OMELIE / Omelie EN

20 ott 2024

20/10/2024 - 29th Sunday in O.T. - B

20/10/2024 - 29^th Sunday in O.T. - B

Reading 1 IS 53,2.3.10-11 Psalm 32 Reading 2 HEB 4,14-16 Gospel MK 10,35-45

We could be smiling seeing how two of the disciples approached Jesus to ask him to grant them a blank request, without him knowing what this is about: “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you”!

They are convinced that in Jesus’ life there was going to be a turn of events, because – they think – for sure, when He arrived in Jerusalem, He would be recognised and made king. Then they are certain they deserve a place of importance in His kingdom, next to Him. Even more, they are among the first to follow Him, so they think they deserve special treatment. They just need a position, which they think is a place of honour and maybe even wealth, requiring no effort and special skills.

Jesus does not flinch. He is listening to the two friends, but He also does not stop listening to the Father. They want to “sit” “in glory”, but He realises they are thinking of human glory, not permanent and useless. “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”, Jesus asks them directly. He does not want to be dishonest with them: He knows that His path to reach glory has to go through suffering and arrive at the cross, the way the prophets insisted upon in their writings; He also knows that nobody will be able to be with Him but by going down the same path, so drinking His «cup».

The two brothers declare their wish to share their Master’s faith. But Jesus never chooses anything, so they too, learning from Him, do not have to ask anything for themselves. If they are available to live with Him, they will do so for free, only for love, otherwise they are not on the same path. Jesus’ life is always only God the Father’s gift, who makes use of it without restrictions: He knows He is a son who fulfils the plans of love of His Father’s.

The other ten disciples are not any better than these two brothers: they too are expecting a reward from their Master, and they too have their eyes on places of honour among men. This is why they are indignant with their two friends who have dared to put forward that request.

Jesus helps them by reminding them of what happens in the kingdoms of the world. They who are called “rulers”, in reality, by ruling, are after their own interests and oppress their subjects, often without pity of them. The Kingdom of God, which Jesus is king of, cannot be like human kingdoms. In it, the king needs to represent God, the Father, who loves everyone and wants everyone to live among everyone else as siblings. Those who will cooperate with the king will have to imitate Him by serving those He Himself serves.

The word service is the one which is the most important for Jesus: this time too, as many others, He ends His teaching to the apostles using this word. And He makes clear to them which one is His most important service: “to give his life as a ransom for many”. He knows, as the Psalm is saying, that “no ransom avails for one’s life; there is no price one can give to God for it.” (49,8).

No man could save himself: it is He, Jesus, the one who offers the service of giving His own life for them by spilling His blood. This service of His is the service of the high priest “who has passed through the heavens”, so who has been there where God Himself is, and he is not only a symbol of Him as in the Temple in Jerusalem, where every year entered the high priest of the people of Israel to sprinkle the ark of the covenant with the sacrificial blood.

This is a service we all can enjoy, because the life He is offering is not only the life of a man, but it is the life of a child of God. We can take part in His service by giving up our life with concrete actions of love towards one another.

The generous and faithful love, the gift of life, is making us part of the greatness and beauty of God!