For the Son of Man Did Not Come to Be Served but to Serve
Br. Thomas Maria, O.P., reflects on the Gospel for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 10:34–45) in our weekly video series.
In the Gospel this Sunday, we encounter James and John jockeying for position among the disciples. They boldly tell Jesus, “Teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you… Grant that in your glory, we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Was their request wrong? Note that James and John do not know what they are asking for. Despite Jesus's warnings concerning his impending death, they still think that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom. Their request is wrong and presumptuous because they seek honor, power, wealth, and status above the other disciples. While honor, power, and wealth are not evil in themselves, it is wrong for the disciples of Jesus to seek these first. First, we must seek Jesus.
However, I would argue that their request is not entirely wrong. Notice that Jesus does not immediately reprimand them. Instead, he invites them to something deeper. Their desire to be close to Jesus, to sit on either side of Him, is not wrong but is in need of purification because their desires are not too strong but too weak. Jesus does not want to give them a mere temporary good but something infinitely greater: union with God in heaven.
To purify their desires, Jesus invites them to accept his baptism and his cup, which refer to his impending suffering and death—the death by which he will give his life as a ransom for many. James and John eagerly accept, although they do not fully understand what they are agreeing to. So Jesus tells them plainly, “I came to serve, not to be served.”
What Jesus is telling them is that if they want to be great, if they want to be like Jesus, they also must desire to be the slave of all. Greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven is not about status but about charity. This was a life lesson that James and John eventually learned–James was martyred and John was exiled to Patmos for the sake of the Gospel. This is a lesson for us, too. If we want to be great, we too must seek to be the slave of all–easier said than done. In fact, by our power, this is impossible, but thankfully, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, we, like Mother Teresa, can learn to see the face of Jesus in everyone we encounter. So, like James and John, boldly approach Jesus, but unlike James and John, first seek God's will and glory, not your own, because our true freedom and happiness lies in following God’s will.
