Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent 2023
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father…
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
-Mattew 20:23, 26b-28
The Readings proclaimed on this Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent offer us several important points for consideration.
First, the passage proclaimed today from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah helps us to position Jesus within the long line of prophets who, for centuries had called God’s Chosen People to repentance and an ever-deepening awareness of God’s presence and action in their lives and the world around them. The liturgy is, in a profound way, offering us an insight into the life and mission of Jesus. as well as helping to understand the reasons why the authorities conspired against him.
Second, it is only today, two weeks into Lent, that we hear the first reference to Jesus’ passion and death. This is a small but important detail, particularly given the emphasis that the cross and suffering receive from so many in these days. But, as I have discussed in previous posts, Lent is, first and foremost, a season of discipleship. While the journey of Lent leads invariably toward Jerusalem and the cross—and ultimately towards the light of Easter—the focus of Lent is retreat, reconciliation, and renewal of our life in Christ.
Finally, as we hear the first of a series of predictions in today’s Gospel, the full text we hear today places the mystery of the cross within this broader exploration of discipleship.
“Love, after all, can never be just an abstraction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete: intentions, attitudes, and behaviors that are shown in daily living”
-Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus (no. 9); “Christ Carrying the Cross” by El Greco (1587-1588)
When the mother of Apostles James and John asks Jesus to give her sons a place of prominence in his kingdom, she was focused on an imagined future in which Jesus would be seated on a throne of glory, surrounded by his closest allies, wielding unlimited power. This request prompts Jesus to offer both insights into his mission and a significant lesson about discipleship. And so, using images drawn from the Old Testament, Jesus asks, “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink”
James and John respond with a quick We can!, but we have to wonder if they really understood what they were saying or what Jesus was really asking of them. I don’t think they did.
Although this is one of those stories from Scripture that might have lost its edge because we have heard it many times before, we have to imagine that we are hearing it for the first time and that Jesus is asking us if we can set aside our own agendas, comfort, and visions of greatness and holiness to do what he did.
“A Christian must never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him… Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes”—Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei (no. 10)
Jesus lived his life for others, offering everyone he encountered an opportunity for a new kind of relationship with God and with those around him. Everything in the life of Jesus—his friendships, his teachings, and his miracles—were signs of God’s unlimited mercy and compassion. And all of these came together in the moment when he held nothing back, offering himself to God on the Cross. As “a ransom for many,” Jesus won wholeness and freedom for everyone who was enslaved by sin and death.
Drinking from “the chalice” of Jesus means that we have to make this active, self-giving love the guiding force in our lives, holding nothing back, so that others can experience the mercy, love, and freedom that has been freely given to us: “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave..”
In the end, the Gospel this Sunday is an invitation to reflect on how Jesus is asking each of us, today, if we are willing to set aside our own piety, prejudice, and politics to share his “chalice,” committing ourselves to live our lives for others.
Keep your family, O Lord,
schooled always in good works,
and so comfort them with your protection here
as to lead them graciously to gifts on high.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
