Tuesday, July 25, 2017
James, Apostle
1st Reading:
2 Cor 4:7-15 Gospel:
Matthew 20:20-28
The mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down to ask a favor. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here you have my two sons. Grant that they may sit, one at your right and one at your left, when you are in your kingdom.”
Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.” Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it.”
The other ten heard all this and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations act as tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you; whoever wants to be more important in your group shall make himself your servant. And if you want to be first, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man who has come, not to be served but to serve and to give his life to redeem many.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
It is said that war does not determine who is right but who is left. The play of words is a picture of a destructive struggle for supremacy. What alarms us is that this war for supremacy can happen even among people closest to God. In today’s Gospel, the Evangelist Matthew is discreet enough to make it appear it was a mother who asked Jesus to get her sons seated at his right and at his left. But from Mark’s version we know that the two Apostles themselves shamelessly asked Jesus the favor (Mark 10:37).
The reaction of the other Apostles shows that they too looked at discipleship from the perspective of power. Jesus patiently taught them that greatness is not a matter of holding positions of power but of positioning the power one holds in order to serve. Jesus did not only teach but also showed them how. In many instances he refused to perform miracles for a show, avoided places of honor, and even evaded publicity by telling people after performing miracles not to spread news about him. Jesus refused to go higher except when it was time to climb the cross. In so doing he ended up even higher than the mountain – the mountain on top of which his cross stood. From this height Jesus gave up his life to give life to the world.
This is the same height one must reach if he wants to attain genuine supremacy without having to destroy others. If war determines who is right and who is left, the desire to serve gives one the right to be left. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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