The cup of suffering. the cup of salvation
Gospel Reflection
Jesus summoned the twelve 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."
Our Gospel today is the third teaching of Jesus on the Messiah and the prediction of his passion. But for our Gospel today it skipped how He was to be tried and judged by the priests and scribes, focusing on the request of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and on servant leadership.
"For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many..."
Today, the 29th Sunday in Ordinary time, the value of Christ's suffering is made clear to us, and the question that begs an answer from us is, how should we live out Christ's suffering?
This is a very sensitive topic as for centuries it was believed that we have to intentionally suffer for us to share in Christ's suffering, for us to be forgiven from our sins, or for our petitions to be heard and granted by God.
So what do people do?
They would hurt themselves and even today many continue to do this. They unnecessarily risk their lives when it is not actually needed. Although persecutions continue in the name of Christ like what is happening to our dear prophets these days who only wish to denounce the evil of society, to make people aware of it and hopefully encourage them to do something about it. But instead of addressing the problems exposed by our modern day prophets, they are killed. It is easier that way and it would ensure the security and protection of their source of income.
But suffering, what is suffering?
Our first reading from the last part of the fourth song on the suffering servant from the book of the prophet Isaiah shares with us God's strong love for his people, he will send his servant who will accomplish his will through his suffering, bringing salvation to many.
Truly, this speaks of Christ. Christ the high priest, who, according to our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, having been incarnated and made man, knows and understands our suffering, as such his mercy and compassion for us, for humankind, knowing and understanding our weaknesses and what we are going through, allows us to "confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."
Such gift we have in Christ. But what do we sometimes do with this gift? How do we treat this gift? Like the apostles James and John who never heard of Christ's revelation of his passion, they were more interested with what they could get from their own sacrifice in following Christ. They wanted seats of power. This particular passage we hear also in the gospel according to Matthew (20:20), where their mother asks Jesus for the same request.
Let us look then at our Christian life, are we here to ask God for things that we believe we need or things that we want, or do we try to recognize God's will in our lives and make effort to live it out? And what is God's will? God's will is for all his children to experience salvation, kaginhawahan, and all of us should live our lives as beacons, as instruments of God's kaginhawahan for others, for all, that is why he exhorts us to love God above all things and to love our neighbors as He loved us. And Jesus reminds us: "For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Let us be reminded of this always. That God suffered for our sake, that we may have life, and this is because of his love for the Father, and this is because of the love that he experienced from the Father, and if we experienced such love, and if we have such love, then to suffer for the sake of the other would not be hard for us, and suffering would have a different meaning. One that is born out of love for the Other and others and not simply for our own salvation.
May this be our prayer.
Image: Amanda Yum | Unsplash
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