How easily we get things wrong, and how easily we can get God's message and plans wrong. We see it in today's Gospel. Our Lord had just announced his imminent suffering and death in Jerusalem, the very opposite of human glory and political success. And immediately afterwards, James and John ask for just this. They imagined that Jesus was going to establish a political kingdom, making Israel great again.
Instead of getting angry, Jesus responds patiently: "Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with?". That is, the chalice of suffering and the baptism of his death. Thus, Our Lord is saying: "Are you willing to share in my suffering and death, that you may share in my resurrection?". They answer: "We can". But they have no idea what they are talking about.
His naked ambition infuriates the other disciples, and so Jesus has to give them all a lesson about the nature of his kingdom. In the kingdom of God it is not about everyone trying to be on top, as in the pagan kingdoms: "It shall not be so among you." In the kingdom of God, following the example of Jesus, to rule is to serve. True greatness is service, even if, at times, that service must be exercised by exercising authority. So we see authority as simply another form of serving, accepting a burden for the sake of others.
Like James and John, we can desire glory without effort or sacrifice. But Christianity necessarily demands sacrifice. Our symbol is a crucified man. We worship a man who died in agony, who is also God. Today's first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, is a prophecy precisely to announce the suffering of Jesus.
Our path is not to flee from suffering, but to turn it into love: to suffer for love, love of God, united to Christ on the Cross, and love of others, offering our suffering for their salvation.
Therefore, we must never see suffering as a curse or a punishment. It is a blessing from God, a new way of loving and serving Him and others, a new way of ruling: to be kings over our own body by transforming pain into prayer. It is a new way of sharing the cup and baptism of Christ.
We seek to serve, not to rule, or if we must rule, only to serve. This is the Christian way: to seek suffering and not pleasure, service and not power. No wonder Christianity is so misunderstood. No wonder we often misunderstand it ourselves.
Homily on the readings of the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Priest Luis Herrera Campo offers his nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
