Jesus came to serve not to be served!

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time “B” October 20, 2024 Mark 10, 35-45 I have to laugh at this question of James and John. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you?” It sounds like the kind of question that a child would ask their parents. “give me whatever I am going to ask of you!” It is a demand really, not much of a question. They aren’t asking for Jesus anything. They are telling Jesus what they want. Of course Jesus isn’t going to give them whatever they want but maybe in another way Jesus is going to give them what they want. He invites them to drink from the cup he will drink from to be baptized in his same baptism. But, let’s turn the question around a bit. Rather than asking that they be given a place of importance over and above every else, what they are asking is to sit next to Jesus, they want to be close to Jesus. This is something that all disciples of Jesus want. It is something that all of us should want, to be close to Jesus. But what does it mean to be close to Jesus? What does it mean to drink the cup that he will drink from, to be baptized in the same baptism? We are in chapter 10 of Mark’s 16 chapter gospel, so more than ½ way through his teaching. It is clear who Jesus is. Jesus is preacher and a teacher, he works miracles and speaks with authority. But all of these things are not the core of his identity. No, Jesus is about service, so to close to Jesus is about being a servant. It is not about glory and honor but it is about service, even suffering service. This way of relating to others is not the way of the world, where “those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and make their authority over them felt.” Jesus’ words for describing that service are conveyed by Mark in the humblest words in the Greek language for lowdown menial service: “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant [dia-konos]; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave [doulos] of all.” This is made clear not just in the Gospel but in all three readings for today. In Hebrews the writer proclaims that yes Jesus is a highpriest, but he is one who can sympathize with our weakness because he was also tested in the same way that we were. Jesus is not separated from us, but his leadership or priesthood puts him closer to us. It is the same image that Pope Francis has of the priesthood. It isn’t to separate us from the people, but to bring us closer to them. That is why priests should smell like their sheep. They are called to be servants. The first reading from the prophet Isaiah identifies Jesus as the suffering servant, the servant who will justify many. Again Jesus isn’t just a prophet who will have to suffer. It is his suffering that makes him a true prophet to the people. This is difficult to understand. Our experience of people in authority—even in the church seems to be people who love exercising authority, they think they have power that allows them to boss others around. But that is a mistaking understanding of authority. That isn’t the kind of authority Jesus practices. Jesus came not to boss us around but to be bossed around. Jesus didn’t come to be served, to served others. Like James and John we want to be close to Jesus. If we think this means being raised up and put in charge we are mistaken. In order to draw closer to Jesus we need only enter more deeply into what we are, our humanness, to receive from the One above the message that even in our smallness the grandeur of love is revealed.