be his followers. After telling them that the positions of importance are to be given only by the Father, he uses the desire of James and John to be exalted as an opportunity to explain what true exaltation is. They wanted to be the leaders in the new Israel that Jesus would establish after his resurrection, but they were still thinking like everyone else did at that time. They sought to obtain power and authority, but Jesus promoted another style of leadership. His life was an example of service to all of humanity, and that was supposed to be the model for them. Jesus was exalted above all others precisely because he was willing to lower himself beneath all others (Philippians 2:6-11). Therefore, in the kingdom Jesus wants to establish, importance is determined through service. Unlike society in general, where leaders bask in their importance and power, the leaders of the Christian community are to be humble servants of all. Just as Jesus redeemed the world by giving up his very life, so too must they be willing to reject what this world considers important in order to serve others.

Jesus’ message continues to be a challenge. Our world still considers power and importance to be the ultimate goal in life. The rich and the powerful are looked up to and envied, and they determine the course of society, usually to their own benefit. Sometimes that attitude even affects (or should one say “infects”) our Churches. But Jesus calls us to another form of leadership. Just like James and John, Christians today are supposed to be of service to others, not have others serve us. In the Christian community, leadership is for the sake of others, not for our own glory or satisfaction. Moreover, the Church as a whole is called to be a model of that to the world, both within itself and in relationship to society. Those who lead in the Church, at all levels, must serve all, and the Church as a whole must adopt the same role within society.

When we serve others in the Church and serve the larger community outside of the Church, we demonstrate that there is another way to live, one that is not motivated by what benefits us but by what benefits others. James and John, and all of us, are called to join the one who did not come to be served but to serve, whose purpose in life was not self-promotion but to empty himself for others. It is only in following this way that we will receive that share in Jesus’ glory that was the focus of James and John’s request.