29th Sunday In Ordinary Time :: Op-stjoseph.org

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Scripture Readings First Isaiah 53:10-11 Second Hebrews 4:14-16 Gospel Mark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45 Prepared by: Fr. James Cuddy, O.P. 1. Subject Matter •

True greatness has been a theme present in the liturgy for the past month. The disciples – particularly those who are closest to him – continue to miss the point. The choice to suffer in accord with God’s will and to place oneself in a position of service leads to life and fulfillment.

2. Exegetical Notes •

First Reading: A shocking first line: “God was pleased to crush him in infirmity.” But this is offset by the realization that this suffering is not in vain. In fact, it is through that suffering that a nation is redeemed and made whole.

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Also present in the first reading are two important points concerning God’s relationship to his chosen people. First, it is the “will of the Lord” that all of this is accomplished. That is, in spite of darkness and seeming defeat, it is God’s will that victory should result. Second, the suffering servant is innocent, but is always willing to be reckoned as a brother among the sorrowful and suffering.

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Second Reading: Jesus Christ, the great high priest, is greater than any of the other priests who preceded him. This high priest – the suffering servant we have been considering for the past few weeks in Isaiah – knows what it is to associate with the pain-stricken and the lowly. Now, in Christ, the priest and the sacrifice offered are one and the same. This example of love and mercy should be a source of confidence for all believers, beset as they are by their own afflictions.

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Gospel: Having just predicted his Passion for the third time, Christ’s words concerning his salvific death fell on uncomprehending ears.

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Can you drink the cup that I drink? Their answer – we can – is full of irony considering their subsequent cowardice during the passion, although James was later martyred (cf. JBC). Many believers will be able to find themselves in the position of James and John: an initial zealous profession of faith and willingness to give all to Christ; an abandonment and turning

away from Christ in times of temptation and trial; ultimate conformity to his will and an acceptance of the crosses in their lives. •

Authority, commonly understood, falls to the strongest man in the company. Jesus turns this on its head. It is not the weakest who will be the greatest, but the one who claims for himself the lowest rank, wanting nothing more than to serve his brothers, even those who are lesser than him in the ordinary reckoning of things. The one who does this aligns himself with Christ, who – Son though he was – same and offered the same service. This alignment will entitle the believer to share in Christ’s eternal reward.

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church •

1137 [The Book of Revelation] shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given.”

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609 By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death.

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2602 Jesus . . . includes all men in his prayer, for he has taken on humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, shares by his human prayer in all that "his brethren" experience; he sympathizes with their weaknesses in order to free them.

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536 The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". Already he is anticipating the "baptism" of his bloody death. Already he is coming to "fulfill all righteousness", that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father's will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins.

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618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men". But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery" is offered to all men. He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow [him]", for "Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps." In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries.

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities •

St. Polycarp: “I bless you, Lord, because you have granted me this day and hour, that I may be numbered among the martyrs, to share the cu of Christ and to rise again unto life everlasting, both in body and soul, in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them this day in Your presence, a rich and acceptable sacrifice, just as You have

prepared and revealed beforehand and fulfilled, for You are the God of truth and in You there is no falsehood.” •

St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “He is our sanctification, as Himself being purity, that the pure may be encompassed by His purity. He is our redemption, because He sets us free who were held captive under sin, giving Himself as a ransom for us, the sacrifice to make expiation for the world. He is our resurrection, because He raises us up, brings us to life again, those who were slain by sin.”

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St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “Jesus Christ does not empty himself of any part that makes up his divine nature, and not-withstanding this he saves me like a healer who bends over festering wounds.... He was of the line of David, but was the Creator of Adam; he was made of flesh, but was also a stranger to it; he was generated by a mother, but by a virgin mother; he was limited, but also immense; As a mortal man he battled with the devil, but, invincible as he was, he overcame the tempter with a three-fold strategy.... He was victim, but also High Priest; he was sacrificed, but was God; he offered his blood to God and in this way he purified the entire world. A cross raised him up from the earth, but sin remained nailed to it.... He descended to the dead, but came back from the netherworld redeeming many who were dead. The first event is typical of human misery, but the second is part of the richness of the incorporeal being..., that earthly form the immortal Son takes upon himself because he loves us."

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St. Augustine: “He shared with us our punishement, but not our sin. Death is the punishment of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ came to die; He did not come to sin. By sharing with us the penalty without the sin, He cancelled both the penalty and the sin.”

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St. John Chrysostom: “Or else He says, You know not what you ask; as if He said, You speak of honors, but I am discoursing of wrestlings and toil; for this is not a time of rewards, but of blood, of battles, and dangers. Wherefore He adds, Can you drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized withal? He draws them on by way of question, that by communication with Himself, their eagerness might increase.”

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John Paul II: Suffering is present in the world in order to release love, in order to give birth to works of love towards neighbor, in order to transform the whole of human civilization into a ‘civilization of love.’”

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars •

It’s a fitting time to give thanks to God for the example of saints who chose to suffer so that others may have life, in imitation of Christ, the high priest. Among these, several modern examples spring to mind:

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St. Damian of Molokai: Father Damien de Veuster, a Sacred Heart priest who cared for Hansen's disease patients in Kalaupapa on Molokai contracted the disease and died among those he served in 1889. Hawaii’s first saint, he was canonized just this week on Sunday, October 11;

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Blessed Miguel Pro: A Mexican Jesuit priest, Father Pro chose to dwell among and serve the persecuted members of the Mexican Church, eventually being caught and executed during the presidency of P.E. Calles in 1927;

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St. Maximilian Kolbe: A Polish Conventual Franciscan, Father Kolbe offered to die in the place of a stranger in a German concentration camp in 1941.

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI •

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“I urge you to deepen your friendship with Jesus the Good Shepherd. Talk heart to heart with him. Reject any temptation to ostentation, careerism, or conceit. Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the Eternal High Priest . . . Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others. "God has so loved us that he gave himself up for us: This is the message of the Cross, 'mystery of death and of glory.' The cross reminds us that there is no true love without suffering, there is no gift of life without pain.” The Via Crucis to Calvary that we walked with Jesus in the Sacred Triduum has become the comforting Via Lucis [way of light]. Seen from the Resurrection we can say that this way of suffering is a path of light and spiritual renewal, of inner peace and firm hope.

7. Other Considerations •

Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. “This is the final form of unacceptable prayer. It was sincere; it was earnest; it was wrong. James and John were asking Jesus to fit into their plans. They had no concern at the moment over fitting into his plans. Prayer is always unacceptable when it says to God, You do whatever I want. Christian prayer says rather with Jesus, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” (The Interpreter’s Bible).

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What do you wish me to do for you? “This was a question often on Jesus lips. He sometimes asked it before healing a person . . .. It is never a superfluous question. For a man clearly to define exactly what it is that he wants is always important. It enables – it often compels – him to explore and discover what his real desires are” (Ibid).

Recommended Resources Jerome Biblical Commentary Cameron, Peter John. To Praise, To Bless, To Preach. Pope Benedict XVI, Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI.