Gospel according to Saint Mark 10:35-45:
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Or serving… or not to serve for anything…
Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries
Rome, October 20, 2024 | XXIX Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 53: 10-11; Heb 4: 14-16; Mk 10: 35-45
- The Royal Cupbearer. When Christ asked His disciples if they were willing to drink from the same cup that He would drink, He was referring to an important position in the court: The Royal Cupbearer. This was a high-ranking official who enjoyed the confidence of the king. He earned the position because he was considered absolutely trustworthy. Not surprisingly, he was often a close confidant of the king…as are most people who drink together. The king often shared some of his deepest thoughts and secrets with this person and perhaps received some good advice from his Cupbearer while enjoying several sips of good wine.
This official was honored with a seat next to the king at his table, a position that many coveted, but few had the privilege of being granted. Thus, the Royal Cupbearer well represents the position of honor that the two sons of Zebedee asked of the Master.
But the reason the Royal Cupbearer enjoyed the king’s trust and was given the honor of sitting near him and even taking the first sip or tasting the food before anyone else, including the king, was to make sure that the drink or the food was not poisoned. The Royal Cupbearer would be the one to discover the true contents of the wine, even at the cost of his own life. If it was poisoned, he would die, saving the king’s life. He would then be hailed as a national hero. If all went well, he would share the honor of eating a royal meal and enjoying the king’s confidence. Honor entails the courage to be willing to die for the king. Whoever drinks from the king’s cup will share his fortune and his future.
Likewise, in the case of Christ and his disciples, to drink from the cup from which he drank means to accept what that cup represented. When James and John asked the favor of being able to sit one on his right and the other on his left, they did not know what they were asking. The Master challenges them with another question: Can you drink the cup that I am to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am to be baptized? They answer in the affirmative before realizing what was in Christ’s cup.
And so, Christ issues this prediction: The cup that I am to drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I am to be baptized you shall be baptized, but as for the seats on my right or on my left, it is not for me to grant them, they belong to those to whom they have been assigned. James was the first to suffer martyrdom and John is believed to have lived long years, but suffered persecution and exile. So what they not entirely consciously desired was fulfilled.
Christ’s question to James and John is universal and applies to each one of us, for we have no idea what is in the cup we accept. In any case, in this case it is Christ who drinks before us and thus makes himself a servant, showing us that the pain and the baptism of humiliation and contempt which he suffered were but the way to glory, for it is in this way, by paying the price of forgiveness without exception, that we can make visible the glory of the Father.
—ooOoo—
- Before Christ, there is a serious case of division among his own. As much as the Master insists on the importance of communion, unity and service, our attitude is always the same as we see today in the first and closest disciples: How can I serve someone who is ambitious, who despises everyone and does not recognize his faults? I prefer to be far from him.
Paradoxically, we need to unite with someone with whom to share our discomfort and we murmur against whoever we consider somehow our enemy. That is the form of “unity” we follow with the logic of the world, the one that produces violence between groups, nations, families or religions. We seek identity within a group, at any cost, or closeness with a person whom we make our slave, with abuses of all kinds, more or less subtle and more or less mixed with moments of generosity.
Unfortunately, human groups are not only defined by beliefs and customs, but also by their sense of enmity to other groups. In a trivial and sometimes violent way, this is observed in some fans of a sports team, but also in those who share cultural and political affinities and, unfortunately, in religious communities.
As the famous chief of a North American tribe called Red Jacket (1750-1830) said to the European settlers who were trying to convert them: You say there is only one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you disagree so much about it, why do you not all agree, since you can all read the Book?
Certainly, the only way to achieve true and lasting unity is service. Communication is not enough, nor even forgiveness, which are truly indispensable. The consequences and aftermath of our miseries can only be overcome by those who are united to the Man of sorrows of whom Isaiah speaks and who represents the person of Christ:
Truly He has borne our sicknesses and carried our griefs. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities (Is 53: 4-5).
Let us notice that He is not only concerned with covering our sins, but also our sicknesses and pains. That is the mercy and mercy to which we are called.
Before we are assailed by thoughts of indignation against the two ambitious apostles, who would later attain sainthood, let us think not only that “it happens to any of us,” but that the Holy Spirit takes advantage of our moments of greatest pain or most serious mistakes to teach us something important, as Christ does today with the Twelve. On many occasions, he simply shines a light on the suffering we have caused our neighbor, in such an impacting and shocking way that sometimes -not always- he succeeds in awakening us to mercy. That has been the case with some alcoholics, who have returned to an orderly life after becoming aware of the immense torment they were causing their family.
Our ambitions are not limited to having power and authority to dominate and dispose of others. The ego is very demanding. For example, many people with an academic degree, or with the experience of years, need to prove to others and to themselves their superiority, in order to find security in an identity based on knowledge or age. I even remember the painful case of a Nobel Laureate (perhaps you have seen him on the Internet) who made embarrassing statements about fields that he obviously did not master, in particular Physics, although he was a biologist. The great recognition he had received for his exemplary effort and intelligence was not enough for him; he actually wanted to occupy the position of God, to show that he had answers for everything. Luckily, not all brilliant scientists or artists are like that.
Only Christ alone can give us a sense of identity that is in conformity with our nature: children of a Father who expects everything from us.
Christ does not bite his tongue and refers to all those who hold some power, to all those who in some way can dispose of the lives of others today, He says to us:
Those who are held as rulers of the Gentiles, rule them as despots, and their great ones abuse their authority.
And those who serve, do so hoping one day to occupy a position of power and thus be served. No authority serves Christ as an example, only the person of the slave, who could not aspire to be served.
It is important not to lose sight of the message of the Second Reading: Christ was tested in everything, and that includes temptation. As a true man, he was tempted to commit innocent actions such as eating, but in a way that was not his Father’s will; or also to exhibit his power without his mission demanding it; or even more, to share his love for the Father with respect for the devil.
Christ experienced the difficulty of being faithful in times of stress, fatigue or after having successfully completed a demanding mission. Christ’s authority includes being able to say: I know well what it costs to live patience in the midst of trial.
Although he was a Son, he learned in the school of pain what it costs to obey (Hebrews 5: 8).
Fortunately, there are countless examples of people, canonized or not, who have faithfully and resolutely followed Christ’s example of service, despite all kinds of barriers, internal or external.
The case of Father Damien (1840-1889), declared a saint in 2009, comes to mind. While on missionary service in Hawaii, he received news that the lepers, who had been segregated in a colony far from everyone, were in need of a priest. He volunteered, even though he knew that, at the time, it was tantamount to a death sentence. Working tirelessly alongside the lepers, he struggled until his last day, five years after contracting the disease. His example touched people from all over the world and of all beliefs, atheists and enemies of the Church. It is a beautiful thing to “work for others”, but it is even more sublime to give one’s life in the service of the neighbor.
To convince us that sensitive people have an intuition of what Christ wants to teach us today, we recall in conclusion the famous words of the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941):
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.
_______________________________
In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Luis CASASUS
President