29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nIsaiah 53:10-11
\nHebrews 4:14-16
\nMark 10:35-45
\nOctober 21, 2012<\/p>\n\u201cTeacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the question that James and John ask of Jesus.\u00a0 I imagine every one of us would get leery if someone said this to us.\u00a0 We probably would immediately wonder what they want to ask of us that they know we won\u2019t want to do.<\/p>\n
Of course, none of us would do this.\u00a0 Well, actually I think all of us might do it at some point without meaning too.\u00a0 We might not say as much but sometimes when we pray we might more tell God what we want him to do rather than asking him what we should do.<\/p>\n
Rather than respond yes or no Jesus replies back \u201cCan you drink the cup that I drink?\u201d\u00a0 James and John respond \u201cWe can.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are correct.\u00a0 They will share in Jesus\u2019 Cup but they don\u2019t really realize the significance of this.\u00a0 They are thinking in terms of Jesus\u2019 greatness and glory.\u00a0 They expect Jesus to take earthly power and to rule over the people.\u00a0 James and John want places of honor.<\/p>\n
Actually, they already hold a special place as two of the Twelve Apostles but they want more.\u00a0 When the other ten find out what James and John are up to, they become \u201cindignant\u201d not really because they see the sin of pride in what James and John are asking.\u00a0 Rather, they want the places of honor for themselves.<\/p>\n
Jesus takes all of this and uses it as a teaching moment to tell them that to be great is not to rule over all people but instead greatness comes from serving others, being willing to make sacrifices for others.<\/p>\n
From this story, I think there are two questions we should ask ourselves.\u00a0 First, what does greatness mean to us?\u00a0 Do we seek to have power and others serve us or do we seek to serve others in their needs?<\/p>\n
Jesus died for our needs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second questions we should ask ourselves is the question that Jesus asks James and John \u201cCan you drink the cup that I drink?\u201d<\/p>\n
We can see this in terms of the blood of Christ and sacrifice.\u00a0 James and John won\u2019t have known about the Eucharist yet.\u00a0 But just before this scene, Jesus has told the disciples for the third time about his coming Passion and they don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
Knowing of the Passion of Christ, the question \u201cCan you drink this cup?\u201d asks if we are willing to share in the sufferings of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Something great, namely our salvation, comes from Jesus\u2019 suffering.\u00a0 Without his acceptance of his call to suffer our sins would not be forgiven and we would not be able to enter into eternal life.\u00a0 As Isaiah writes of the Suffering Servant, \u201cthrough his suffering, my servant shall justify many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suffering can have value.<\/p>\n
How much time do we spend avoiding suffering?\u00a0 Now, it isn\u2019t that we should want to suffer.\u00a0 We should make sure we don\u2019t suffer needlessly but sometimes I think we might put more effort into avoiding suffering than it would take to face the suffering.<\/p>\n
There has been times when I have listened to people who sound like they go looking for suffering.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we should look for ways to suffer.\u00a0 Enough suffering can come our way without looking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What we do need to do with suffering is to accept it when it does come our way.\u00a0 In accepting our suffering we can say to God, \u201cHey, I\u2019m facing a difficult time right now.\u00a0 I can\u2019t handle it.\u00a0 I need your help.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In doing so, we open ourselves to God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that God is going to make our sufferings vanish.\u00a0 But God will help us to become better people through our sufferings.<\/p>\n
For through our sufferings, we can find true humility and seek the Lord.\u00a0 In suffering, we discover who we truly are, what our faith means to us, and we gain compassion for one another who suffer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
We do not suffer alone.\u00a0 We suffer with Jesus who knows what it is like to suffer and we suffer with one another.\u00a0 Perhaps that is another great lesson of suffering.\u00a0 We find out how is truly with us.<\/p>\n
How do you define greatness?<\/p>\n
What suffering are you trying to avoid and how might you accept it and seek God\u2019s help?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is my homily for this past Sunday. 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Isaiah 53:10-11 Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45 October 21, 2012 \u201cTeacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u201d This is the question that James and John ask of Jesus.\u00a0 I imagine every one of us would …<\/p>\n
Continue reading ‘Homily on Suffering’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-dJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}