After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I’m sure many of us remember where we were when we heard Pope John Paul II passed from this world, entering eternal life on April 2, 2005.
It was my brother’s 21st birthday.
I was a sophomore at Seton Hall University, just a few months away from becoming a Catholic. I remember being particularly moved by John Paul’s life and example, perhaps most famously for his message: “Do not be afraid.”
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The Lord tells us more than 300 times in the bible to not be afraid. It’s a call John Paul was reminded of throughout his life.
When he experienced the death of his mother at 9 years old, and then his father, and then his brother; when he was left alone without his deepest familial roots, the Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid.”
When the Nazi’s invaded his homeland, closed his university, and forced him to work in a factory, he remembered those words, “Do not be afraid.”
When war broke out and he risked his life entering a clandestine seminary to study for the priesthood, he remembered, “Do not be afraid.”
When he became a professor teaching at the only Catholic university behind the Iron Curtain in Lublin; when he was called to become a bishop for the persecuted flock in Poland; when he was elected pope in 1978, called to feed God’s sheep, echoing the call in today’s Gospel…
And when he breathed his last on April 2, 2005, he must’ve felt those words ring in the deepest chambers of his soul, which stayed with him since his youth:
“Do not be afraid.”
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John Paul’s journey is, in a sense, everyone’s journey. At certain times in life, we all need to remember the words of the Lord: “Do not be afraid. I have overcome the world.”
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May John Paul intercede for us, that God would give us the strength to follow him, not only today, but also into a future yet to be written.
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The Romans had a popular saying: “Money is like saltwater. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.”
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We see this thirst for money unfolding in today’s Gospel as two brothers are arguing over a family inheritance.
The fact that there ismoney to inherit implies they already have enough. If their family were poor, then there’d be nothing to argue about!
But what these boys want is more. That thirst inspires Jesus to tell them a parable about a rich man who thought he had everything, but died that night with nothing.
The heart of the matter is not how much money a person possesses; rather, how much a person is possessed by it.
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The opposite of greed is not poverty, but contentment.
Contentment has been defined as, “a state of happiness and satisfaction.” It’s something most human beings can feel – unless, of course, they’re living in a state of danger.
Anyone, even the poor, can learn to be content with what they have. Ironically enough, it’s often the poor who seem more content than the wealthy because they must learn how to be satisfied with less.
“Money is like saltwater. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.”
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Am I content with what I have? Or do I find myself wanting more – more money, more power, more attention, more of anything?
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Saint Paul reminds us in his Letter to Timothy:
“Faith with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we should be content with that.”
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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One of the great mysteries in our world is suffering… from the effects of Hurricane Milton, to the conflict in the Middle East, to pain in our own lives.
Our Christian faith is the only world religion to teach that God understands our suffering through his own experience of it – and that, mysteriously, our suffering is also part of our redemption.
Three times in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus openly predicts his suffering, death, and resurrection. But each time he does so, his disciples respond in disbelief. Their reactions are not only comical, they’re also deeply human.
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After Jesus first predicts his death, Peter pulls him aside and rebukes him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!”
And how does Jesus respond?
He rebukes Peter sternly, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking, not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Ouch.
Christ intended to suffer. He knew he was sent to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah proclaimed in our first reading: “Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.”
Peter, incredulous to the idea, will not get in the way.
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The second time Jesus speaks of his death comes after the Transfiguration, when the heavens were opened and the Lord’s body became dazzling white as he spoke with his heavenly Father, with Moses, and Elijah.
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus warned his disciples that he would be betrayed and killed.
Yet blinded by his glory, the disciples began arguing amongst themselves about who is the “greatest.” To which the Lord rebuked not only Peter, but all of them, saying, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
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Finally, just before today’s Gospel passage, Jesus gives his most detailed prediction of his death, saying he will be, “handed over to the chief priests and the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days, he will rise.”
And what is the disciples’ response?
James and John pull the Lord aside, asking for a privileged place in his kingdom.
The irony – the ignorance, the deafness – is stunning. And yet, their reaction is arrestingly human.
Deep down, don’t we all respond in a similar way when we’re told that the path of Christianity is paved in surrender and service? That the only way up is down? That our God is a God who suffered in the flesh?
And, using today’s Gospel imagery, that anyone who is serious about following Jesus must also, “drink his cup” and be “baptized into his death”?
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In the Old Testament, a “cup” was a metaphor for what God had in store for someone. It ranged from a “cup of blessing,” to a, “cup of wrath.” In the case of Christ, his “cup” involves his entire life, summarized in service.
As he says today, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
“Can you drink the cup that I drink?” Jesus asks James, John, and each of us today.
They say to him, “We can.”
And they do.
James becomes the first of the Twelve Apostles to drink the cup of the Lord, as he’s martyred just a few years after Jesus. His brother, John, will die in exile, a type of spiritual martyrdom.
And what about us? In what ways do we drink the cup of the Lord? Or how do we spend our lives for others?
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Examples can range from joyful service to the humble acceptance of suffering that may come our way.
For example, the volunteers from our Welcome and Hospitality Ministry who worked so hard to set up a reception celebrating our new parishioners this weekend… drink the cup of Christ in service.
The married couple who seeks counseling in order to preserve their covenantal bond… drinks the cup of Christ in hope.
The person who finds the grace to forgive… drinks the cup of Christ in love.
The person whose cancer is no longer curable, but perseveres trustingly… drinks the cup of Christ in faith.
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Such ideas do not explain away the mystery of suffering. Yet, the Lord still asks us today, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”
“We can, Lord.”
But only with your love, your grace, and the support of this faith community.
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Image credits: (1) Christus am Ölberg, David Teniers, Bavarian State Painting Collections (2) Sherman Burkehead (3) Knights of the Holy Eucharist
