“But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43–45.
Today’s Gospel records the request of James and John to sit at the right and left of Our Lord. Earlier this year, I wrote about drinking the chalice that the Lord warns the Sons of Zebadee that they will need to do. You can find that here:
Drink from His Chalice
The question that is asked of James and John is a hard one. And it is one that Christ asks of all who are baptized into His passion and seek to call themselves a Christian. In addition, it is also th…
For today, I want to reflect on the conclusion of this Gospel reading. Those who wish to be first must be servants to all. It is here that we find two of the most important realities for those who wish to follow Christ:
The first is the virtue of Humility. We must take up our cross and follow Him.1 This is the root of the spiritual life. As we lower ourselves contrary to the pride that the world encourages us to, we find ourselves in imitation of Christ, who knelt before His apostles and washed their feet.2 This is the yoke that Christ has commanded that we take upon ourselves:
“Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29 DR
This is the yoke of the cross where the Christian must crucify their own desires for the ransom of those given into our care.
The second is grounded in the first, and that is the mortification of the will. We commonly talk about the mortification of the body, and rightly so. We should always keep before our eyes the necessity of mortification of the flesh through fasting and abstinence. But what is less frequently talked about is mortification of the interior senses and, in this case, our will. Where mortification of the body helps combat the sins of the flesh, mortification of the will helps combat the sins of the spirit: pride, and the like.
We mortify the will when we abandon ourselves to the will of God in our lives. Frequently, He calls us to the hard road, the road of the cross, the road that requires that we take up the cross and follow Christ to Calvary. This is what Our Lord was saying to James and John. Their will was to sit at either side of Christ. But that was not God’s will necessarily. They were called to mortify their wills and follow Christ to the cross. To be the least among the brothers.
This is the call of the individual Christian. We must mortify our wills and conform them to God’s will. It is here that we can be conformed to Christ, who showed us the way:
“…nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42.
For more from Dr. McGovern, visit his Substack at A Thomist, Dedicated to the Theological tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Exploring Thomas’ Spiritual Theology and topics in Christology and Mariology.
Cf. Matthew 16:24-26.
Cf. John 13:1-17.