17 OCTOBER 2021 MARK 10:35-45
SUNDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
CRITERIA OF GREATNESS
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).
The readings today present the two key aspects of Jesus’ three year mission during his public ministry namely, (1) Suffering & (2) Service.
First reading (Is. 53:10-11) presents the prophetic picture of Jesus who in the plan of God decided to be a suffering servant of God.
Second Reading (Heb. 4:14-16) presents the pictures of Jesus the High Priest who would sympathize or suffer with us (compassionate) with our weaknesses.
I. SUFFERING:
The metaphor of ‘Jesus’ Cup’ refers to His suffering and passion. Jesus’ invitation to ‘drink the cup’ means suffering with him. Metaphor of ‘Jesus’ baptism’ refers to his death on the cross. Disciples are invited to be sharers of his baptism through martyrdom.
The prophetic words of Isiah, ‘the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity’ (Is. 53:10) can mean two things: Firstly, (1) what pleases God is not the suffering of the suffering servant but the result of his suffering, the salvation/justification of sinners. The suffering/cross of the Messiah happened to be ‘a blessing in disguise’! Secondly, (2) God’s extraordinary answer to the problem of human sin is not the inflicting of punishments, but to suffer with (compassion).
The life of St. Theresa of Child Jesus is relevant here. It is ironic and surprising that St. Theresa is being honored as the ‘Patroness of Catholic Missionaries” even without going outside the walls of the cloistered convent. How did she become so? She explored the missionary value of suffering. She offered all her physical suffering to suffer with the missionaries working all over the world.
The word of God reminds us today that not only physical sufferings, but also all kinds of mental sufferings because of bearing witness to Jesus, the Suffering Servant has a missionary value and thus it is to join missionaries working all over the world.
II. SERVICE
There can be a human tendency to confuse “personal value” and “social status”. For example, a person who holds an important position – a mayor, a college dean, a famous movie star, and a great athlete- would tend to think of himself as having more intrinsic worth than a garbage collector, a janitor or a waiter. When such an illusion is present in a person’s mind that person will look down at the so-called ‘social inferiors’. A truly great person is one who treats everyone with the same graciousness. For a truly great person there are no ‘little people’ but only “fellow human beings”. Sons of Zebedee keeping this fallacy of “personal value” equated with “social status”. Personal value before God is in accepting the role of a servant towards others. Your greatness becomes true when your social status is used to be a servant.
An ambition to be “number one” in social status is inherent in everyone. Jesus’ disciple is not an exception. Their ambition represents ‘self-service’ that leads to competition, jealousy, grudge, etc. The strategy of Jesus represents “selfless service” that leads people to be compassionate, forgiving, honest and humble etc. “If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest: and if one of you wants to be first, he must be the slave of all”.
Although God he came among us as a servant. A genuine Christian will be a servant and service will be his proper attitude. To serve the suffering people he must suffer with.
The great ones of the Kingdom of God are not necessarily people with positions, but people who have a charisma to suffer with and to serve others. Suffering and Service are the criterions of Christian Greatness. Amen.