GOD-CENTERED OR SELF-CENTERED?

By: KERYGMA

GOSPEL

Willingness to suffer for one’s belief is essential in knowing how successful one will become. This is true whether in the spiritual life or the world of corporate business. If we are not willing to “do the hard yards,” so to speak, then very little will come of our efforts, as we are not really exerting ourselves at all. It is imperative that we answer the question as to whether or not we are willing to drink from the cup of suffering from which Jesus drank.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Think: God is a God who is ever new and always renewing His people by His Spirit.

Mark 10:32-45

32 The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles 34 who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” 37 They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus predicts His Passion for the last time. Once again, the Apostles failed to understand the real meaning behind these gruesome words: condemnation, mocking, scourging, killing. Mark tells us the disciples are apprehensive as they walk with Jesus. They travel to Jerusalem in a daze; they know it was a place of danger. Many prophets preceded Jesus and they met their deaths in Jerusalem. Jesus goes with great determination, lovingly surrendered to the will of the Father. To break the daze, two of His disciples decide to jostle for position in the mighty Kingdom of Jesus. They want to sit on either side of Jesus in His Kingdom.

38 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?” 39 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; 40 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.”

Jesus goes on to ask if they are willing to drink from the cup. The cup was the metaphor for suffering. Anyone who would follow Jesus as a disciple must know that doing so entails suffering. Jesus suffered for our sake. Are we willing to do the same? In great eagerness, they reply in the affirmative.

41 When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. 42 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. 43 But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; 44 whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus died as a servant for us. I once heard a theologian say, “He died the way He died because He lived the way He lived — sacrificial, self-giving and selfless.” Jesus came not be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. So, too, must we be servants (diakonos or deacon) of the Church. Our service reminds us that we don’t own our lives. They belong to God and to His people.

The jostling for position, I am sure, is hidden in the hearts of many. We like to be the center of attention at times, or to win hearts for ourselves. Jesus is our example of service, who fully gives Himself in sacrificial love (agape), not counting the cost nor seeking any award. Fr. Brian Steele, MGL

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you God-centered or self-centered? Do you seek to praise God or praise yourself?

Lord, give us the gift to serve You. Help us to offer our lives as a living sacrifice pleasing to You. Amen.