OMELIE / Omelie EN

21 ott 2018

21/10/2018  29th Sunday in O. T. - B 

21/10/2018  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 are surprised hearing the prophet Isaiah talking about God’s servant, loved by God, His beloved, sent by Him to men, and yet, by them despised and rejected. The prophet ascribes the suffering that he needs to bear to God’s will, that wants to save men at all costs! That suffering is not useless then, coming from disobedience, on the contrary! The Servant identified Himself so much with His God’s will, to volunteer in order to live it of His own accord at the very benefit of those who rejected Him! He then will receive the fair reward: he will be able to form a new people, made of obedient people, a people that will continue to follow God’s will! Whoever is part of this people finds himself purified, blessed, right because the Servant has taken on himself all their sins!

Jesus knows this Scripture and He knows that it describes His mission. At first in a veiled manner, and then more and more clearly, He talks about it to the disciples. He does not want to have any secret with them. The revelation of this mystery is so important, because on it depends their salvation and that of the entire world. They themselves will be the witness of it, even more, they will take part in it. The occasions to talk about it are many, and today’s is a very significant one.

Two disciples express openly a desire that shows the inconsistency of their expectations. They are following Jesus expecting, because of the «effort» they are making, to receive privileged seats in the kingdom that He will start; they are taking this kingdom for something completely worldly! It is a great disappointment for the Lord: he becomes aware that the disciples have not yet understood His mission. They have not yet learnt from Him to become servants of everyone else and to look for the last seats left: in fact, they want to be first, and they do not remember that He has said that God’s will in His regard was to be rejected by those who count, and therefore to suffer and die.

This latter forgetfulness is taken by Jesus as the cause of their misunderstanding, and He makes reference to it right away, asking the two brothers not only to remember His words, but also to show their availability to share the suffering associated with His mission. They give a beautiful answer to the Lord: they think they can follow Him in the suffering too.

This is the disciples’ greatest glory: to carry the cross after Jesus! They will tell this themselves in their preaching and in their writings: “But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians, 6,14).

The two disciples that dared to ask for the privileged seats are none the different from the other ten. Those too have ambitions, desires, expectations that show ignorance and selfishness. Jesus gathers them around Him with loving care and explains with simple and clear words: what they desire and dream of are normal desires for men in this world, but God’s kingdom is different, is based on different foundations, is developed through different criteria, bears different fruits. He has chosen them as disciples in order for them to live in a different way from everyone else, ignoring the hunger for honors and the thirst for power, that are characteristics of important people. Jesus’ disciples will make themselves small, they will show the way in which the Father’s royalty is, being at everybody’s service, and, first of all, at the little ones’, the poor’s, the sufferers’, at the service of whoever God keeps in His esteem, in order to show them in a concrete way His paternity. All men need to experience God’s tender and faithful love, therefore the Lord’s disciple will be the servant of all, the carrier of the Father’s love. This is the spirit with which the Christians will live when they will find themselves in positions of ecclesiastical or civil responsibility, even when they will have a position in politics in the world. In fact, this is the behavior adopted and showed by Jesus Himself.

He is our High Priest, the letter to the Hebrews says, He is God’s representative for us. Being human, He has experienced our weakness, He knows our fragility and our temptations. Therefore, we can get close to Him in full trust, without awe. From Him comes to us the mercy, strength and joy necessary in order to make ourselves available to fulfill God’s plan and to give relief to our brethren in their needs. With His help we will show too the beauty and greatness of the God who loves men.

In taking part in Jesus’ sufferings we will receive the joy to take part in His glory too!