FROM SEATS TO SERVICE

Reflections on Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 53:10-11, Hebrews 4:14-16, Mark 10:35-45

“Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left”, ask James and John, the two sons of Zebedee. In Matthew’s gospel, however, it is the apostles’ mother who makes this request. Perhaps Matthew himself felt embarrassed to attribute such a request to James and John, who were both key figures in early Church history.

What is so embarrassing about this request? The apostles wanted to sit down. They demand, “Grant that in your glory we may sit”. Whereas for Jesus, Christian discipleship is about ‘following him’. “Come, follow me”, said Jesus to Simon and his brother Andrew on their first meeting. And when he met James and John a little later, he called them and “they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:16-20). Now, having walked with him on the path of discipleship for a while, they search for future seats to sit down.

Our discipleship means to be constantly on the move. Our Christian life is a dynamic process that God prepares for us. We are pilgrims and God walks with us in our pilgrimage. As noted in the Acts of the Apostles, even before the early disciples were called ‘Christians’, they were first known as people of the hodos or people of the way (9:2; 19:9, 22:4). We are not called upon to search places to have a sit-down. We are called to continue walking the path of our pilgrimage.

Being seated signifies power. James and John did not search for those ‘proximate’ seats next to Jesus because they loved him so much. It is a rather unveiled request for authority, to be elevated to the second (and third) in command positions. This quest for power wasn’t just the problem with the two sons of Zebedee. Mark reports, “When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John”. This goes on to show that the entire band of disciples were enamoured by the possibility of power. Just like James and John, they wanted to wield authority too. However, to Jesus, being seated isn’t the ideal posture for Christian discipleship. He wants us to be on the move.

This dynamic underlines the call of Matthew. The apostle, who is initially found ‘sitting at the tax-collection station’ (9:9) responds to the call of Jesus and ‘rises’ to follow Jesus on his path. To Pope Francis, this change from being seated down to following Jesus represents the call to shift from the ‘horizon of power’ to the ‘horizon of service’ (Angelus, 11 January 2023). He says, “Do we, disciples of Jesus, we, Church, sit around waiting for people to come, or do we know how to get up, to set out with others, to seek others? Saying, “But let them come to me, I am here, let them come”, is a non-Christian position. No, you go to seek them out, you take the first step”. We are a people gathered to move on, to move ahead, and to bring dynamism and change wherever we go. We are called to become a Church that “goes forth” not to remain a Church that searches for seats to wield authority and power.

It is this countercultural approach to power that Jesus wishes to teach us today. He wants his disciples to embrace an approach that is different from the ‘rulers of the Gentiles’, who lord over their subjects and wish to make their authority felt. His alternative model of authority challenges the disciples (and us) to embrace the horizon of service. He says, “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all”. This alternative approach is founded on Jesus, who “did not come to be served but to serve”.

As the second reading reminds us, this is the model of our “great high priest who has passed through the heavens” to sympathise with us in our weakness so we may “confidently approach the throne of grace”. Three keywords are central to this horizon of service: the cross, the cup, and the ransom. The path to Jerusalem is a pilgrimage that will culminate in his ultimate sacrifice on the cross, his passion and death. This cup is a ransom that he has to pay on our behalf and in our place. His passion is the price that he has to meet in exchange for our freedom and redemption.

Jesus challenges James, John, the other 10 apostles, and the Church to participate in this redemptive pilgrimage towards the horizon of service. James embraced this challenge and eventually became the first of the Apostles to offer his life for the Gospel. John responded to the same challenge by his apostolic witness and bloodless martyrdom. Each of the other 10 apostles pursued the horizon of service in their own ways. It is now our turn and time to give up the horizons of power to follow Jesus on the path of redemptive service.