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Today’s Gospel touches the very heart of discipleship and that is sacrifice and service for others. If you had one wish, what would you ask for? Good health and long life? Wealth? Power? The conversion of loved ones? How many of us would honestly ask for meaningful work with a lot of suffering and few external rewards?
When James and John asked for seats of honor and authority in Jesus’ Kingdom, the other Apostles were angry. Can you imagine the nerve of these two brothers asking Jesus to grant them anything they asked for and then boldly asking for positions of honor and power? But Jesus then gently asked the two brothers whether they were prepared to follow Him down the only road that led to His Kingdom, which is the way of the Cross. I have spoken on previous Sundays of how the Apostles misunderstood the mission of Jesus. They thought that as the Messiah He would be a great and powerful leader. James and John were asking for places of honor in His Kingdom thinking that these would be positions of glory. Little did they understand what Jesus was facing in the days ahead. Little did they understand what they themselves were asking.
Jesus responded to their request with a question of His own. “Can you drink the cup that I drink?” In ancient times, the image of a cup symbolized one’s destiny. Jesus knew what His destiny would be. He was to be the suffering servant described in our First Reading from the prophet Isaiah. Through His total dedication to the Father’s plan, Jesus would willingly accept suffering, humiliation, torture and death so that such hardship would lead to the salvation of others. The Letter to the Hebrews, from which our Second Reading is taken, describes Jesus as both the High Priest who offers the sacrifice as well as the sacrificial victim Himself. He is both the one who offers and is that which is offered, giving of Himself for the forgiveness of our sins. It is the ultimate act of sacrificial love – the ultimate act of service for others. “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”
