THE kindness of God fills the earth; He is our help and our shield (Psalm33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22). Jesus came to serve and to offer His life for the many; as His followers we need to learn to be the servant of all (Mark 10:35-45).
Let Your mercy be on us
Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise. The verses selected for our liturgy give the reasons for Israel’s faith in God and why He should be praised: God’s word is upright, His works are faithful, His covenant is just and righteous, and His loving kindness is steadfast. These attributes demonstrate the magnanimity of God’s love in relating with others and, therefore, encourage the people to place their trust in Him. They, in fact, owe their lives to God’s help, who has His eyes on those who fear Him and are committed to Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love. These people live their lives faithfully before the constant gaze of God. And He delights in them and looks after them and delivers them from death and famine and any dangers threatening them.
The people who fear the Lord turn to Him in their distress and they are helped and rescued. Those who lack faith look elsewhere for assistance, and their problems are confounded. So, we wait for the Lord who comes to us in His own time; He is our true help in our needs and our shield protecting us from all perils. With a final appeal, the psalmist prays that God’s loving-kindness be upon them who have put their hope in Him. God’s covenant commitment is what we need and what we want, even as we put our trust in Him.
Can you drink the cup that I drink?
A person’s desires uncover his heart. The two brothers, James and John, together with Peter, form the inner circle of Jesus. They seem to have forgotten so soon the previous emphatic order of Jesus to get behind Him and follow Him and not to tell Him how to carry out His mission: they need to think “as God does,” not as people of the world do (Mark 8:33). The two’s desire makes it clear they are thinking primarily of themselves, wanting to flank Jesus in glory. Were they inspired by the transfiguration vision of Elijah and Moses on both sides of Jesus (Mark 9:4)? They who have given up everything in following Jesus (Mark 10:28), they wish in return prestige and power in Jesus’ kingdom.
The response of Jesus to the two reveals once more His own heart, His own consciousness. Jesus thinks of a cup of sorrow that becomes a cup of salvation, of a baptism that means both death and resurrection in a package, not merely bearing with bad times in order to be rewarded with good times. What Jesus stands for is the whole way of life: denying oneself, taking up the cross, and losing one’s life for the sake of the Gospel and in the service of others (Mark 8:34-35). Jesus’ pattern of life must be the standard for anyone wanting to follow Him. The two agree without hesitation to drink the cup and undergo the baptism—in their plunge of faith in Jesus, without fully comprehending as yet the implications of Jesus’ ignominious passion and death.
To serve and to give one’s life
The 10 were angry at the two when they heard of their grab for glory. Social climbers always upset other social climbers; when some become first, others feel last. This gives Jesus another opportunity to show them all His way and thinking. Identifying Himself as the Son of Man who will come on the clouds, He will, indeed, be seated in glory and His friends will be somehow prominent in the glory of God. But talking of the kingdom of God means that it is God’s reign and everything happens according to God’s own design and loving-kindness; certainly it is not according to some human ranking or method. Jesus Himself follows the will of God in all things and trusts that everything will be fulfilled as God so desires.
As God is one who loves and gives of His divine goodness, as God sends out His own to share to all His mercy and compassion, so is Jesus (and consequently His companions) come “not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” To be great in the eyes of God is different from the way the rulers of the world lord it over in tyranny. In the new humanity Jesus is bringing to birth, believers experience greatness when they serve: healing, exorcising, teaching, suffering with and for others, so that all may be liberated from what imprisons and debases God’s children.
Alálaong bagá, as Jesus is the servant who suffers that other may live, His followers must not fancy themselves as rulers over others but willing servants who give all that
God may be all in all.
Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.