Mk 10:35-45
This particular Gospel narrative appears in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew may be a bit more memorable because in his telling James and John have their mother ask Jesus for assurance that her sons would sit at His left and right. Their mother has no role in the accounts of Mark or Luke.
This episode occurs late in Jesus' ministry. He had foretold his passion and death but the apostles didn't always get it. Soon, however, they would see and begin to understand. This particular section is titled: Position in the Coming Kingdom. In each telling the apostles are seeking greatness or arguing about who is the greatest. For their part, James and John misunderstood Jesus’ question when He asked if they could drink the cup He was to drink. They thought Jesus was referring to the wine of the heavenly banquet but He was referring to the vinegar of His suffering and death.
But, even if they had understood what Jesus meant, their reply "We can" would have been no different. We are always the heroes in our fantasies. It is easy to be brave in theory but difficult in real time. One of the recurring themes in the Gospels is the price of discipleship and the cost of following Jesus. It is not easy, risk-free, or glamorous. It is a life of quiet service that under the best circumstances passes unnoticed.
" . . . 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."
Jesus’ instruction remains relevant today. A life of unsung and unacknowledged service may be much more difficult than a swashbuckling career in the public eye. There are tens of thousands of working scientists; the percentage of Nobel Prize winning scientists is vanishingly small. But, the work of even the most obscure scientist may contribute to what becomes a world-changing discovery. For every Mother Teresa of Kolkata there are tens of thousands of missionaries who will neither appear on multiple magazine covers or be formally canonized. All service builds up the Kingdom of God. All prayer contributes to keeping the universe from blowing apart, be it the public prayer of the Pope or that of the Carthusian hidden in cell.
In the end, biggest crises facing the world are not climate change, covid-19, or the 'isms,' 'ists,' and 'phobias' that have become tools of bullying and character assassination in U.S. society. The true crisis is the absence of prayer in too many lives.
Those who serve others rather than demanding that they be served, those who serve others without expecting to be declared heroes--a very much overused word today--or to be praised for that service also help to bring about the Kingdom of God. A life distinguished only by its lack of being distinguished will cause great rejoicing in heaven as he or she is welcomed with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
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