29th Ordinary Sunday (B)                                                                                            Mk 10:35-45

There is a story of a man who was stranded alone on a small Pacific island for many years. When some finally came to rescue him they noticed there were three straw huts on the island. Curiously, they asked him why the three huts? “Well, one is my house and the other is my church,” said the man. “But what about the third hut,” they said. “Oh, that’s the church I used to belong to!” — the moral of the story: — some people just can’t be satisfied.

We could apply this concept to the apostles James and John, sons of Zebedee whom Jesus surnamed ‘the sons of thunder’ these brothers were hand picked by Jesus the very person they believed to be the Messiah, the Christ. However, the kingdom that this Messiah brings is spiritual, not political or military. But this was not understood by the Jews of that time including the apostles. Pride enters into these two great saints, enforced by their mother, they are not satisfied even with all the teaching, all the miracles Jesus has shown them including the event that they personally witnessed as he was transfigured before them into his glory, as his divinity came from him like the sun. But their pride tempts them to ask the Lord for the greatest places in his kingdom next to him. This is a human desire, a short sighted human need that completely ignores the humility and love of others that Jesus has tried to teach them since they were chosen. 

His response to them is gentle and caring, “you do not understand what you are asking.” A reaction similar to how he pities his crucifiers “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  In the verses just ahead of this passage Jesus tells them again how the chief priests and the scribes will condemn him to death, but it has fallen on deaf ears. Unfortunately, they are blinded to the reality of what is about to happen. Then he asks James & John if they are ready to accept the cup he is about to drink, although Jesus is innocent and pure, he accepts the cup of suffering and death as his baptism; the word baptism here is symbolic of immersion in trial and suffering as stated in the Hebrew Scriptures. You and I, on the other hand, realize the gravity of his words. We know how Jesus was severely scourged, slapped, spit upon, pierced with thorns, and nailed to a tree. This is his baptism, this is the cup he drinks. Without totally realizing what they are accepting, the sons of thunder assure him they are able. Then Jesus says, “The cup that I drink, you will drink; and with the baptism which I am baptized, you will be baptized.”

When the other apostles become indignant with James and John, Jesus proceeds to teach all his disciples that we must not strive for worldly power. Worldly power, in any form, has no meaning for us. Because when we stand face to face with our divine judge power will be useless in our judgment, Jesus doesn’t care who we know, or how wealthy we are. What will count is our service to others, our actions as servant. Jesus connects this idea with his own suffering and shows us that in Christian life service is connected to suffering. For three reasons they go hand in hand. First, service always involves suffering because you can’t help another without some sacrifice on your part. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their sacrifices as an aid to others by uniting it to his own suffering, —as the Christian saying goes: “offer it up.” And finally, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us by concentrating on the needs of others rather than on our own needs. We can heighten these virtues through prayer; because Jesus reminds us “without me you can do nothing.” That, my friends, is the teaching of Jesus. That is what Jesus tried to teach his apostles and through them all of us. The prayer is a translation of the teachings of Jesus  into words that instill in us the zeal to live them. God is love and from love comes the gift of mercy and forgiveness.

Those of us who have known St. John Paul II, have seen a perfect example of this lesson . At the end of his days this holy father, the pope, showed us on a daily basis how to unite suffering to service. He who served the Lord, as the Vicar of Christ, who prayed unceasingly to our Blessed Mother and was the servant of the servants of God. He continued to serve as he suffered arthritis and Parkinson’s disease which ultimately led to his death. This holy man was a witness to the teachings of Christ right to the end. I have learned, as a cancer survivor, that it is a true grace when we are allowed to suffer with Jesus and continue with his work. And this grace gives us a confidence that we will receive mercy and forgiveness from him. Each of us must ask: are we accepting our suffering and sharing with Christ? Are we living as servants of Christ? Do we share the love of God with all those who show us the mercy and forgiveness that he shows to us? 

Let us pray: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is error, truth; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”  Amen.