The Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2024)
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."
—Mark 10:42-45
There is an old story which relates that during the American Revolution, as preparations were being made for an upcoming battle, a man dressed in civilian clothes passed an officer who was screaming orders at his men. Seeing that the soldiers were obviously exhausted from their labor, the man asked the officer, “Why don’t you help them?” “Sir,” the officer bristled, “I am a corporal!”
With a quick apology, the stranger took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and set to work with the soldiers.
“Mister Corporal, sir,” the stranger said when the task was completed, “whenever you need someone to help with a job, feel free to call on your commander-in-chief. I will be happy to be of service.”
With that, General George Washington put on his coat and left.
While the events in this story are most likely apocryphal, like all good myths this tale leads us to a deeper truth—a truth that is at the heart of the reading from the Gospel we hear this Sunday: those who aspire to greatness must be willing to place themselves at the service of others.
This teaching, however, seems counterintuitive. After all, who among us looks for greatness in hidden places or seemingly insignificant acts of service?
What does power have to do with compassion and kindness?
When the Apostles James and John asked Jesus for a place of prominence in his kingdom, they were focusing on an imagined future in which Jesus would be seated on a throne of glory, surrounded by his closest allies, wielding unlimited power. Their request that may sit “one at your right and the other at your left” leads Jesus to offer insights into the real meaning of his mission and a lesson about discipleship. And so, using images drawn from the Old Testament (see Psalm 11:6), Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
James and John respond with a quick “We can!”, but we must wonder if they really understood what they were saying or what Jesus was really asking of them.
I don’t think they did.
We know this story and, because of that, it has lost some of its edge. But imagine what it would have been like hearing these words for the first time. How shocking it would have been for the brothers James and John—and all the disciples—to hear Jesus setting aside agendas, comfort, and visions of greatness and holiness to do what he did.
How does it feel to recognize that Jesus is asking the same thing of us today?
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. To say it another way, they were signs of the presence of the Kingdom—the Reign of God—that Jesus came to establish. And all of this came together in that moment when he held nothing back, offering the gift of himself to God on the Cross.
In Misericordiae Vultus, the bull proclaiming the Year of Mercy 2016, Pope Francis reflected that in the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, God’s love was made tangible and visible. “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” (9).
Drinking from “the cup” and sharing the “baptism” 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. This is the most perfect way that we can live out the words of Jesus, who teaches us that “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all” (vv. 43-44).
Today, we are being invited to reflect on how Jesus is asking each of us if we can also set aside our own piety, prejudice, and politics to live for him and for the sake of others.
Almighty ever-living God,
grant that we may always conform our will to yours
and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
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 the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Adapted from a homily prepared for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time for Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
