Lord Jesus, help us give ourselves fully and freely to the God-given mission and become your witnesses. |
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Go west young man and make the country grow!” Thus read the title of an 1881 editorial by John B. L. Soule that was first published in the Terre Haute Express. Taking those words to heart, many made their way into the American West. Some travelled by wagon train, others opted for the stagecoach. The stagecoach companies sold three different classes of tickets: first, second and third class. First and second-class ticket holders retained the right to remain seated during the entire trip. Third-class ticket holders were held responsible for helping to fix a problem like pushing or pulling a stuck wagon.
With this colourful bit of history in mind, we turn to today’s Gospel (Mk 10:35-45). Jesus and his disciples are also travelling, not west, but from Caesarea Phillipi in the north to Jerusalem in the south. On their way, Jesus has been instructing his disciples in the blessings as well as the rigors of discipleship. He has been frank, speaking more of service and suffering less of power and prestige. Jesus will repeatedly (three times) allude to the inevitable conflict and struggle he would face in fulfilling his God-given mission. It would appear that he saw his role as more comparable to the Isaian servant whose innocent and vicarious suffering for sinners is so graphically depicted in today’s first reading (Is 53:10-11). Nevertheless, the disciples remain without full understanding as is reflected in the request made by James and John, Zebedee’s sons. In essence, they asked Jesus for the privilege of travelling with him holding first class tickets and enjoying the privileges thereof.
By expressing their wish to be seated at Jesus right and left, it would also appear that the two sons of Zebedee presumed that Jesus, too, was riding first-class into glory. They misunderstand what it means to share Jesus’ cup and bath (baptism); thinking of these as a sharing in his kingdom, they are full of confidence. “We can!” they offer excitedly. How many of us are similarly unaware and uninformed regarding the cost of discipleship? We start out well, with the enthusiasm of first-class ticket holders. Yet when the cup turns bitter and the bath becomes an immersion in sacrifice… when our third-class ticket status requires that we give up our seats and plunge wholeheartedly into fixing what needs to be fixed, mending what is broken and reconciling that which has become alienated, we balk.
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