TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

[cappie]

Beginning in Mark 8:22 and continuing to the end of chapter 10, we find Jesus making his way to Jerusalem. The question throughout the journey is the one Jesus puts to the disciples . After first asking the twelve who people are saying he is, he puts the question directly to them, and in turn to all of us: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter appears to be on the right track, answering, “You are the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah. Jesus orders them “not to tell anyone about him,” and goes on to teach them that it is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things, be rejected, and be killed, and after three days rise. Peter objects, to which Jesus replies, “Get out of my sight, Satan, you don’t judge things the way God does, but the way people do.” This was the first time he spoke plainly to them about what would happen when they got to Jerusalem.

 It is then that the Brothers Zebedee, James and John, a couple of fishermen, walk up to Jesus and say, “Master, we want you to do us a favour.’ Jesus asks, “ What is it you want me to do for you?” They reply, “Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” Jesus replies, “You do not know what you are asking.’ ‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised? “

It helps to understand that “the cup” means to indicate the fate that lies ahead of a person, which Jesus has three times tried to make clear. What we today might call a “baptism by fire.” Confronting the Roman Empire is not going to go well. Jesus has just asked them if they, too, are ready to endure that which he has made clear now for the fourth time, rendering their response at best ironic, and even laughable:  ‘We can.’ 

Yet, surprisingly, rather than chastising them, Jesus affirms their declaration ‘The cup that I must drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I must be baptised you shall be baptised, 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.’  In other words, Jesus is saying…. “ Please understand, there is not going to be an immediate and happy conclusion. I’m not going to emerge as some imperial potentate with absolute power over all the world. I will suffer, as I have said, and I will surrender my future into the hands of God my Father, in whose power, mercy, love, forgiveness, and generosity I have complete trust.”

Before James and John can say anything else, the ten remaining disciples are angered by the brothers’ pre-emptive strike for sharing in what they perceive will be Christ’s power and glory. Glory throughout the Bible refers first to God’s aura of splendour, power, and sovereignty, often understood as God’s presence in Israel as a brightness of light that shines visibly, as when he had guided the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness sojourn. And any person, like Jesus, who might share in God’s glory is considered a person of significant weightiness, power, influence, prestige, and gravitas.  This is what the brothers want for themselves.

Realizing for the last time the need to spell out the misunderstanding of what it’s going to be like once they are in Jerusalem, Jesus says, “ You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. 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. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What begins with Jesus’ attempt to counter the disciples’ blind ambition becomes instead the most profound interpretation of just what his death in Jerusalem means for the community of those of us who wish to follow him.

 It is no coincidence that the lessons from Isaiah and Hebrews today are also included in the lectionary for Good Friday, to which this entire section of Mark’s Gospel points those of us who wish to be faithful in following Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We are to see in the cross a mirror that reflects our true image: The image of who we are reflects the image of what we are; the image of love incarnate that serves the world; the image of Christ.