27-May-15

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.
Reflection:
“Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
I find no fault with James and John for aspiring to be close to the throne of Jesus. In truth, in our human weakness, we all seek recognition and aspire to greatness. Here, I must apply to myself the words Jesus speaks elsewhere in scripture, "Before you take the splinter from your brother's eye, remove the log from your own eye." Luke 6:42
Rather than be distracted by someone's little fault, I would do better to focus on the heart of Christ's message: the path to pleasing God our Father is through loving and caring for others more than loving and caring for self.
Jesus, of course, is our greatest example of selfless service. But, how fortunate am I that I regularly see the face of the "selfless servant" in those I am given the privilege of serving.
My heroes don't wear baseball or football uniforms, nor are they celebrities or heads of state. My heroes are single mothers who wear waitress uniforms and stand behind counters serving coffee and donuts to support their children.
They get up at 4:00 in the morning to serve breakfast to others because the restaurant opens at 5:00. They lug their families' clothes to the laundromat and cook the meals for their kids, then they stay up until 1:00 AM bathing the feverish forehead of their sick child. They get up again at 4:00 because if they don't show up for work at 5:00, they'll be fired and their children will be worse off. Their jobs don't pay a living wage so they apply for food stamps. Then, while servings others their morning coffee, these single mothers overhear the remarks of those they are serving, "Why don't 'those people' get a job? They are always looking for handouts."
When I carry a food box into the home of a single mother, is when I truly feel the presence of Christ. There, in front of me, is the "Selfless Servant" come alive again.
(A tribute to my mom who raised eight of us by herself, waitressing while on welfare.) Jim Orcutt