October 17, 2021 - Sunday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Is 53:10-11
Ps 33
Heb 4:14-16
Mk 10:35-45
The liturgy of the Word’s theme on this XXIX Sunday in Ordinary Time is that of life conceived and implemented as a service, not as a possession. The first reading offers us the 4th poem of the servant of Yahweh, in whose suffering and humiliation the Church sees a prefigurement of the suffering and death of Christ, who suffers for us, is in solidarity with us, and redeems us from our sins:
The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.
It is in him alone that we must hope, because he alone is our true point of reference: the earth is full of his love, he is our help and our shield:
Upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full. See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you.
The letter to the Hebrews invites us to be firm in our faith in him who, despite being the Son of God, wanted to experience, out of love, the weakness, temptation and pain that characterize the human condition after sin. Precisely for this reason we can approach him with full confidence:
Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
In the Gospel we see that the attitude of the sons of Zebedee is exactly the opposite of that of their Master: they behave like boastful teenagers, who only aim to be the stop and shine in front of their companions who, obviously, are indignant.
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’ response to the pretentious request of the sons of Zebedee is full of tenderness: he points out to the two disciples that they have asked for a privilege whose importance they cannot comprehend, in their ignorance. Moreover, it is not up to him to grant, yet he seems to approve their bold confidence in affirming that they are capable of drinking his cup: “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. It is as if he were saddened on behalf of the future suffering and death his apostles would endure in their human condition in testimony of the love they bear him, the Master, even if small and imperfect.
Then Jesus, aware that the indignation of the other ten is on the same level as the request of James and John, gives everyone a wonderful lesson in humility, service and self-giving, showing who the true disciple is:
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 Sunday liturgy prevails over the memorials of the saints, but today we cannot fail to remember St. Ignatius of Antioch, known as Theophorus, Syrian bishop and martyr, second successor of St. Peter on the chair of Antioch, numbered among the apostolic fathers and fathers of the Church.
A great witness to the fervor of the apostolic Church, his love for Christ made him one of the greatest apostles and missionaries.
Imitating his Master, he too became a suffering servant as Isaiah states in the first reading and was a priest tested like Jesus, as we read in the letter to the Hebrews. As the Gospel invites all of us to do, he drank the Lord’s cup and made himself a slave to all.
Led to Rome to be torn to pieces by wild beasts, he died in the tenth year of the emperor Trajan. During his journey, chained and harassed by a handful of soldiers (the 'ten leopards'), he wrote seven letters addressed to the Churches of Asia and Greece.
I am corresponding with all the churches and bidding them all realize that I am voluntarily dying for God — if, that is, you do not interfere. I plead with you, do not do me an unseasonable kindness. Let me be fodder for wild beasts — that is how I can get to God. I am God’s wheat and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts to make a pure loaf for Christ. I would rather that you fawn on the beasts so that they may be my tomb and no scrap of my body be left. Thus, when I have fallen asleep, I shall be a burden to no one. Then I shall be a real disciple of Jesus Christ when the world sees my body no more. Pray Christ for me that by these means I may become God’s sacrifice.
I do not give you orders like Peter and Paul. They were apostles: I am a convict. They were at liberty: I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall be emancipated by Jesus Christ; and united to him, I shall rise to freedom. Even now as a prisoner, I am learning to forgo my own wishes.
All the way from Syria to Rome I am fighting with wild beasts, by land and sea, night and day, chained as I am to ten leopards (I mean to a detachment of soldiers), who only get worse the better you treat them. But by their injustices I am becoming a better disciple, “though not for that reason am I acquitted.” What a thrill I shall have from the wild beasts that are ready for me! I hope they will make short work of me. I shall coax them on to eat me up at once and not to hold off, as sometimes happens, through fear. And if they are reluctant, I shall force them to it. Forgive me — I know what is good for me. Now is the moment I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing seen or unseen begrudge me making my way to Jesus Christ. Come fire, cross, battling with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of my whole body, cruel tortures of the devil — only let me get to Jesus Christ!
Not the wide bounds of earth nor the kingdoms of this world will avail me anything. “I would rather die” and get to Jesus Christ, than reign over the ends of the earth. That is whom I am looking for — the One who died for us. That is whom I want — the One who rose for us. I am going through the pangs of being born. Sympathize with me, my brothers! Do not stand in the way of my coming to life — do not wish death on me. Do not give back to the world one who wants to be God’s; do not trick him with material things. Let me get into the clear light and manhood will be mine. Let me imitate the Passion of my God. If anyone has Him in him, let him appreciate what I am longing for, and sympathize with me, realizing what I am going through.
The prince of this world wants to kidnap me and pervert my godly purpose. None of you, then, who will be there, must abet him. Rather be on my side — that is, on God’s. Do not talk Jesus Christ and set your heart on the world. Harbor no envy. If, when I arrive, I make a different plea, pay no attention to me.
Rather heed what I am now writing to you. For though alive, it is with a passion for death that I am writing to you. My Desire has been crucified and there burns in me no passion for material things. There is living water in me, which speaks and says inside me, “Come to the Father.”
I take no delight in corruptible food or in the dainties of this life. What I want is God’s bread, which is the flesh of Christ, who came from David’s line; and for drink I want his blood: an immortal love feast indeed!
I do not want to live any more on a human plane. And so it shall be, if you want it to. Want it to, so that you will be wanted! Despite the brevity of my letter, trust my request. Yes, Jesus Christ will clarify it for you and make you see I am really in earnest. He is the guileless mouth by which the Father has spoken truthfully. Pray for me that I reach my goal. I have written prompted, not by human passion, but by God’s will. If I suffer, it will be because you favored me. If I am rejected, it will be because you hated me.
Remember the church of Syria in your prayers. In my place they have God for their shepherd. Jesus Christ alone will look after them — he, and your love. I blush to be reckoned among them, for I do not deserve it, being the least of them and an afterthought. Yet by his mercy I shall be something, if, that is, I get to God. With my heart I greet you; and the churches which have welcomed me, not as a chance passer-by, but in the name of Jesus Christ, send their love. Indeed, even those that did not naturally lie on my route went ahead to prepare my welcome in the different towns.
I am sending this letter to you from Smyrna by those praiseworthy Ephesians. With me, along with many others, is Crocus — a person very dear to me. I trust you have had word about those who went ahead of me from Syria to Rome for God’s glory. Tell them I am nearly there. They are all a credit to God and to you; so you should give them every assistance. I am writing this to you on the twenty-fourth of August. Farewell, and hold out to the end with the patience of Jesus Christ.
(Ignatius to the Romans, IV-X, Early Christian Fathers, Cyril Richardson, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995, pp. 104-06)