The 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, October 20, 2024

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.”

St. Matthew, writing his Gospel in the years following St. Stephen’s stoning by the Jews in Jerusalem, remembered that Salome, the mother of James and John, had spoken to Jesus of her wish for her sons.  St. Peter, who gave the story to St. Mark some years later, only recalled James and John speaking to the Lord of their desire.  Great zeal and lofty ambition filled these fiery young men, “the sons of thunder”.  In the company of their Lord they were approaching Jerusalem.  Sensing the turn of history and willing to be in on it, large crowds joined them.  A current of expectation ran through the massive assembly that the Lord Jesus, showing his power in miracles along the way, would seize power in the holy city and drive out the Romans.  And already, even before they set foot in Jerusalem, there was jostling for positions of authority in the new regime.  It did not concern the Apostles that they had no political or military experience.  After all, David had been a shepherd when he was called to lead Israel and few of the Prophets had lived lives of any distinction prior to their calling.

“Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”  Seated on his throne in the restored kingdom of David, James and John, young as they were, wanted the highest positions next to the king.  They do not assert any reason why the Lord should grant this to them, though their special grouping with Peter on a number of occasions must have given them the boldness to ask for such a thing.  “You do not know what you are asking.”  They did not yet understand that the Lord’s kingdom was not of this world.  Perhaps they were among those who asked Jesus, on the very brink of his Ascension into heaven, if he was at that time going to restore the kingdom to Israel (cf. Acts of the Apostles 1, 6).  

“Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”  The Lord works with his two brazen Apostles and tells them that they must qualify for glory, albeit a glory far greater than what they were imagining.  That is, the glory would not be bestowed on them without some sharing in the Lord’s own life, whatever that might mean.  When we see the word “baptized” used here we should think of it as simply the Greek word for “washing”: “or be washed with the washing with which I am washed.”  That is, to go through whatever I go through.  They answer quickly, “We can.”  They expect promotion immediately, but the Lord speaks carefully so they can understand him: “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.”  That is, You will go through what I am about to go through, but this is my Father’s kingdom.  It is the Father who makes me its King: “But I am appointed king by him over Zion, his holy mountain, preaching his commandment” (Psalm 2, 6).  Therefore, it is the Father who determines the places within the kingdom.  Jesus is saying that, even as the Judge of the living and the dead, he is so as appointed by the Father: “Neither does the Father judge any man, but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5, 22).

“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”  Where we read “servant” we should think “waiter” or “hired hand”.  The Lord’s words in answer to the contention that broke into the open as a result of James’s and John’s move to secure power seem nonsensical to the worldly people, for how can someone become great by reducing oneself to mere service?  But for the believer in Christ, service is the path to glory because it is means immersion into the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to serve, not to be served, in obedience to the Father.  It is conformity to Christ that makes someone a saint and fit to reign with him in heaven.

James and John would learn this in time.  His service to Christ led St. James to glory in his early martyrdom, giving his example to the other Apostles; and John’s service led to the conversion of Asia Minor, while the Gospel he wrote continues to draw people to the Lord.  In whatever way we are called to serve, let us do so joyfully, knowing that this is our way to places beside our God.