“Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are but did not sin. Let us be brave, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us when we need it.” Hebrews 4: 14-16
“You know that those who are recognised as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones make their authority felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” Mark 10: 35-45
English has a very rich range of expressions from which we can make selections when we want to emphasise a message that we are keen to convey. There would be very few among us who have not heard the criticisms: “None so deaf as those who will not hear!” and its companion: “None so blind as those who will not see!” I suggest we can accurately apply both expressions to the Apostles in today’s gospel-reading, simply because they could not or would not listen to Jesus when he tried to explain to them the kind of Messiah he had set out to be and when he informed them that he would be put to death by the powerful who had refused to listen to him.
Equally, we could apply those expressions to those among us who cannot accept that Jesus was as fully human as we are, except for the fact that he committed no sin. He knew our humanity from the inside. Consequently, he can empathise with us in all the struggles, dilemmas and challenges with which we have to contend in our life journey.
I am probably being overly harsh even to suggest that the Apostles had made up their minds to be deaf to the message about his Messiahship and inevitable suffering and death that Jesus was trying to convey to them. At the same time, it is patently obvious that Mark was intent on telling his community that Jesus was utterly exasperated by the depth of his Apostles’ inability to comprehend the message he had repeatedly tried to give them.
The opening verses of this Sunday’s gospel-reading illustrate just how outrageously insensitive and thick-headed James and John were in approaching Jesus with a request for power and position once their Master had made it to the top. Moreover, their ten companions quickly demonstrated that they were no farther advanced in intellectual prowess by being put out by the fact that their two companions had gotten in ahead of them. The ten were not smart enough to comprehend that James and John had made complete fools of themselves by revealing that they were motivated by naked ambition. Self-interest for all twelve seemed to be their number one priority. This incident in Chapter 10 of Mark’s Gospel follows immediately on the heels of Jesus’ third and most detailed attempt to take his Apostles apart to speak to them of the rejection, condemnation and intense suffering which he realised were soon to be inflicted on him (Mark 10: 32-34). We can forgive the Apostles for both their obtuseness and their expectations that the Messiah (and they had recognised him as such) would free them from oppression and restore them and their people to prosperity. They shared those expectations with their Jewish sisters and brothers who had suffered all kinds of oppression for centuries, They and most of their compatriots were unable to see that equal respect for the dignity of all, that living with integrity and sharing of power were essential for promoting the dignity and freedom of all. That was Jesus’ agenda, which he proclaimed and lived with consistency and complete integrity. Those who opposed him realised that acceptance of the way of life that he lived and proclaimed would disturb their comfort and threaten their power, position and ambition. Like most of their fellow citizens, the Apostles were unable to see that Jesus’ agenda, lived authentically, could lead to universal freedom and equal respect and dignity for all, for Jesus’ agenda was God’s agenda. Moreover, the God of Jesus was moved with boundless love for all humanity.
How does all this apply to us? In our reflective moments, we can appreciate that we are all capable of creating God in the image with which we are most comfortable. There are times when we want God to be the supplier of all our wants. We can find ourselves praying to God for success in our exams rather than for helping us to perform according to our merits. We hear of some among us who pray to win Lotto or the Pools. Do we ever pray for the generosity of heart that will enable us to be selfless servants to everyone we encounter? Jesus’ words to his disciples in today’s gospel-reading apply equally to us: “You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men and women make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No! Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all” (Mark 10: 42-44). The advantage we have over the Twelve is that we have had the benefit of knowing how everything turned out, of seeing how Jesus’ suffering and death amounted to the ultimate expression of love for all humanity and how God vindicated Jesus’ whole life and mission by raising him from the grave.
We cannot complete this reflection without some reference to today’s second reading from Hebrews. Our faith in Jesus, in the way in which he reached out to those most in need and in his resurrection confirms our belief in his divinity. I suspect that we struggle a little to accept him as sharing fully in our humanity. Perhaps we think that his sinlessness was the result of his “divine connections”. But let us not forget that he came to discover God and God’s love for him and for humanity through his exploration of Scripture and his life of intense prayer and reflection. Moreover, he had to discern what shape his vocation and mission to the world would take. That came to reality as a result of his prayer and reflection and his commitment to living with integrity. The challenge for each of us is to develop a relationship with a Jesus who knows our humanity and all its struggles from the inside.
