Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash
A Reflection from the Fuel Daily Readings App for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Click here to read the reading.
In our Gospel today, James and John asked Jesus for a prominent position in his Kingdom, to sit one on his right-hand side and the other on his left-hand side.
The disciples want the way of ascent, the way to glory and privilege in the eye of the world. They thought that Jesus’ mission is all about is a privileged position. This is why the other disciples were upset when they learned of James and John’s actions because they thought they had beaten them into the position they thought was the motive of Christ’s mission.
They still have a narrow and political view of Christ’s Messiahship as one who will conquer their enemies in the violent ways that they have experienced in the hands of the Roman Emperors and the Herodians. They are used to the way of ascent to power to the detriment of those, not in power. If we could follow this Messiah, then our problems will be over, people will respect us and we will have power, authority and a secured future, they thought.
Jesus however, invites them to the way of descent, the way of service, of not expecting rewards because you are moved by the love to serve. In the Kingdom of God, the power concepts are radically changed to servanthood. This is something Jesus modelled with his life and death and invites them and everyone else to take up their crosses and follow him.
Let us go deeper into our hearts and ask, why am I really following Christ?
Is it for a reward of something that will come at some point in eternity; or is it because he has shown me a better way to be in the world, the way of compassionate love?
We can make a big difference when our place of departure in every encounter is founded on love.
It is a beautiful thing when you serve and are not blinded by personal gain or what you can get in return. Most times we see our relationship with God in this sense, trying to get something in return when we follow Christ-like all of our faith journey is how to earn more points to get to heaven. The whole thing becomes a transaction, gaining a bus ticket to heaven.
When you surrender to God’s love in your life and live the life that is a response to that love, you always find yourself taking a position of lowliness and service and opening yourself up to the Divine power to work in and through you. It is not always what God can do for you, but what God can do through you to change the lives of other people. This is the way of descent.
As Richard Rohr said, people who are led by the Spirit of God are not trying to promote themselves and they’re not caught up in the system of rewards, punishments, and payoffs. So may you embrace the life of servanthood, lose yourself in the service of others and eventually realise that you have found yourself.
+ Lord, we pray for the spirit of descent when we’re over ourselves seeking personal gains in serving you. Help us to realise that it is only in serving you in humility and love that we find ourselves. Give us the grace to bring your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.