Not to be served but to serve!

Mark 10:35-45

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” 36 “What is your request?” he asked. 37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” 39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Food for thought!

This is a very revealing story.

It tells us something about James and John: they were ordinary people, like you and me! Matthew retells this story (Matt.20:20-23), but in his version the request for the first places is made not by James and John, but by their mother Salome. Matthew must have felt that such a request was unworthy of an apostle, and, to save the reputation of James and John, he attributed it to the natural ambition of their mother.

On the other hand, Mark wants to portray James and John, not as supermen, but as natural and normal people, like the rest of us. All the apostles were not a company of saints. They were ordinary men. Did you notice what the ten did? "When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant." It was with people like ourselves that Jesus set out to change the world, and did it.

It is with such people that Jesus continues to save and serve the world. We too, are like James and John. We have been Christians for some time now, but we still continue to misunderstand Jesus. This incident tells us that they had completely failed to understand Jesus. It shows, as nothing else could, how little they understood what Jesus was saying to them.

Like James and John, many times we come to Jesus, kneel down, and make requests for which we are not ready to pay the price. We want the product, and we hate the price. We want riches but don't want to work for them; we want the rose but hate the thorns; we want salvation but hate the suffering.

“You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” And they said, we are able. And they were able. As you know, James was the first apostle to die; he was martyred. And John? He was the last apostle to die. He died in exile, under persecution.

You know what? Most of our troubles are due tot he prayers we made in the past. I repeat: many of our problems are because of the requests we made to the Lord. our problems are the price we pay for what we asked the Lord to grant us. There is nothing of value we can get without a price. we should know this as we kneel down to pray. There is a price tag attached at each and everything good.

Whenever you ask Jesus anything, Jesus asks you: Are you able to drink the bitter cup of suffering that accompanies your request? Are you able to suffer in order to get what you want? Are you able to pay the price? Because there is no glory without crown; no victory without a fight. This is what Jesus teaching us in the gospel reading of today:

"Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Are we to stop making requests to the Lord? No. We only have to brace outburst pay the price. And when the moment of paying the price comes, we have the second reading of today to console us:

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Heb 4:14-16)