Gospel of Sunday, 20 October: Mark 10:35-45
XXIX Sunday Year B
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying, “Master, we want you to do to us what we will ask of you.” 36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” They answered him, 37 “Grant us to sit in your glory one on your right and one on your left.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or receive the baptism with which I am baptized?” They answered him, “We can.” 39 And Jesus said, “The cup that I drink you will also drink, and the baptism that I receive you will also receive. 40 But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not for me to grant; it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 On hearing this, the other ten became indignant with James and John. 42 Then Jesus, calling them to himself, said to them, “You know that those who are thought to be leaders of the nations rule over them, and their great ones exercise power over them. 43 Among you, however, it is not so; but he who wants to be great among you will make himself your servant, 44 and he who wants to be first among you will be the servant of all. 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 10:35-45
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
Authority is service
The theme of this teaching of Jesus is the authority of the Church. It is not power, but service. The Church must make itself both slave and servant, because in the Church it is the poor, it is the little ones who have the primacy of honor. The disciples have not understood anything about the Lord’s message, and they demand the first places for themselves. But there is a mystery in the Bible: prayers are always answered, even if in a different way than we expect. Here John and James ask to sit in the first seats. And he tells them yes. But it will not be as they think: the first seats in the Church belong to those who serve, those who sacrifice, those who die. They will be fulfilled: they too will take this cup, they too will be baptized in the baptism of Jesus: in fact, tradition tells us that James and John will have great Church honors precisely because they will suffer martyrdom. James is the first of the Twelve to die, killed by the sword nor 44 A.D. by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:2). John, according to tradition is condemned to burn in boiling oil, but he will not die for it, but will later be killed by the Jews, according to some accounts. The prayer has been exhausted-James and John have become great but through the cross, taking the cup of Jesus.
Baptism is first and foremost death
Baptism means “immersion,” it means being overwhelmed by evil, by suffering, it means sinking into death. Our baptism has this dimension, of amputation and death. Baptism is a death (Mk 10:38; Lk 12:50): and death, according to the rabbis, dissolves all bonds and all commitments.
Paul will say that we must that we must die to the old man in order to rise again in the new man: “Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death? Through baptism we have therefore been buried together with him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new life. For if we have been completely united with him by a death similar to his, we shall also be united with him by his resurrection. We know well that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is now free from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, knowing that Christ raised from the dead no longer dies; death no longer has power over him. As for his death, he died to sin once and for all; now, however, by the fact that he lives, he lives for God. So you also consider yourselves dead to sin, but living for God, in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3-11).
Our old man is not a part of us, but is us before baptism as earthly creatures, subject to sin. This old man was crucified with Christ. But what effect did the baptismal crucifixion achieve? What was its purpose? Our being crucified with Christ in baptism has as its purpose and consequence, first, the suppression of sin and, second, the end of our subjection to the dominion of sin. Our old man is the one in subjection to sin, who wants to take instead of giving, who wants to be served instead of serving. The Christian has become a new creature and therefore must have a new behavior: to love, to give himself, to spend himself for others.
From: C. MIGLIETTA, THE EUCHARESTIA ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE. A biblical-spiritual itinerary, Gribaudi, Milan, 2005, with an introduction by H. E. Msgr. Giacomo Lanzetti
The Chalice
All accounts of institution of the Eucharist mention that Jesus took the chalice and gave it to his disciples; Luke even speaks of two separate chalices (Lk 22:17; 22:20); and with Paul he has the formula: “This cup is the new covenant of my blood” (Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), instead of: “This is my blood of the covenant” of Mark (Mk 14:24) and Matthew (Mt 26:28). The reference is not only to the Eastern custom of circulating a single chalice among the diners as a sign of communion, or to the chalices that were drunk in the ritual of the Passover supper.
The cup is a sign, in biblical language, of man’s very life, of the destiny that God prepares for him, or rather, that man himself procures by obeying the Most High or by turning away from him. Indeed, it can be full of happiness: “Before me you prepare a table before the eyes of my enemies… My cup runneth over” (Sl 23:5); “I will raise the cup of salvation” (Sl 116:13); “The Lord is my portion of inheritance and my cup” (Sl 16:5). Or it can be “the cup of the wine of wrath” that God reserves for the ungodly (Jer 25:15; Is 51:17; Rev 14:10; 15:7-16, 19), “a cup filled with drugged wine” (Sl 75:9), “a cup that makes one dizzy” (Zech 12:2; Is 51:17).
Jesus understands the cup as the Father’s plan for him, his life willed as a total gift. To James and John who ask for the first places in the Kingdom, Jesus says, “”Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They tell him, “We can.” And he added, ‘My cup you shall drink’” (Mt 20:22-23), thus proclaiming that they too will be called to give their lives. In Gethsemane Jesus prays, “My Father, if it is possible, pass from me this cup…! If this cup cannot pass without my drinking it, your will be done” (Mt 26:39, 42); and to Peter he says, ‘Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’ (Jn 18:11).
The offering of the chalice at the Last Supper also depicts the dynamic aspect of the Eucharistic gesture: note that in what is considered the “formula of consecration,” the chalice is always spoken of and not wine (Mk 14:23-24; Mt 26:27-28; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25). The chalice is Jesus’ life given to the disciples and to all people: and all in turn are called to make of their own existence a free gift for others.
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.