20th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 20:17-28 for Wednesday, Second Week of Lent:  ‘Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant’. (2024)

20th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 20:17-28 for Wednesday, Second Week of Lent: ‘Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant’.

Wednesday, Second Week of Lent

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 20:17-28

They will condemn the Son of Man to death

Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.’

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’

When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 20:17-28

They will condemn the Son of Man to death.

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Wednesday, Second Week of Lent

In the gospel reading when the mother of James and John ask Jesus to promise that her two sons would sit one at his right and one at his left in his kingdom Jesus replies by saying, ‘You do not know what you are asking’. Her prayer of intercession for her sons was not a very enlightened prayer. Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans says that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought’. He also says, ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness’ because the Spirit ‘intercedes with signs too deep for words’. Paul is implying that although we often do not know how to pray properly, the Spirit within us intercedes in an appropriate way. When our prayer is in tune with that deep prayer of the Spirit then our prayer is acceptable to the Lord. The prayer of the mother of the two disciples was not acceptable to the Lord, well intentioned as it was. She was looking for status and honour for her sons. This is not a prayer in keeping with the Spirit of Jesus because he gave up all status and honour for our sakes, giving his life for us in the dishonourable death of crucifixion. In the gospel reading Jesus calls on us to follow his example of taking the path of self-emptying service of others. This is the path the Spirit moves us to take and the prayer that the Spirit inspires in us will be in harmony with this path of self-emptying love of others.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Second Week of Lent

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus asks James and John, ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ He was asking them if they were prepared to share his cup, to throw in their lot with him, to follow where he leads, even though it may mean the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, ‘Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me’. Yet, he went on to drink that cup to the full on the cross. At the last supper, he drank of the cup, and then gave the cup to his disciples, who also drank from it. Yet, a little later, they deserted him and fled. In spite of James and John’s expressed desire to drink from the Lord’s cup in this morning’s gospel reading, they would not follow where he would lead when the time came. In a few minutes we will be invited to drink from the Lord’s cup, the cup of the Eucharist. In doing so, we are expressing our willingness to going where the Lord leads, walking in his way, even when it means the way of the cross. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus speaks of that way as the way of self-giving service of others, as against lording it over others. We pray that in talking the body and the cup of the Lord at this morning’s Eucharist, we would be faithful to what that action signifies, walking in the footsteps of the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Second Week of Lent

Mothers always want the best for their children. In this morning’s gospel reading, the mother of James and John asks Jesus for the best places in his kingdom for her two sons. She interceded with Jesus on behalf of her sons. However, her request, her prayer, was not one that Jesus could respond to. Jesus did not respond to every request that was made of him; not every prayer we make is heard. Instead of responding to the mother’s request, Jesus made a request of his own to her two sons, ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ Jesus was asking James and John if they were ready to follow him, even though it would mean travelling the way of the cross. The question that Jesus asked James and John is one that he addresses to us all. He asks how committed we are to his way of life, to the values he lived by and died for. Like the mother of James and John, we often ask the Lord for something in prayer. Today’s gospel reminds us that the Lord also asks us for something; he asks us for nothing less than ourselves; he asks us to give ourselves to him as he gave himself to us on the cross.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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