“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise”. But the disciples did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.” Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?”They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Scripture for
reflection: Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways
my ways.
Pope Benedict
XVI’s Sunday Angelus Message on September 23, 2012: In our journey through
the Gospel of Mark, last Sunday we entered into the second half [of the
Gospel], the last journey towards Jerusalem and towards the culmination of
Jesus’ mission. After Peter, on behalf of the disciples, professed faith in
Him, recognizing Him as the Messiah (cf. Mark 8:29), Jesus began to speak
openly about what would happen in the end. The Evangelist reports three
successive predictions of the death and resurrection, in chapters 8, 9 and 10:
in them, Jesus proclaims ever more clearly the fate that awaits Him and their
intrinsic necessity. The passage for this Sunday contains the second of these
announcements. Jesus says: “The Son of Man,” – an expression that designates
Himself – “is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days
after his death the Son of Man will rise” (Mark 9:31). But the disciples “did
not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him” (v. 32).
In fact, reading this part of the story of Mark, it is
clear that between Jesus and the disciples there is a deep interior distance;
they are, so to speak, on two different wavelengths, so that the discourses of
the Master are not understood, or are understood only superficially. The
apostle Peter, after having shown his faith in Jesus, was permitted to reprove
Him because He predicted that He must be rejected and killed. After the second
announcement of the Passion, the disciples began to discuss who was the
greatest among them (cf. Mk 9:34), and after the third, James and John asked
Jesus to be able to sit at His right hand and at his left, when He was in glory
(cf. Mk 10:35-40). But there are several other signs of this distance: for
example, the disciples were not able to heal an epileptic boy, that afterwards
Jesus heals with the power of prayer (cf. Mk 9:14-29); or when some children
were presented to Jesus, the disciples reproved them, while Jesus, indignant,
made them stay, and affirmed that only those who were like them could enter into
the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 10:13-16).
What does all this say to us? It reminds us that God’s
logic is always “other” with respect to our own, as God Himself revealed
through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways” (Is 55:8). For this reason, following the Lord
requires of every person a profound conversion, a change in his or her way of
thinking and living, it requires an opening of the heart to listen, in order to
allow oneself to be enlightened and interiorly transformed. A key point in
which God and man are different is pride: In God, there is no pride, because He
is absolute fullness, and is completely given to love and to give life; in us,
on the other hand, pride is deeply rooted and requires constant vigilance and
purification. We, who are little, desire to appear great, to be the first,
while God, who is truly great, does not fear to humble Himself and make Himself
the last. The Virgin Mary is perfectly “in tune” with God: Let us invoke her with
confidence, that she might teach us to faithfully follow Jesus along the way of
love and humility.
http://beforeitsnews.com/christian-news/2012/09/pope-benedict-xvis-sunday-angelus-message-on-september-23-2012-2450844.html
Prayer: Jesus,
meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.
My thoughts: I
never feel too badly about myself and my relationship with God after I read the
above passages regarding the apostles’ attitudes toward Christ. My pastor,
Father Fisher, said it is like the mentality of politics today: “If my man gets
in office, I am going with him, and I will have a great position in his
cabinet!” So it is with the apostles. “If this is the Son of God, and we are
His best buds, then, oh man, are we going to have a great spot in heaven!” Pope
Benedict tells us that we never do get it right because we are always coming
from a vision of pride, and pride does not exist in God. We do something good
for someone and expect an ounce of gratitude in return. Jesus tells the
apostles He will die for mankind, and we know how many people are not grateful
for that. We do something that we feel is praiseworthy for our fellow man, and
we expect the praise. Jesus tells us that the best we should expect is to be
ranked least among everyone. Pride will get us every single time. It got the
apostles and it will get us. We must remember to strive to live our lives as
Pope Benedict tells us: "following the Lord requires of every person a profound
conversion, a change in his or her way of thinking and living; it requires an
opening of the heart to listen, in order to allow oneself to be enlightened and
interiorly transformed." Instead of telling God how much He should appreciate
what we do for Him, let us begin today to be still, and let Him tell us how
much more He needs us to do. His world is hurting, and we have the cure. We
just need to put ourselves aside and let Christ shine through us. Mary, our
Mother, guide us in the ways of humility and love.
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