TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY
IN ORDINARY TIME
October 19-20, 2024 - St. Lambert
Parish
Is 53:10-11
Heb 4:14-16
Mk
10:35-45
Praised be Jesus Christ!
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of
you.” The two brothers, as we
know from elsewhere in the Gospels, were pushed on by their mother to ask great
things of Jesus. You could say that the request of James and John seems
exaggerated, maybe even a bit naïve. Humanly speaking they are asking a lot of
the Son of God, not really comprehending either Jesus or His mission for the
salvation of the world. That is not to say that their request does not sound
familiar, that you and I, that we don’t know people who address prayers to God
which are similar. How often have I met people who are angry with God,
disappointed in the Lord because He does not seem to grant their wish. Maybe
even you in your prayers can identify with the words of James and John:
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” In our Gospel
today, Jesus responds to the two brothers and makes clear the consequences of
what they are asking of Him: “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.”
How many people
do you know who are mad at God because He remains silent and does not answer
their prayers, that is will not give them what they want?
While not
pronouncing an outright “no!” to their request, Jesus denies the brothers an
inside track which will lead them to a place of privilege, to fame and fortune
at His side. He not only calls them to a life of service for others but to share
in the sacrifice of His life, which will in turn lead to the ransom of many.
There is much we
could say about how Jesus saw Himself. At the very least, I guess you could say
that having heard the words of the Son of Man we have no excuse for pretending
that keeping company with Jesus should assure us smooth sailing on the seas of
life this side of heaven. Jesus promises us a share in His sufferings for the
sake of the life of the world, a share in His Cross; He did not preach a
prosperity Gospel. The Church confirms the message of Christ by quoting the
Prophet Isaiah in our first reading: “The Lord was pleased to crush him in
infirmity… through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their
guilt he shall bear.”
Jesus does not
lend a deaf ear to the brothers. He responds and thereby teaches them the
unreasonableness of what they ask of Him. “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.”
When we are young most of us
daydream about all sorts of things big and small, more or less ambitious, but
it is just that, daydreaming. Few of us face life and our mission in life with
the stark realism and courage of the North American Martyrs, that group of missionaries
whose sainthood we celebrate on October 19 in the church calendar for the
United States. In his diary, his spiritual journal, St. John de Brebeuf while back
in France recovering from all the hardships he had faced in the New World prayed
to be allowed to return to the north woods to continue the course at the hands
of the native Americans which he knew would lead him through more rejection, abuse,
brutal suffering and torture to death. He wanted to share in the sufferings of
Christ for the sake of the life of the world. “Grant that in your glory we
may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” James and John had
no idea what Jesus was all about.
“Because of
his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his
suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.”
The other day I
read an interview of the Dutch primate, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, archbishop
of Utrecht in Holland. Holland for many of us is synonymous with everything
that has gone wrong with the Church over the last 60 years or so. It is a tale
of parish closures, of failing vocations, of people generally with no idea of what
it means to be Catholic. Among the points made by the Cardinal was to explain
how the Church in his country was starting to make a comeback from secularization
which had left it in ruins. Knowing Cardinal Eijk, as I do, and aware that
Holland once upon a time was probably in a better place than we have ever been
when it comes to being Catholic, I sort of find myself wondering when the other
shoe will drop for us as Catholics in America, yes, even here on the prairie.
By the grace of
God, the Apostles James and John learned what it meant to take their place at
Christ’s side. They witnessed to all Jesus had said and did by the wholehearted
gift of their lives, James as the first apostle to die a martyr’s death and John
as the last to pass from the scene after long year’s of teaching, correcting
and rebuking about the two great commandments of love of God and love of
neighbor.
My prayer is that
we would come to understand Christ’s glory, that we all might be lifted to a
place at Christ’s side in the world to come for having followed closely now on
the way to Calvary.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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