29th Sunday Ordinary (B)/ Make Us Sit at your Right & Left
 

Is 53:10-11/ Heb 4:14-16/ Ps     /Mk 10:35-45
   
  Introduction
         During the old times, when there was a need for forgiveness, a priest would bring a goat into a gathering and encourage all the people needing forgiveness to shout their sins at the goat thus giving their sins to the goat. Then the goat would either be chased out of the camp or sacrificed, thus taking away our sins. (This is the origin of the term scapegoat.) This is what Jesus becomes for us, and though James and John do not realize it, this is exactly what they have asked to share with Jesus. At their request they too will share in the sufferings of Jesus.  
   
  Background
  1. No matter how many times Jesus will them that the kingdom he was restoring was not the old military and nationalist kingdom that the people wanted, but a kingdom in which humans reflected God's forgiving love, they never got the point. They keep on thinking what other kind of kingdom was there besides one like David and Solomon ran? What kind of jobs would they have in the new nobility of this new kingdom? They had made a lot of sacrifices for Jesus, what were they going to have in return. In the immortal words of city politics, they asked, "Where's ours?" Jesus told them what it would be – they will go with to Jerusalem to suffer with him.  
     
  2. They fail to understand the nature of the Kingdom which is the very antithesis of power and authority; in the Kingdom the poor and lowly are lifted up, the weak become strong, the very opposite of the values of this world. And the way into the Kingdom is not the road of worldly ambition and glory but the way of love, sacrifice and suffering. They need to be reminded that without Cross, there will be no Crown.  
     
  3. James and John promised to receive the same baptism of that of Christ. To be baptized here means to submerge into the same experience of suffering of someone. Greek baptizien means “to dip.”) At the end, of course, they also drink the cup that Christ drinks. In fact James was the very first of the Apostles to be martyred. He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in the year 42 AD (Acts 12:2). John was the only Apostle not to be martyred and lived to a great age but he too suffered many persecutions and undoubtedly also drank the cup of suffering.  
       
  Reflections  
  1.

This week we celebrate The World Mission Sunday. Those serving to spread the faith throughout the world are called upon to live the sacrificial love of the Lord. Those in the missions know what suffering is. They face famine and disease every day. They also face political repression. They face the temptation to compromise the faith. They face the temptation to give up. Those serving in the mission experience a close identification with Jesus, the suffering servant. If we really want to lead the church through humble service, now is the time to help and to serve.

  
       
  2. To aspire for the highest position is not bad. We teach our kids to be achievers. But it is also good to teach them that going up the ladder are the best way to serve and to use all their resources and talents to help the needy. This coming election many politicians will work hard to make it to the top.  Many of their supporters will surely wait for the favors that are due to them when their candidates win. But they should be reminded that going to the top, should be self serving. It is not to win power but to be the servants for the people. The famous Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, reminds us, "When ambition ends, happiness begins." Only by embracing the role of servant can we overcome the ambition which ruins a person's heart.
 
       
  3.

There is on the other hand an author who gave a fair treatment of James and John. To be at the left and at the right was not precisely an ambitious request. They only wanted to defend their master by trying to be his closest “bodyguard.”  Remember that Jesus was already on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. They wanted to be the first one to be killed (by being on the right and left) before they would ever touch their master. They wanted to be martyred for Jesus, to suffer “for” him and “with” him for our salvation.

People often ask you the question: If there is a God, how can he allow bad things to happen to good people? This is indeed a difficult question. However sufferings have no meaning if we do not understand that sacrifice is an expression of love. We should look at suffering for a higher end.

Christ drank his cup of suffering “for” us, to redeem us from our sins, to redeem us from a punishment we undoubtedly deserve. When we accept our own sufferings as our share in Christ’s suffering and suffer “with” him, only then that our pains are transformed and filled with meaning. Another important thing to take into account is that our sufferings bear fruit. Christ’s sufferings brought the incomparable benefit of salvation for the whole human race. Let our sufferings too bring benefit to all people especially to the people we love.

  
     
  Conclusion  
  But always remember, that resurrection follows the crucifixion. Rewards come at the end of long suffering “for” others. We do not need to ask for it. It will surely come at the end, as a gift, from the God who loves.