TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, Cycle B, October 18, 2009

= ; Growth is the theme of today's readings. We're talking about intellectual growth, emotional growth, and spiritual growth. If we are to be well-rounded perso= ns, they must all be integrated. = We all know people who are physically handicapped or developmentally disabled. But there are also many people who= are very intelligent but have little spiritual life. And how many pious people do you k= now whose religious education stopped at the grade-school level? There have been great advances in knowledge, especially over the past 50 or 60 years. A lot of what we learned in religi= on in the ‘40s or ‘50s has been revised and developed. So let's see how today's Scripture readings might help us integrate our spirituality with our God-given intelligence.

= ; Today's gospel story (Mark 10:35-45) revolves around two disciples of Jesus asking = for special places of honor in the future kingdom of God, followed by indignati= on on the part of the other ten. This occurs in the first and most primitive of the gospels written, the one we c= all according to Mark. The author inserted it into his gospel just after another prediction of Jesus' sufferi= ng and death in order to highlight his theme that the early disciples of Jesus misunderstood his whole mission.

= ; It's even more instructive to see how this story grew up. In an earlier form, Jesus was pict= ured rejecting the two disciples' request on the grounds that only God can assign places in the kingdom, and God is not like some fickle Middle Eastern despot who can be moved by special requests.

= ; The story was later reworked by Christian tradition to grant martyrs priority in the kingdom of heaven. And so= the author pictured Jesus asking his two disciples in symbolic terms if they are willing to drink his cup and be baptized with his baptism, i.e., to follow = him along his way through suffering and death.= These verses were inserted into the story at the time of the martyr deaths of the two sons of Zebedee. James was killed about A.D. 42 and John maybe sometime later. These two had sought honors within= the Christian community. They were indeed highly honored, but as the first Christian martyrs.

= ; These inserted verses also reflect a controversy over leadership in the early chu= rch. The ambition of James and John was well known, so in view of the way things eventually turned out and of a different gospel tradition in the gospel we = call according to Matthew giving primacy to Peter, this passage was rewritten to= imply that this was the will of Jesus. James and John were not to be leaders of the church; they were to fo= llow their Lord in a martyr's death very much like his own.

= ; So these gospel stories mean much more when we realize that they are literary products. They do not go back= to Jesus himself or necessarily reflect his views. These gospels are products of seco= nd and third generation church groups that had their own viewpoints and interpretations and agendas.

= ; But the moral of the story comes across loud and clear. It's found in the punch line at th= e end, "The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." The story is one of petty jealousy, of striving to be more important= , of trying to occupy a unique position. It is a story of not being content with what one has but craving mor= e, of wanting to have some singular privilege, feel first or best, play some special role.

= ; The story says to stop concentrating on being first, stop being jealous because others seem to have what we want. It calls us rather to give what we can to others, and to be content = with what others have to offer us. It asks us to look for the best in others and give the best we have.

= ; The reference to the cup as the symbol of suffering and to Jesus laying down his life for his friends indicates the lengths to which we should go in giving ourselves to others. "I = came not to be served but to serve" and "Whoever loses one's life for = the sake of the gospel will find it."

= ; The last phrase of the gospel passage, "to give his life as a ransom for many," is taken from the short passage of the Hebrew Bible that was our first reading today (Isa 53:10-11). It comes from what we call the fourth Suffering Servant song. Chapters 40-55 of the book of Isai= ah are the product of one of the greatest of all Hebrew poets. Writing at the time of the Babylon= ian exile in the mid-sixth century B.C.E., this anonymous poet dreamed of a restoration of the nation of Israel and saw in the return of the exiles to the Promised Land a new Exodus. Four of his poems have been single= d out as Suffering Servant songs. T= he Servant was a literary figure for all the people of = Israel in sorrow and yet at t= he same time distinct from each of them in innocence of life and total dedicat= ion to God.

= ; This fourth song gives supreme expression to the ancient concept of sacrifice: t= he role of Israel as God's chosen people is to mediate God's blessings to the rest of the wor= ld precisely through its suffering—a prophecy we have seen fulfilled so = tragically right up to our own time. In = this song, the Servant's willing self-sacrifice for others moves the Gentile nat= ions to confess that God's healing power is now available for all. In the two verses of today's readi= ng, from the conclusion of the poem, the Servant moves from victim to victor. Victory is proclaimed, for if he g= ives his life as a ransom, he will see his descendants in a long life, in other words, there will be a restoration of the nation of Israel and, in view of = the Gentiles' faith, a worldwide renewal.

= ; It’s no wonder that this fourth Suffering Servant song was applied to Jesus by Christians and appropriated to serve as the literary model for the gospel accounts of the passion of Jesus, and that the restoration of Israel was seen as prefigurin= g the resurrection.

= ; Finally, the second reading, continuing the selections from the Letter to the Hebrews (4:14-16), speaks of Jesus, our compassionate high priest, able to sympathi= ze with our weakness because he has also been tested in every way that we are. Tests and trials connote suffering, and suffering leads to growth.&= nbsp; And since the unknown author of this letter believes that Jesus won = the victory, he calls us to approach the throne of God confidently to receive m= ercy and favor and to find help in time of need.

= ; Once again today we approach not the throne of God directly, but the table of the Lord. "The cup we bless,= is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? And the bread we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"= Like the early Christians, we too can see in the Eucharist a sign of= our participation with Christ, not only in his life and teachings, but also in = his suffering and death. The idea= of suffering with Christ rests on an early Christian interpretation of the execution of Jesus as an atoning death for all. It may very well have come into the gospel tradition through the liturgical celebrations of a persecuted church itself facing martyrdom. To b= ecome a partaker of the eucharistic cup during a time of persecution might very w= ell have led to death. This is ho= w the early Christians lived!

They came to believe that suffering and death were included in a Christian’s work of service and love for others. We can be sure that suffering and = death are part and parcel of every life. What we are encouraged to do by these readings is to accept suffering and death as a means of growth. It is primarily by dying to selfishness and sin and living more for others and= for God that we can truly grow and achieve our purpose in life.