May Christ Jesus our divine model of service, give you all the necessary graces
and strength you need to serve humanity this Sunday and the rest of the week.
and strength you need to serve humanity this Sunday and the rest of the week.
Happy Sunday!
+John Okoye
DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Isaiah 53, 2.3.10-11; Hebrew 4, 14-16; Mark 10, 35-45; 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B)
The episode of today’s gospel follows the third announcement of his passion and death by Jesus. After each announcement, Jesus gives a catechesis that goes to correct some false idea about his mission as the God sent Messiah. After the third announcement he emphasizes that the principle of greatness is in serving other people, and therefore, whoever wishes to be the first must be the servant of all.
The gospel reading of today shows the apostles James and John’s who requested that Jesus should do them a favour. In his benevolence and amicability Jesus gently asked: what would you want me do for you? They replied: Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory. What they really mean is to have posts of absolute privilege of power in the kingdom that Jesus came to establish. Is this not fully fledged presumption and lack of perception? Indeed, they have not understood what Jesus said before: Jesus was speaking of the imminent passion and death he was about to undergo and they were not thinking of any other thing but having posts of honour in his glory, and first places in his kingdom. Jesus tried to dissuade them to drop their day-dreaming and make them aware of the raw reality that awaited him in Jerusalem. He asked them, using several metaphors, whether they would be ready to undergo the sort of suffering and humiliation that awaited him in Jerusalem. They answered in the affirmative: We can! What a presumption! What they were actually saying was that they wanted to undergo the type of suffering of Jesus, by their own strength, without the help of God. Jesus then confirmed that they would suffer martyrdom and shed their blood for his sake but as for taking the places of honour in the kingdom of the Father, Jesus indicated that it was under the competence of God the Father. It is the gift of God, the special privilege of God the Father. It is not merited by anybody and no one should pretend to lay claim to it.
One would have wished that the other disciples would be more reasonable. They were angry when they heard what the two disciples did. Why were they angry? Were they ashamed of what the other apostles did or was it out of envy that they hid some inordinate ambition, like that of James and John? It is to be seen how difficult it were for James and John and the rest of the disciples to understand the logic of Jesus and the plan of God. They were still thinking according to human logic, in terms of personal interests, success and glory, even though they have been in the company of Jesus for some time. They did not actually know him and were ignorant of his mission as the suffering Messiah. They were not the only ones that have not understood the mission of Christ. A lot of us, who profess the Christian faith, do not know Christ nor do we understand his mission. Christ came into the world with a single motive, to take us back to God. For him to do so, we have to be faithful disciples, who can boast of knowing him and who have imbibed his attitude. He gave up his Godhead to become man in order to serve man. He hung on the cross as the maximum way to demonstrate his service to us. But most of us are following the examples of James and John to look for glory and honour, to enjoy the privileges of the children of the kingdom. If Christ is really our master and we are his disciples, let us tow his path, which is a mission of service to the needy neighbour, even when it will entails our giving up our lives in it.
In our gospel reading of today’s Sunday, Jesus went on to say: Whoever wishes to be great among you, will have to be your servant and who wishes to be the first shall be the servant of all. He then used himself as an example: The son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He gave his life to be immolated for the salvation of mankind. Thus one can see the Christian/gospel perspective of power: Power is meant to render disinterested service to others, a sort of donating and spending oneself for the benefit of the other and when necessary to give up one’s life for the other. May we apply this Christian and gospel perspective of power in our families, places of work and our Christian communities and see how beautiful our lives would be.
The gospel reading of today shows the apostles James and John’s who requested that Jesus should do them a favour. In his benevolence and amicability Jesus gently asked: what would you want me do for you? They replied: Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory. What they really mean is to have posts of absolute privilege of power in the kingdom that Jesus came to establish. Is this not fully fledged presumption and lack of perception? Indeed, they have not understood what Jesus said before: Jesus was speaking of the imminent passion and death he was about to undergo and they were not thinking of any other thing but having posts of honour in his glory, and first places in his kingdom. Jesus tried to dissuade them to drop their day-dreaming and make them aware of the raw reality that awaited him in Jerusalem. He asked them, using several metaphors, whether they would be ready to undergo the sort of suffering and humiliation that awaited him in Jerusalem. They answered in the affirmative: We can! What a presumption! What they were actually saying was that they wanted to undergo the type of suffering of Jesus, by their own strength, without the help of God. Jesus then confirmed that they would suffer martyrdom and shed their blood for his sake but as for taking the places of honour in the kingdom of the Father, Jesus indicated that it was under the competence of God the Father. It is the gift of God, the special privilege of God the Father. It is not merited by anybody and no one should pretend to lay claim to it.
One would have wished that the other disciples would be more reasonable. They were angry when they heard what the two disciples did. Why were they angry? Were they ashamed of what the other apostles did or was it out of envy that they hid some inordinate ambition, like that of James and John? It is to be seen how difficult it were for James and John and the rest of the disciples to understand the logic of Jesus and the plan of God. They were still thinking according to human logic, in terms of personal interests, success and glory, even though they have been in the company of Jesus for some time. They did not actually know him and were ignorant of his mission as the suffering Messiah. They were not the only ones that have not understood the mission of Christ. A lot of us, who profess the Christian faith, do not know Christ nor do we understand his mission. Christ came into the world with a single motive, to take us back to God. For him to do so, we have to be faithful disciples, who can boast of knowing him and who have imbibed his attitude. He gave up his Godhead to become man in order to serve man. He hung on the cross as the maximum way to demonstrate his service to us. But most of us are following the examples of James and John to look for glory and honour, to enjoy the privileges of the children of the kingdom. If Christ is really our master and we are his disciples, let us tow his path, which is a mission of service to the needy neighbour, even when it will entails our giving up our lives in it.
In our gospel reading of today’s Sunday, Jesus went on to say: Whoever wishes to be great among you, will have to be your servant and who wishes to be the first shall be the servant of all. He then used himself as an example: The son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He gave his life to be immolated for the salvation of mankind. Thus one can see the Christian/gospel perspective of power: Power is meant to render disinterested service to others, a sort of donating and spending oneself for the benefit of the other and when necessary to give up one’s life for the other. May we apply this Christian and gospel perspective of power in our families, places of work and our Christian communities and see how beautiful our lives would be.
As Jesus is the divine model of service to the neighbor, who came to serve and give his very life up, we therefore need to cling to him as the second reading enjoins us: We have to maintain our faith in him (Jesus). He is the one who will help us transform our quest for raw power, that humiliates our neighbor into power for service that will make us, following his example, give up our lives for the sake of the people whom we serve. +John I. Okoye.
No comments:
Post a Comment