20220316 CAN YOU DRINK THE CUP?
16 March, 2022, Wednesday, 2nd Week of Lent
First reading |
Jeremiah 18:18-20 © |
My enemies are digging a pit for me
‘Come on,’ they said, ‘let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah; the priest will not run short of instruction without him, nor the sage of advice, nor the prophet of the word. Come on, let us hit at him with his own tongue; let us listen carefully to every word he says.’
Listen to me, O Lord,
hear what my adversaries are saying.
Should evil be returned for good?
For they are digging a pit for me.
Remember how I stood in your presence
to plead on their behalf,
to turn your wrath away from them.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 30(31):5-6,14-16 © |
Save me in your love, O Lord.
Release me from the snares they have hidden
for you are my refuge, Lord.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.
Save me in your love, O Lord.
I have heard the slander of the crowd,
fear is all around me,
as they plot together against me,
as they plan to take my life.
Save me in your love, O Lord.
But as for me, I trust in you, Lord;
I say: ‘You are my God.
My life is in your hands, deliver me
from the hands of those who hate me.’
Save me in your love, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Or: | Jn8:12 |
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Gospel |
Matthew 20:17-28 © |
They will condemn the Son of Man to death
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.’
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’
When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
CAN YOU DRINK THE CUP?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JER 18:18-20; PS 31:5-6,14-16; MT 20:17-28]
In the gospel, we read about the insensitive request of James and John for positions on the right and left of our Lord, even though the evangelist, out of reverence for the apostles, put the blame on the mother. It was a callous request, especially when our Lord was going up to Jerusalem to face His passion and death. Indeed, He was going to establish the reign of God but not the way the apostles thought in terms of a worldly and political kingdom. It was a selfish conception of the kingdom. They were slow to understand the real meaning of the kingdom of God that Jesus was going to establish. Three times, the Lord prophesied His imminent passion and death, but they brushed it aside or just could not comprehend what He was saying.
The response of our Lord to their request was, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” Take note how fast their reaction was. They replied, “We can.” Not only they did not know what they were asking, they had not thought through the price they would have had to pay to enter that kingdom. They failed to grasp the seriousness of the sacrifice that was required as a prerequisite for the Kingdom. They were no better than the outsiders, supporting Jesus only as the Messiah when He was popular. The crowds were not the disciples of the Lord for they were looking for a leader to lead the revolution, not a spiritual Messiah.
Like them, we never count the cost of discipleship. We think only of the glory, recognition, honour and rewards of discipleship. This can also be true even for some in priestly and religious life. Some think of assuming office in the Church. They seek to be leaders and movers but when they face challenges and difficulties, they become resentful, angry, bitter and disillusioned. They fail to realize that the cup that we are called to drink would be no different from that of our Lord and Jeremiah, the prophet. We will suffer ingratitude, slander, defamation, humiliation, rejection, torture and even death. Jesus said, “”Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.”
The price of sharing in Christ’s glory is that we become a ransom and a vicarious sacrifice for all. Jesus, our master, was the atonement sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. He paid the price of death, taking upon our sins and punishment as the High Priest of our faith. Through His sacrificial death, He brought the world to judgment. Those who saw how He was innocently killed repented, just like the Centurion and the apostles, even Judas who could not forgive himself. Those who saw Him after the resurrection came to understand clearer the nature of the glory of the Kingdom that Christ had come to give us. The cup which the disciples of our Lord is to share in His death.
Indeed, the cup we drink is that of servanthood. Jesus said, “You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is what every disciple must aspire to become, that self-sacrificial servant of the Lord. It is about humble and selfless service. We are not to act like tyrants and dictators. St Peter himself learnt what it took to be an elder. He wrote, “Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it – not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock.” (1 Pt 5:1-4)
Competition for status among peers is prevalent not just in society but even in Church. In the name of God and for His greater glory, we want to prove that we are better than other leaders, our organization is more organized, our church has more members, more active and richer, etc. Competition for honour and glory make us unfit for the kingdom. This was true for James and John and the rest of the apostles as well because they were angry at their request as they too sought a higher position. The Lord said, “Very well, you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.” In these words, the Lord reminds us that positions in the Church should never be the goal of ambition or worse still, human manipulation, but truly a divine calling. We must discern what the Lord wills for us and not what we will to become or to do. God will allocate us our positions in life in accordance with His divine plan.
However, it is not just who will be chosen to be in positions in Church and society, but even the assessment of what is honour is different. The truth is that the world’s models of success differ from that of Christ. Jesus makes it clear that God ranks success and glory differently from the way we do. A true leader is one who serves selflessly without concern for rewards, for titles and privileges. Leadership and positions of responsibility are a burden and a cross. Drinking the cup means to suffer persecution and martyrdom with the Lord.
This was the price that Jeremiah paid. He is a worthy example of a reluctant prophet. He was not keen to be a prophet when God called him. He excused himself by saying he did not have the gift of speech and that he was too young. This was because Jeremiah was a gentle loving man. He was not one who liked to reprimand people or say unpleasant things. But the Lord commanded him. Today, we read of his frustrations and how abandoned he felt. The political and religious establishment were against him. So too the false prophets. How could one person fight against the government, the academy and the media when they were all against him? Hence, he cried out to the Lord, “Listen to me Lord, hear what my adversaries are saying. Should evil be returned for good? For they are digging a pit for me. Remember how I stood in your presence to plead on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.”
But often, like the apostles, we do not take the warnings and demands of our Lord seriously. Ambition can blind us to the price of servant leadership. For some, in order to be recognized, they are ready to pay whatever the price to reach the top. Eventually, they create enemies, their lives are filled with envy, anger, retaliation, cheating, manipulating and even killing. Such people will ultimately destroy themselves even if they get what they want. There is no joy or peace for such people because power, wealth and honour do not last. What we sow is what we reap. We will in turn by betrayed by those who apparently support us. We will be cheated and stripped of our glory and power.
But the apostles had this saving grace in that although they were still worldly, they were loyal to our Lord. When the Lord told them of the bleak future ahead of them, they were willing to invest their lives in Him. They did not leave the Lord but stayed behind to learn the true meaning of greatness in service. Jesus was patient with them. He was ready to wait for them to change. The Lord does not expect us to be perfected overnight. But that does not mean that we will be spared the consequences of our folly. We will, like them, eventually emerge victorious after we have gone through the passion and death to ourselves.
But we need to strengthen our relationship with Him. Just as Jeremiah found strength in his intimacy with God, so too we can find strength to drink the cup only when we are in union with Him. Unless we share the mind and heart of our Lord, unless we contemplate on His example of unselfish love and unless we believe in His resurrection, we will not be able to have the faith to sustain us until the end. With the psalmist, we pray, “But as for me, I trust in you, Lord; I say: ‘You are my God. My life is in your hands, deliver me from the hands of those who hate me.” May the Lord enable us to drink the cup of salvation after our passion.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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