Glory seats
Twenty Ninth Sunday - Year B
Isaiah 53:10-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45
Today's first reading is taken from the fourth song of the Suffering Servant (Is. 52:13-53:12). Another fragment from the same song was read by an Ethiopian eunuch, who was wondering whether Isaiah was talking about himself or someone else (Acts 8:34). This question gave Philip a chance to share with him the Gospel and lead him to the waters of baptism (Acts 8:35-38).
It is easy for us Christians to discern in the song of the Suffering Servant the prophecy about Christ’s passion and resurrection. He gave his life for us, he bore our sins in His body on the tree of the Cross, and his death justifies us. Such was the Father's will, such was the price of our redemption. After his suffering, our Lord has seen the light of the resurrection. Now He enjoys the "fullness of days" and we are his descendants (see Is. 53: 10-11). However, for James and John, things were not so clear yet.
The request of the "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17) follows the third prediction of Jesus’ impending death and resurrection. Each time the Lord mentioned that topic (Mark 8:31; 9:30-32; 10:32-34), the disciples failed to grasp its meaning (Mark 8:32; 9:33-34; 10:35-37). The failure of the Twelve will be completed by the betrayal of Judas (Mark 14: 10-11), the desertion of the eleven (Mark 14:50), and the denial of Peter (Mark 14: 66-72).
"Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory" (Mark 10:37). The glory of Jesus is the fullness of his greatness, which we will truly understand when we see the Lord face to face. To enter this glory Christ had to give his life as a ransom for many (Luke 24:26; Mark 10:45; Heb. 4:14). Each disciple of Christ is assured a share in this glory (Rom. 8:17; 2 Thess. 2:14) and it is obtained through the sacraments of baptism and of the Eucharist. Baptism is the immersion in Jesus’ death through which we die to sin and live for God (Rom. 6:3-11). The Eucharist communicates to us who receive it the saving grace of Christ’s passion (Mark 14:23-24).
“The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized” (Mark 10:39). When the evangelist narrated the passion of the Lord, instead of James and John, two rebels were found at the right and the left side of Jesus (Mark 15:27). Everything changes, however, after the resurrection and the descend of the Holy Spirit. James was the first among the twelve to give his life for Jesus (Acts 12: 2), and John, according to the tradition, was the last among them to die after a heavy toil of preaching the Gospel. Did they receive then what they longed for in this life? No. Today we know that that place had been prepared for the Blessed Virgin Mary who is at the right hand of her Son (Ps. 45:10, see the liturgy of the Word of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary). Did it still matter then?
To all those who, like James and John, are seeking greatness and top places, Jesus shows the path of service by becoming “the slave of all” (Mark 10:44). This path stands in opposition to a worldly model of authority in which rulers lord over their subjects and make people feel their power (Mark 10:43). Authority in the community of Christ’s disciples imitates “the Son of Man [who] did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).