Wednesday in the 8th week of Ordinary Time
DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY:
“THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED.” (Mk 10:32-45).
GOSPEL
Mk 10:32–45
The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, ‘We can.” Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Commentary from the Navarre Bible, St. Mark, (with permission)
- 32 Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem with a burning desire to see fulfilled everything that he had foretold about his Passion and Death.
- He had already told his disciples that he would suffer there, which is why they cannot understand his eagerness. By his own example he is teaching us to carry the cross gladly, not to try to avoid it.
- 34-44 We can admire the Apostles’ humility: they do not disguise their earlier weakness and shortcomings from the first Christians.
- God also has wanted the Holy Gospel to record the earlier weaknesses of those who will be come the unshakeable pillars of the Church.
- The grace of God works wonders in people’s souls: so we should never be pessimistic in the face of our own wretchedness: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).
- The sons of Zebedee make their request
- 38 When we ask for anything in prayer, we should be ready, always, to accept God’s will, even if it does not coincide with our own: “His Majesty knows best what is suitable for us; it is not for us to advise him what to give us, for he can rightly reply that we know not what we ask” (St Teresa, Mansions, 11,8).
- 43-45 Our Lord’s word and example encourage in us a genuine spirit of Christian service.Only the Son of God who came down from heaven and freely submitted to humiliation (at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Calvary, and in the Sacred Host) can ask a person to make himself last, if he wishes to be first.
- The Church, right through history, continues Christ’s mission of service to mankind:
- “Experienced in human affairs, the Church, without attempting to interfere in any way in the politics of States, ‘seeks but a solitary goal: to carry for ward the work of Christ himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served’ (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 3). Sharing the noblest aspirations of men and suffering when she sees them not satisfied, she wishes to help them attain their full flowering, and that is why she offers men what she possesses as her characteristic attribute: a global vision of man and of the human race” (Paul VI, Populorum progressio, 13).
- Our attitude should be that of our Lord’s: we should seek to serve God and men with a truly supernatural outlook, not expecting any return; we should serve even those who do not appreciate the service we do them.
- This undoubtedly does not make sense, judged by human standards. However, the Christian identified with Christ takes “pride” precisely in serving others; by so doing he shares in Christ’s mission and thereby attains his true dignity:
- “This dignity is expressed in readiness to serve, in keeping with the example of Christ, who ‘came not to be served but to serve.’ If, in the light of this attitude of Christ’s, ‘being a king’ is truly possible only by ‘being a servant’, then ‘being a servant’ also demands so much spiritual maturity that it must really be described as ‘being a king.’ In order to be able to serve others worthily and effectively we must be able to master ourselves, possess the virtues that makes this mastery possible” (John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 21). Cf. note on Mt 20:27-28.
- The Church, right through history, continues Christ’s mission of service to mankind:
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