Christ, the Suffering Servant

Gospel Reflection for October 20, 2024 - Mark 10:35-45

And James and John the sons of Zebedee, come to him, saying: Master, we desire that whatsoever we shall ask, thou wouldst do it for us:

But he said to them: What would you that I should do for you?

And they said: Grant to us, that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.

And Jesus said to them: You know not what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of: or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?

But they said to him: We can. And Jesus saith to them: You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized.

But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.

And the ten hearing it, began to be much displeased at James and John.

But Jesus calling them, saith to them: You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them: and their princes have power over them.

But it is not so among you: but whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister.

And whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all.

For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many. (Mark 10:35-45 DRA)

The first reading for this Sunday, one of the most beautiful and profoundly Christological in all the Old Testament (as is true of Isaias in general), is also deeply shocking. For us Christians, it makes obvious sense: the figure described in the prophecy is Christ, the Messiah who was rejected by the world and took on our iniquities in order to win our salvation. As the Epistle said, He became our high priest precisely by sympathizing with our weakness and being tested as we are yet remaining sinless. He is thus the spotless Lamb of God identified by St. John the Baptist, the immaculate Victim whose vicarious sacrifice washes away our sins and, through His divinity, opens the doors to eternal life. Isaias, both in the passage read today and in the whole of chapter 53, presents all of this in such clear words that its prophetic fulfillment in Christ is abundantly clear.

But to those who first heard these words, they must have seemed paradoxical, even absurd. The larger context of Isaias 53 makes this even more pronounced:

Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. (Is 53:4-7)

Why would dejection, ugliness, torture and ignominious death be a sign of divine favor from God, much less of the true kingship of the Messiah? Many other passages in the Old Testament seem to give exactly the opposite impression, that those who serve God in righteousness and remain undefiled from sin will be favored with security and prosperity in this life. Accordingly, this is what many Israelites expected, and what many Christians today likewise expect: to be awarded with health, wealth, success, popularity and happiness in this life for their obedience to God. This is today known as the “Prosperity Gospel,” but it is certainly not new or limited to its current popularization in megachurches – Jews and Christians throughout history have been seduced by it, and it is often expressed in the complaints leveled against God when something bad happens to us: I obey God and try to be a good person, so why would He allow this to happen to me or my loved ones?

In the Gospel reading, St. James and St. John, two of the three chief apostles alongside St. Peter, would seem to be following in this same tradition by their request for Jesus to give them seats at His right and His left when He enters into glory. The indignation of the other ten apostles would corroborate this suspicion. Our Lord also asks them: can you truly imitate Me? If you wish to rule with Me, you must serve like Me – through self-sacrificial love. But James and John respond that they would follow Him even in this way, and at the grumbling of the other apostles, Christ extends the question He put to James and John to all of the apostles: will you rule my Church like Me? Unlike many other religions, as well as secular governments, celebrities and businesses, true Christian discipleship is not pursued for the sake of worldly success, fame or comfort. The only authentic motivation to be a Christian is out of love for God and neighbor, and most of all, for the desire to imitate Christ, both in His life of wisdom and charity and in His death to the world and entry into eternal life. These facets of the imitation of Christ are inseparable in the life of discipleship.

Christ’s words have a special meaning for priests and most of all for bishops, the successors of the apostles, who, as this Gospel reading proves, are meant to rule the Church as stewards of the King and princes in the Kingdom of God. Many bishops in history and today have used their position for power, wealth and fame, lording their authority over their flock and caring more about the opinion of the world than the will of God. Today, there are many bishops who seek the acceptance of the powers of this world – the media, the universities, the governments – above the good of their sheep, tolerating error and grave sin, confusing good and evil and withholding the truth in their unwillingness to suffer the ire of the demons who are the princes of this present darkness. Unlike the apostles, all of whom suffered greatly for Christ and for their flocks, they prefer to live in luxury, all while maintaining a façade of Christian charity in the form of liberal tolerance and “accompaniment.”

In this way, as the Faith is reduced to mere social work and the slogans of pop psychology and college gender studies professors replace the doctrines of Tradition, the Church fails in her mission, given by Christ, to witness to the Cross, to teach the world that true love requires self-sacrifice and that the things of this world, even if good, are only temporary, and must never be preferred above God. To save the Church from its spiral into irrelevance, bishops and priests must recover this instruction of Our Lord to the apostles, always doing what is best for those in their care by handing on to them the Tradition of the saints and upholding the Cross as the one and only means of salvation, even if they risk being called a “bigot” by the world or “rigid” by their ecclesiastical superiors.