Daily Retreat 10/22/06
2006 Oct 22 SUN: TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Is 53: 10-11/ Ps 32(33): 4-5. 18-19. 20. 22 (22)/ Heb 4: 14-16/ Mk 10: 35-45
From today’s readings: “Through His suffering, My Servant shall justify many, and their guilt He shall bear.... Lord, let Your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in You.... For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.... Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”
How to be Great
The blatant ambition of James and John strikes us as offensive only because they were so open about it – if they had just been a bit more subtle, you and I would probably have found their aspirations more excusable. After all, each of us are driven by our own ambitions, be they secret or overt.
Jesus does not fault the sons of Zebedee for being explicit about what they were after – rather, He insists that they understand: if their truest ambition is to be close to Christ, that means being Christlike, serving others, not lording over others (the first reading, from Isaiah, might ring a bell because it is read on Good Friday). When you think about it, it’s a marvel that anyone becomes a Christian when the Christ has stipulated such a condition for following Him which turns worldly ambition so completely upside down!
“For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The importance of this verse, Mark 10:45, is further reinforced from context. The remaining verses of Chapter 10 recount the healing of blind Bartimaeus, and then Chapter 11 begins with the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. So, Mark 10:45 is intended as a climatic summary of the Lord’s explanation of His own mission, and His insistence that all of His followers share fully in that mission.
Is 53: 10-11/ Ps 32(33): 4-5. 18-19. 20. 22 (22)/ Heb 4: 14-16/ Mk 10: 35-45
From today’s readings: “Through His suffering, My Servant shall justify many, and their guilt He shall bear.... Lord, let Your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in You.... For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.... Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”
How to be Great
The blatant ambition of James and John strikes us as offensive only because they were so open about it – if they had just been a bit more subtle, you and I would probably have found their aspirations more excusable. After all, each of us are driven by our own ambitions, be they secret or overt.
Jesus does not fault the sons of Zebedee for being explicit about what they were after – rather, He insists that they understand: if their truest ambition is to be close to Christ, that means being Christlike, serving others, not lording over others (the first reading, from Isaiah, might ring a bell because it is read on Good Friday). When you think about it, it’s a marvel that anyone becomes a Christian when the Christ has stipulated such a condition for following Him which turns worldly ambition so completely upside down!
“For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The importance of this verse, Mark 10:45, is further reinforced from context. The remaining verses of Chapter 10 recount the healing of blind Bartimaeus, and then Chapter 11 begins with the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. So, Mark 10:45 is intended as a climatic summary of the Lord’s explanation of His own mission, and His insistence that all of His followers share fully in that mission.
posted by FrPitstick | 10/19/2006
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