Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,                                                                          

 Jesus is calling the disciples to follow the same path to greatness: humble,

sacrificial service to each other.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊   

2 Corinthians 4:7-15

 However, we carry this treasure

In vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours but as God’s.   Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged.  We are left with­out answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed.   At any moment we carry in our person the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us. 

 For we, the living, are given up continually to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence.   And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

 

 We have received the same spirit of faith referred to in Scripture that says: I believed and so I spoke. We also believe and so we speak.   We know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us, with you, into his presence.   Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

 

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
Jesus is calling the disciples to follow the same path to greatness: humble, sacrificial service to each other.

Ps 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

Those who sow in tears, shall reap with shouts of joy.

 

 ＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 20:20-28

 Then the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down to ask a favor.   Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here you have my two sons. Grant that they may sit, one at your right and one at your left, when you are in your kingdom.”

 Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.”   Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it.”

 The other ten heard all this and were angry with the two brothers.   Then Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations act as tyrants, and the powerful oppress them.   It shall not be so among you; whoever wants to be more important in your group shall make himself your servant.  And if you want to be first, make yourself the servant of all.   Be like the Son of Man who has come, not to be served but to serve and to give his life to redeem many.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

A Failed Intercession

Close on heels on our reflection on the assured fruitfulness of intercessory prayers comes the story of a seemingly failed intercession: The mother of James and John came interceding for special places of honor for them in Christ’s kingdom. Jesus answers neither positively or negatively, but draws attention to the core problem with the prayer: “You do not know what you are asking,” he says.

 

At the core of her prayer was self-interest and displacement of others. Asking for places of honor for one’s own sons was all about honor for herself and the family. Worse, it was also ensuring that others did not receive a similar favor and were left lesser than her own children.

The intercession was all mired in narcissistic interests that sought to exclude than to include, to lord over others than to serve. Such intercessions do not work with God. Only those prayers that seek the genuine good of the other will please the heart of God.