Corpus Christi Blog

Glory through suffering and serving

10-18-2015HomiliesFr. Chad King

The disciples of Jesus, James and John, sons of Zebedee, asked Jesus a question.  “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”  A simple question, but a very powerful and meaningful request.  To sit at the right and left were the 2 most important positions at a banquet, to be closest to the host.  It is important for us to fully understand the significance of James and John’s question.  In doing so we will better understand Jesus’ answer, and gain a better understanding of the word Glory. 

Glory is not a word we use too often today.  The definition means to have ‘high renown or honor won by notable achievements’.  We might think of someone who has glory as someone of great fame and prestige.  Although today we might use the word ‘honor’ more often instead, glory is one of the most common words in Scripture and has significant importance in a religious context.  Glory- in the bible means a manifestation of the presence of God.  You might remember in the book of Exodus up on the mountain, Moses asks God, “Please show me your glory”.  And God says that “no human can see the glory of God and live”.  But out of love God tells Moses to turn his face toward the rock, and He would pass behind.  Moses couldn’t see the face of God but only God’s back.  So we can see that ‘glory’ refers to the splendor and majesty of God’s presence, and in the Old Testament, no one is worthy of that glory.  But in the New Testament, when the Christ child was to be revealed to the shepherds, Scripture says “An angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone around them”.   Another example is the Transfiguration, the Bible says that Peter, James, and John “saw his glory”- that is they recognized the Presence of God.  And Jesus, speaking to the Father, says, “I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.  Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world existed”.  It is clear that Jesus is referring to being in God the Father’s immense Presence, to see God face to face, and to enjoy the kind of intimate union that Jesus had with the Father before creation.  Scripture is clear that ‘glory’ is a majestic manifestation of God’s presence.  So it was clear that in this question by James and John, “grant that in your glory we may sit on your right and left, the same James and John who witnessed Jesus’ glory with the Father at the Transfiguration, are now boldly asking Jesus to allow them to be intimate with Him in the Presence of God, where they too can see God face to face.  But notice, that for James and John, just to be in the same vicinity as God wasn’t enough,  they asked to sit at the right and left, they wanted to be at the place of highest honor.

Although our Gospel says the other disciples were outraged at James and John, isn’t that what all of us should want.  Shouldn’t all of us desire to attain the glory of God, to dwell in His intimate Presence, and see God face to face?  We should desire for that intimate union, to be one with God.  However, day to day it is easy for us to become lazy in our spiritual lives, and become content with just doing the minimum to kind of squeeze our way into Heaven, or hope for a back door entrance to the pearly gates, without really striving to reach the inner realms. Like James and John, we should to strive for the complete union and perfection with God.  Are you, am I, striving for that union and that perfection, are we striving to become that Christ-like?

In our Gospel, Jesus then goes on to teach James and John, and the other disciples, how to gain that union and perfection with God.  In teaching them Jesus is actually teaching us too. Jesus says that to sit at his right and left was not for Him, but the Father to give.  Jesus asks his disciples, as he asks us, “Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with which I am baptized”.  Jesus is saying that the union with God begins with our baptism.  In each of our baptism we were baptized into God himself- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we become children of God and share in God’s divine nature.  Through our baptism all sin is wiped away from our soul and we are given direct access to the heart of God, we have the means through our baptism to attain that union with God.  The problem is all of us are tainted with sin and we have the tendency to find other roads that don’t lead us to the union with God, and we desire to find our own way to God and not really be guided by Him on the path he has chosen for us.

And my brothers and sisters, one of that paths God has for us to go on in order to be purified and attain perfection, and to make up for our sinful tendencies, is suffering.  Jesus asks, can you drink the cup that I drink?  What Jesus is referring to is the cup of affliction- one of the 4 cups memorialized in the Passover Sacrifice.  It is this cup of affliction which Jesus, in his humanity, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he is to be handed over to be crucified- Jesus prays- Father, let this cup pass from me (this cup of affliction- this cup of pain and suffering)- but not what I will, but your will be done”. 

Though innocent, Jesus willingly was handed over to the soldiers, even by being betrayed from a loved one, and willingly accepted the sentence of suffering to the point of death.  Jesus willingly carried the heavy Cross, he took on the tremendous pain and agony.  Though He is God, Jesus was willing to suffer and die in the most terrible way, crucifixion.  Even though God could have taken it away, Jesus willingly accepted the suffering and death because he knew it was the will of His Father.  Jesus knew that his suffering and death was for a greater good, for the good and salvation of every person.  And Jesus willingly suffered and died because he knew that was the path God had laid out for him, that was the path he had to follow in order to receive the glory of His Father once again. 

What about us my brothers and sisters, are we willing to become that Christ-like?  Are we willing to follow Christ, even if it means that the will of God is for us to suffer- and for some of us to suffer greatly and chronically?  Do we trust that even though the Father can take away our pain and suffering, if he doesn’t, then it is for a greater good?  And are we willing to take that path of suffering for the greater good and the will of the Father?  In our prayer, are we complaining and blaming God for not taking it away, or are we praying for the strength to persevere and accept it?  And are we intentionally uniting our sufferings and agonies to that of Christ for the greater good?  For some of us, dare I say all of us to some degree or another, to suffer in some way is the will of God for us, it is the path in which we are to attain the purification and union with God?

Jesus teaches us that if we want to be great in Heaven and attain the perfection of God, then we must become servants- we must be wanting to serve God and others.  We are called to eagerly give of ourselves and put the needs of others before our own.  We are called to be seeking ways to give of help and serve others.  We are called to have the attitude of service, the attitude of love, which is to want to do the good for others.  I’ve never been a waiter at a restaurant- but I can’t imagine how hard it must be to not have the ability to choose whom you will serve.  Having to meet the person where they are at, give what they ask for, cater to their every need, be willing to be mistreated, to clean up after them, and maybe not even get much of a tip for it.  But yet that is exactly what all of us are called to do in our daily lives!  Are we willing to give of ourselves for the needs and the good of others?  Are we seeking to serve others as best we can, or are we hoping someone else will so we won’t have to?  Jesus said, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”.  Jesus did that- are we willing to do that too?  Think about how in your life you can be a better servant.  That is the path we must take to receive the glory and perfect union with God.

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