Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Teacher, … Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” In other words, “Let us be first among those who drink from the royal cup at the King’s banquet.” James and John were like kids pushing to be first in line.
Once a mother of twin boys, who were seven years old, was making blueberry pancakes for her hungry sons, Ryan and Shawn. They began arguing about who would get the first serving. Seeing an opportunity to teach them the Christian way to behave she said, “If Jesus were here, he would say, ‘Please, serve my brother first,’ and then Jesus would wait patiently for his turn to come.” For a moment both boys were silent, then Ryan smiled at his brother and said, “Okay, Shawn, you be Jesus.”
Once a priest went to a barbershop in Washington D.C. After the haircut, when he took out his wallet, the barber said, “No charge, Father, I consider it a service to the Lord.” Next morning the barber received a warm note of thanks along with a rosary blessed by the Pope. On another day a police officer came for a haircut and when he went to pay, the barber said, “No charge, Officer, I consider it a service to the community.” Later a delivery boy brought a dozen donuts to the shop with a note of gratitude from the officer. Not long afterward a senator got a haircut and the barber said, “No charge, Senator, I consider it a service to my country.” Next morning, when the barber arrived at his shop, he found a dozen senators waiting for free haircuts.
There was something equally offensive about James and John. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. He tried to tell his disciples about the terrible burden on his heart. Three times he rang the bell prophesying his Passion: “We are going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to be condemned, mocked, spit upon, scourged, and put to death, but after three days he will rise.” But they didn’t hear the distress in Jesus’ voice. The agony of Jesus didn’t pierce their desire for power and honor.
They said, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.” What insufferable self-centeredness! Not, “Thy will be done,” but, “My will be done.” Yet, for all his inner distress, Jesus responds with humility and kindness like the good servant he is. He says, “What do you want me to do for you?” St. Benedict urges monks, especially the procurator of the monastery, to put on the kindness of Jesus the servant. He writes, “If goods are not available to meet a request, let the procurator offer a kind word in reply, for a kind word is better than the best gift,” (RB 31:13f). It was the humility of Jesus that prepared the apostles to understand the first tolling of the bell for themselves. They had their eyes on honor and glory. But Jesus promises them the bitter cup of suffering. He doesn’t put them down, but draws them closer to accepting the reality of suffering discipleship. Only after they saw Jesus being first-in-line to drink the cup of suffering for us, only then did James, John and the other disciples begin to understand. The suffering-love of Jesus awakens real love in his disciples.
James was the first-in-line among the apostles to suffer martyrdom. And John was the last of the Twelve to die for Christ as an exile in a foreign land. They all drank deeply from the cup of suffering, before receiving the place prepared for them at the banquet table in the kingdom of heaven. The bell continues to toll for the disciples of Christ. Can we hear the bell tolling for us, calling us to be willing to share in suffering discipleship?