(Homily 29th Sunday in Ordinary
Time-Yr. B)
The
coming and the involvement of the Son of man in human history, is indeed an
event that has in no small way overhauled not only human thinking but also
human standards. He came to show us who
we really are, to reveal to us that we are full of possibilities, full of
potentials and full of God’s glory; endowed
with gifts of nature and gifts of grace, yet adopted as God’s children and
with a universal vocation to holiness orchestrated in the love of God and
neighbour. In the indicative call to
love, we are enjoined to care for all, but in the Gospel of today, the two sons
of Zebedee wanted to care only for themselves. However, Jesus the Suffering
and True Servant did not ridicule their desire; instead he reaffirmed and re-proposed the road to human greatness and
good leadership: LOVING SERVICE. Here, the contrast between the way of the
world and the way of Christ emerges, while the world seeks greatness and vain
glory, Jesus indicates self-giving and humble service as ways to true greatness
and good leadership.
Today’s first reading (Is.53:10-11)
is an excerpt from the four fascinating songs about a mysterious servant, who
would bring salvation through his sufferings. This prophecy of Isaiah talks
about the suffering servant that gave his life as an offering for sin, through
his suffering the servant justifies many, and he shall bear their guilt. Most probably this passage of Isaiah’s
prophecy is chosen this Sunday, for two reasons: One, to match with Jesus’
preannouncement of his passion and death, thereby revealing himself as the
suffering servant of Yahweh. Two, because of the word “many”, as in verse 11
“by his knowledge, the upright One, my servant will justify many by taking
their guilt on himself”. As a matter of fact, some exegetes have interpreted
the “many” to mean “all”. As such, a
universal significance was ascribed to the mission of the Suffering Servant.
Though, in the rabbinic interpretation “the servant” was Israel (who waits for
God to vindicate him from his sufferings), and not the Messiah. On the other
hand, in the Christian connection of
this prophecy to the Messiah, to Christ, the word “many” is used to express the
universality of Christ’s redeeming mission, and thus, it is upon this
backdrop that the first reading dovetails into the message of the Gospel (Mk. 10:45). We may well say that the
prophecy of Isaiah corresponds with the teaching of Jesus in the Gospel about
his impending passion.
The
episode of today’s Gospel (Mk. 10:35-45)
comes after Jesus’ third pre-announcement of his Death and Passion. It is
really hard to bear that even after the third pre-announcement of his Death and
Passion yet the apostles and disciples are still groping in the dark. . Is as if whenever Jesus talks about
his imminent passion and death there is always a contradiction or
misunderstanding from the apostles. After the first pre-announcement Peter
contested and said “Master, this will never happen to you”, and Jesus replied
“get behind me Satan”. After the second, there was a strong discussion among
the disciples, as they questioned among themselves, who is the greatest and the
most important. Again after the third one, we see the request of the two brothers:
James and John, and that is the passage of our reflection today.
A closer look at each pre-announcement
reveals that at the end, there is a moral teaching of Jesus, trying to correct
the erroneous opinions, the false expectations and illusions of his apostles
and disciples. Frist, at the end of the first pre-announcement Jesus said
to the crowd: “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who
loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mk. 8:35). Second, after the second
pre-announcement, Jesus said to his apostles: “If anyone wants to be first, he
must make himself last of all and servant of all” (Mk. 9:35). And indeed, the third situates us well into the context
of today’s passage, Jesus reaffirms that the yardstick for greatness has to be
measured in a humble service rendered to others. This no doubt, launches us
proper into the passage of this day.
At this point the two brothers (James and John) emerged with some dints
of arrogance, as they approached Jesus thus: “Master, they said, we want you to
do us a favour” (v.35). Evidently,
they must have planned and decided on this before approaching Jesus. On his
part, Jesus with profound benevolence responded: “What is it you want me to do
for you?” (v.36). And without much ado, they advanced their request: “Allow us
to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory” (v.37)). They requested for a prestigious and privileged position, to be first
among all. They wanted to introduce
“ima mmadu syndrome” in Jesus’
ministry and mission. Truly, their request confirms their incomprehension
and presumption towards the events of Jesus that He announced not too long ago.
Jesus was talking about his imminent
passion and death, and they were bent on seeking for a privileged position in
his glory. What an irony!
However,
that notwithstanding, Jesus tried to demolish their ambitions and bring them
hand to hand to the bitter reality that awaits him in Jerusalem. Jesus now
responds to them by way of interrogation thus: “you do not know what you are
asking. Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be baptized with the
baptism with which I shall be baptized?” (Mk.
10:38). Jesus speaks symbolically of
his chalice of pain and suffering, his baptism of blood and martyrdom. And
still under the influence of their presumption, they responded “yes we can”, as
if they can follow the ordeal of Christ by their mere power alone, without the
special grace of God. Then, Jesus retorted: “The cup that I shall drink you
shall drink, and with the baptism with which I shall be baptised you shall be
baptized, but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to
grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted” (vv.39-40). The request they made does
not come by, out of human effort and merit, but it is a gift of God’s grace.
As it could happen in the dynamics of
every group, so it did in the group dynamics of the apostles, for the request of the two brothers
infuriated them, “when the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant
with James and John” (v.41). Certainly, the indignation of the apostles must
have been as a result of jealousy and envy, which hides beneath, a similar
ambition to those of James and John. Here, we could see how difficult it was
for the apostles to enter into the logic of Jesus and into the design of the
Father. They were still steered by human logic, manifested in terms of personal
interest, quest for success and vain glory. Jesus turned the lack of understanding
of the apostles to a favourable occasion to teach them about the essence of his
discipleship. Interestingly, whenever
Jesus gives a message about his coming passion he accompanies it with an
important teaching to correct the wrong impression, false hopes and illusions of the apostles. In response to the
demands of John and his brother James and the reaction (indignation) of the
other apostles, Jesus delineated what we
could call the Christian difference: “Among you this is not to happen. No;
anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who
wants to be first among you must be slave to all” (vv.43-44). Indeed, service
should be the password to greatness and not power and command.
Even today, after so many years
of the proclamation of the Good News, we are not immune to the attitude of the
two brothers and that of the rest of the apostles. The comportment of many
of us Christians today reveals that we have not truly embraced the message of
Christ, especially the moments we have
preached and sold out the message of a glorious Christianity at the expense of
the intrinsic aspect: the Cross. Many preachers and prophets of our day, who preach about a priceless and costless
Christianity, are pitching tent with James and John. Thus, the words of
Jesus afterwards, are very much valid for us today: “Anyone who wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among
you must be slave to all” (vv.43-44).
On this, Jesus presents himself as a
veritable model: “For the Son of man himself came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v.45). Jesus concludes this passage by announcing once again the
purpose and the mission of the Son of man: to serve and to give (to die) his
life for the salvation of many, here “many” stands to indicate for all, though
among exegetes opinions are divided.
In that bid, Jesus made an
awareness about the Christian-evangelical conception of power, that is power
conceived as a disinterested service to others, it has to do with giving
and spending oneself for the good of others, and when necessary giving one’s
life for others, this indeed is what Jesus did for us. St. Paul captured it
vividly well, when he affirmed that “He emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being,
he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). This introduces us to our High Priest who assumed our human nature to
serve and to save us.
The second reading (Heb.4:14-16)
presents Him as the high priest who has passed through the heavens. It proposes the theme of Christ’s share of
our common humanity and affirms that Christ is indeed our High Priest. His share
of our humanity made it possible for Him to sympathize with our weaknesses, for
he has been tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin. The writer called him a Priest because he
sacrificed himself for the salvation of many or all. He is the object and
subject of sacrifice. For this, we have to hold fast to our profession of faith
in Him. The sacred writer makes a clarion call
thus, “let us, then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace, to
receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help” (v.16). He sympathizes with our weaknesses because he came to serve, and he
did assume the condition not just of a servant, but a slave (cf. Phil. 2:8). A God indeed, at the
service of His creatures! (cf. Jn. 13:1-17), a Servant God!
At the second moment, unfortunately, the leadership principle proposed by our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s
Gospel, is yet to be internalized in our hearts individually and in the society
at large. This is seen in the type of leaders we have today; leaders who
are driven by greed and do not care about the welfare of the people. Greatness for them is in corruption and
self-centredness. But today Jesus is giving another approach to power and
greatness. Greatness in the parlance of Jesus is love, humility and selfless service.
The admonition of Jesus about service could well be re-echoed and situated into
the context of the Nigerian politics. To
those leaders that have turned themselves to gods, Jesus is saying to you, that
real leaders are servants of the people; real leaders are at the service of the
poor masses, and not at the service of their pockets, relatives, personal and
party interests. The greatness of a
leader is not measured by the amount of wealth he has accumulated, but by the
capacity to serve, to be a servant-leader. Jesus’ view of a servant-leader has to be re-echoed in the Nigerian
political arena today more than ever. Truly, what will save our beloved
country is neither the empty clamour for the second term bid of an ailing aged
president, nor the yelling of “Atikulated Obidience”. This ought to be a period of discernment in the Nigerian polity, in
order to identify the few individuals who have the propensity of remaining or
becoming Servant-Leaders. If the politicians in our society follow this
evangelical criterion of leadership delineated by Jesus, the world would have
been better and greater. Drawing the issue further, if we all are to put this
into practice wherever we find ourselves (in our families, in our places of
work and in the ecclesial communities), the world would have been a better
place than it is today.
Conclusively, the first reading and the gospel present
an overwhelming picture of Christ, the suffering servant as an example and
model for an authentic Christian living and leadership. This served for Mark as
a reproach to the “misconceptions” that were afflicting his Church at that
moment. St. Mark confronts the twin misconceptions in his Church at that time:
●The proclamation of Jesus as a Son of man who is to be crucified in opposition
to Christ the miracle worker. ●The presentation of the exigencies of the
Christian life and the invitation to take up the cross and follow the Master as
opposed to the apostles view of the mission of the Messiah. Indeed, the experience of Mark in his Church may
not be completely different from ours today, for the misconceptions about the
real identity of Christ and the authentic Christian existence still abound.
The gospel of triumphalism and success ideology manifested in the presentation
of a cross-less and costless Christianity, backed up with an obsessive tendency
towards glory at the expense of the cross triumph. Above all, Christ as the
Suffering Servant trod the road of humble service and self-giving to humanity,
and as our High Priest he chose to share
our common humanity, serving and saving us through His unique sacrifice, in
which he is both the offering and the Offerer.
Oratio: Lord Jesus you humbled yourself to assume our human
condition without fear of denting your divinity, help us to learn from you to
lower and humble ourselves to serve others! Amen!!
(Fr. Vitus
M.C. Unegbu, SC)
No comments:
Post a Comment