BECOMING A CHRISTIAN: FROM SEEKING TO SERVING
“James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, 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 cup 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 cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized. . . .Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant, for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Mk 10:35-45
THE INTERIOR LIFE JOURNEY
How did these two disciples go from being twenty-somethings asking for places of power and glory for themselves to spending their lives spreading the Good News of Jesus? And why is this incident included in Mark’s (and Matthew’s) Gospel and presented to us today?
Perhaps to give us a chance to reflect upon our own life journeys? How am I progressing along my journey from youth to physical death to eternity? How are those around me progressing on their journeys? And how am I joining Christ and His other present day disciples who are caring for their spiritual growth and maturation? What example do I give them?
MY MAIN CHOICE
A few months ago, Pope Francis gave a homily in which he compared life to a banquet where each of us chooses what we are going to eat. The Pope reminds us that we should be choosing Jesus as the main course and not as a side-dish. Is Jesus my heart’s main choice right now? Am I choosing Him above all else? If not, do I want Him to be the main choice of my life right now and what, if anything, am I doing about that?
Let us come to Mass this Sunday, our weekly communal banquet, thinking about what James and John might have done, and what I and those gathered around me today should do (and help each other to do!), so that our choices move from seeking positions for ourselves to furthering our dedication to Jesus and spreading His Gospel to all nations.
Sister Loretta