Servants in Love!

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 53:10-11; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45

Today our Mother Church celebrates the twenty-ninth Sunday in ordinary time. 

This Sunday invites us to reflect on the mission of Jesus and our participation in it. 

The life and mission of Jesus are to be shared by all who follow him. But how can we do that? 

Let us closely look at the readings for our answers. 

The first reading from Isaiah is one of the four songs of the suffering servant. Although the identity of the suffering servant is still a mystery, the message is clear as it foreshadows the identity of Christ in the New Testament. This typological theme (because it helps us draw parallels between the suffering servant and Jesus) explains that the passion of the suffering servant and Jesus is similar. The suffering servant suffered for others; Jesus suffered for us. The suffering servant experienced God’s providence amidst abandonment; Jesus experienced oneness with his Father when he suffered on the cross. Thus, the descriptive resemblance between the suffering servant and Jesus helps us discover the deeper meaning of the reading. 

The second reading identifies Jesus as the great high priest, who, unlike his OT counterpart, sympathizes with our weaknesses. Unlike the OT high priest, who was away from the people because he was secluded for God, Jesus was with the people, sharing their lives and misery. It was because Jesus took part in human misery that it became easy for him to sympathize with us. It is this quality of ‘oneness with others in everything but sin’ that makes Jesus the great high priest. Jesus presented his life as an example for us to follow. 

In the Gospel, we find Jesus foretelling his death for the third time. Unfortunately, Jesus is misunderstood again. When he foretold his death for the first time, Peter stood against it; when he announced his passion and death for the second time, the disciples were fighting among themselves over who was the greatest among them; now it is the turn of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. But Jesus patiently explains to them about his ‘cup of passion’ (symbolizing the inward sufferings) and ‘baptism’ (symbolizing the outward sufferings). Though the disciples nodded as if they understood the meaning of Jesus’ words, the real understanding of the cup of passion and baptism dawned on them only when they all suffered for the sake of the Gospel in the future. Finding his disciples shallow in understanding the real import of his life and mission, Jesus demonstrates servanthood as a worthy model to imitate him. Servanthood represents Jesus’ birth, his ministry, and his death. Servanthood is the way of glory for the disciples of Jesus. 

The twenty-ninth Sunday offers important insights for our reflection. 

Servants in Love: ‘Servants in love’ is the alternate name for those who follow Christ. We draw our identity from our Master himself. Jesus relinquished his godhood and became a man so that he would not only live with us but also die for us. Jesus manifested his servanthood in love. We are called to follow his example. 

Glory through Suffering: For Christians, suffering is the way to glory. The pessimistic meaning associated with suffering was replaced with a positive outlook thanks to Christ’s sacrifice for us. Jesus taught us that suffering in love of others is not a misfortune but a virtue. Though we can resist suffering from our human strength, God’s grace inspires us to suffer in love just as Jesus did. 

Reliance on God: Following Jesus begins with our willingness. But it is accomplished through God’s grace. If we fail to rely on God, imitating Jesus becomes a bitter experience rather than a sweet task. Jesus transformed his crown of thorns into a bed of roses because of his relationship with his Father. Being God’s servant is only possible with strength coming from God. 

Let us pray that we may learn to be servants in love, imitating the life of our Master Servant!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar