True Greatness
October 17, 2021: A Reflection for the 29th Sunday of O.T., Year B
Mark 10:35-45
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 10:45)
At times, the apostles almost take your breath away with their audacity and naivete. This time it’s James’ and John’s turn. They approach Jesus with the demand: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
They then go on to ask to sit at Jesus’ right and left when he sits in glory. Little did they realize the scope of what they were asking! With all the love of his heart, Jesus is about to teach them a very important life lesson. “You do not know what you are asking,” he replies. “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Undeterred, the apostles assert: we can! When the rest of the apostles hear of the exchange, they become indignant. So Jesus uses the occasion as a teaching moment.
Humility himself teaches humility. The Source of Being imparts to creatures their heart of hearts, which is true greatness. Jesus goes on to say that those who are rulers over others often lord it over them and make their authority felt. That is true weakness. True greatness is love expressed in the gift of self through service of others. This seems the exact opposite of what we would think of as greatness.
We are called to be great. We are little creatures in whose center resides the God of the Universe. Our mission is to live from this Center. And what Jesus places before his apostles is the life lesson of the greatness of the gift of self. Gift of self to God, and through that gift to God, to one another, each according to the call God has given. We are greatest when, in union with Jesus, the Son of Man, we become servants and give our life along with him for good.
And so we stumble and bumble along The Way, each one offering what she or he can give and, like the apostles, we gradually learn from the lessons of life the truth and gift of how God made us to be. We are truly great when we leave our self-preoccupation behind and sink into the mystery of God within our hearts, and within the circumstances of each day, with Jesus, we lay down our lives for one another and for the world.