October 18^th 2015. 29^th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: Mark 10:35-45

(Translation of a homily by Don Fabio  Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio)

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel.

GOSPEL                                    Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus. ‘Master,’ they said to him ‘we want you to do us a favour.’ He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.’ You do not know what you are asking” .Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised’ They replied, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I must drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I must be baptised you shall be baptised, but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.’ When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John, so Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . James and John ask Jesus if they can have a special share in his glory. Jesus could have criticized them for the fact that they wish him to do their will instead of the contrary, but instead he tries to find the good intention hidden at the core of their request. Good, he replies, so you want to be with me in a special way? That’s fine, but if so then you must associate with me in the fullest sense. This fullest sense entails “drinking the chalice that I must drink”. What is the chalice that Jesus must drink? Jesus accepts the will of the Father and gives his life in the service of others. If we wish to share in Jesus’ glory then we must identify with him at the deepest level. We cannot just select to identify with him for the glory part if we have not already identified with him on the level of our entire being. This requires entering into the service of others. God is love and love entails being servants to each other. Elderly people and the unemployed sometimes feel down because they feel that they cannot be of service to others, that they do not have a sufficient useful role in society. We have a deep need to be of service to others. Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to enter into the service of others.

We ought to follow the Lord’s will, yet we pray constantly that he will do our will. Nevertheless there is often something good at the heart of even our selfish desires

The Gospel passage this Sunday follows directly after Jesus’ third announcement of his Passion. The response of the sons of Zebedee (James and John) is to make an inappropriate proposal to Jesus: they want to invert the relationship between themselves and the Lord; in other words they want him to do their will. This is a common occurrence. We ought to be following Jesus - in the Our Father we pray that his will be done - but in everyday life we want him to follow our whims. Jesus’ response is interesting. In every desire there is something good, and Jesus tries to focus on what is at the heart of the request made by James and John. It is simply not true that the human being is a complete failure whose desires must be rejected out of hand. Even in the severe Gospel text where Jesus says that we must be willing to cut off an organ rather than enter into sin, it is still only a piece  of the body that is rejected, not the whole thing. The human being is a beautiful creation. Even the absurd situation of these two guys asking for the plum jobs of Prime Minister and Minster for Foreign Affairs, so to speak, has something good at its core. To search for this hidden goodness is a constructive way of relating with others. Whenever we value the good in others we discover a ground upon which we can construct a positive relationship.

If we wish to share in Jesus’ glory then we must associate with him in the fullest sense, not just the glory part!

Jesus replies by saying, “You do not know what you are asking”. In other words, there is something good there, but you have not yet learned to focus upon it. Jesus tries to bring this good element to the surface by asking them if they are prepared to drink the chalice that he must drink and accept the baptism that he must undergo. Thus he is acknowledging their praiseworthy wish to be with him in glory but he wants them to know that this involves associating with him in the fullest sense. The brothers reply “Yes”. The fact is that each one of us wishes to be with God and we are given the possibility of being with him in glory. Even when we are trapped within ,a lifestyle of vice we nevertheless have the possibility of drinking the chalice of Jesus; in other words, acquiring the capacity to follow him. We can immerse ourselves in his life and be baptised in him. No matter what condition we happen to be in, we will never lose the potential to receive his grace. This is our greatness and our dignity.

In what does drinking the chalice of Jesus consist?

But drinking the chalice is not simply sitting at the left or right of Jesus in glory. It is the participation in the life and reality of Jesus. And what is this reality? The first reading from Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering Servant who will justify many. There is no doubt that the prophet Isaiah is speaking here of Jesus. The canticle of the Suffering Servant may not appear on the face of it to speak of a beautiful reality, but - as Jesus demonstrates to us - service is the fulfilment of our life. Many elderly people feel depressed and defeated for the simple reason that they seem no longer to be of use to anyone. Children have a natural desire to be of service to others. The frustration of unemployment, apart from the economic difficulties that accompany this state, is the profound sense of lack of utility. Is it possible that no one needs me? Can I not give joy or satisfaction to anyone? Service gives true meaning to our lives because love is the true meaning of our lives. A live without love is a life without service. Thus a life without love can seem to be a failed life.

If we wish to enter into the Lord’s glory then we must enter into his existence in every sense, and this entails being servants to others

Our Lord Jesus is a servant above all because he is love itself. And we can drink his chalice; we can be immersed in him. We do not do this by egoistically assigning ourselves positions or places in the pecking order of things. Rather we drink his chalice by accepting the plan of the Father and entering into the service of others. Then we will discover that there are people who are grateful and edified because of the gift of service that they have received from us. If, at the end of our lives, there is no one who is grateful on account of the service we have given them, then our lives have certainly been misdirected. May the Lord grant us a high esteem for service and a great thirst to enter into the service of others.