After dealing with a rich man, who asked him what to do to inherit eternal life, and teaching the disciples about how earthly wealth may become an obstacle to enter the Kingdom of God, as described in the Gospel Reading of the Twenty-Eighth Sunday (Mark 10:17-30), Jesus began on his journey to Jerusalem.
Now that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem with his
disciples (Mark 10:32) to go through passion, death, and resurrection, as he
has foretold to them twice before (Mark 8:31; 9:31). This is to fulfill the
third and the fourth servant songs in the Book of Isaiah (50:4-9; 52:13-53:12).
It is for Jesus to offer himself as the necessary sacrifice to atone us with
God the Father so that we may be forgiven for our sins without offering
sacrifices, which the Law under the old covenant required (Hebrews 10:1-18; cf.
Leviticus 4:1-5:13; 16:1-34). It is also to let us deliver us from sin into the
freedom from it as the ultimate korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice lamb)(i.e.
John 1:29; 19:31; 1 Corinthians 5:7; cf. Exodus 12:2-15).
On the way, Jesus spoke again of his passion, death,
and resurrection:
Behold,
we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the
chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him
over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him
to death, but after three days he will rise (Mark 10:33-34).
This is the third prediction that Jesus spoke of his
suffering, death, and resurrection.
To this, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, reacted
with their ambition, asking Jesus to grant them to place one at his right and
the other at his left in his glory (Mark 10:35-37).
To their request, Jesus said:
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? (Mark 10:38).
James and John thought that
they could drink the cup and be baptized, as Jesus would (Mark 10:39a). So
Jesus said to these brothers:
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 (Mark 10:39b-40).
What is the cup that Jesus was speaking about, the cup
that he would drink? And what kind of baptism that Jesus was speaking about,
the baptism that he would be baptized into?
The cup that Jesus were to drink is the cup of
suffering to bear God’s wrath at our sins against Him. This is the cup that we
would have to drink as we were children of wrath due to our sins against God
(i.e. Ephesians 2:1-3; cf. Romans 2:5). Instead of us, Jesus would drink it so
that we would not have to. And he has done so on Good Friday (i.e. John
18:1-19:42). This is why Paul writes:
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty
does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even
find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still
sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by
his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much
more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also
boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation (Romans 5:6-11).
On the night before death, Jesus spoke, again, of the
cup that he drinks:
Abba, Father, all things are possible to
you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will
(Mark 14:36).
Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I
not drink the cup that the Father gave me? (John 18:11).
The cup of suffering due to God’s wrath is the cup
that symbolizes God’s judgement against those who offend Him. But God rather
prefers His people not to be subject to the cup.
Wake up, wake up! Arise, Jerusalem, You
who drank at the Lord’s hand the cup of his wrath; Who drained to the dregs the
bowl of staggering! (Isaiah 51:17).
Your children lie helpless at every street
corner like antelopes in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, the
rebuke of your God. But now, hear this, afflicted one, drunk, but not with wine.
Thus says the Lord, your Master, your God, who defends his people: See, I am
taking from your hand the cup of staggering; The bowl of my wrath you shall no
longer drink (Isaiah 51:20-22).
So, He sent His only begotten Son to take the cup for
us.
In addition to the cup, the baptism that Jesus would
be baptized is the baptism on the Cross, on which he shed his blood along with
water (John 19:33-35). But, because of this, we have the hope to be cleansed
and sanctified by God’s grace, through our martyrdom (i.e. Revelation 7:13-14;
cf. Matthew 24:21). Otherwise, the baptism of Jesus on the Cross means the
Divine Mercy to us, as Jesus revealed this truth to St. Maria Faustina Kwalska.
So she recorded words of Jesus as he revealed in her diary:
The two rays denote Blood and Water. The
pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands
for the Blood which is the life of souls...These two rays issued forth from the
very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on
the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the
one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay
hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy
(Diary 298-299).
Indeed, the cup of suffering into death and God’s wrath
that Jesus drinks for us brings the cup of salvation that we can drink, as
reflected in these words:
How can I repay the Lord for all the great
good done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the
Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people
(Psalm 116:12-14).
The cup of salvation that we can raise and drink from
is the cup of the blood of Christ, the new covenant (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians
11:25).
In essence, when Jesus asked James and John if they
could drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized the baptism that he is
baptized as he goes through his suffering and death, he was asking if they
would be capable to being martyred as Jesus suffers and dies. They thought they
could.
Jesus knew that they were not ready to taste martyr’s
death yet. But he knew that they would eventually (Mark 10:39b). Though John
did not shed his blood as Jesus kept him alive to let him witness his
eschatological revelation (i.e. John 21:20-22), his elder brother, James,
became the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:1-2).
As for who are to sit at the sides of Jesus in his
glory, it is not him to decide but the Father (Mark 10:40). This is because what
Jesus does is the will of the Father (John 5:19; John 5:30; John 6:38; John
8:26).
The bold expression of the ambition of James and John
triggered anger of the rest of the disciples (Mark 10:41), because they tried
to seek a special treatment from Jesus over them.
When Jesus foretold his suffering, death, and resurrection for the second time (Mark 9:31), they did not understand what Jesus was speaking about (Mark 9:32). So they began to argue among themselves who would be the greatest (Mark 9:33-34), reacting to the prospect of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection with their own narcissistic interest.
In response to Jesus’ third prediction of his passion,
death, and suffering (Mark 10:33-34), James and John reacted with their narcissistic
interest by asking him to put one at his right and the other at his left in his
glory (Mark 10:37). Then, the rest of the disciples grew indignant at these
brothers for asking Jesus a special favor (Mark 10:41), revealing their own
narcissism.
So, Jesus brought the disciples together, as the way
the rest of the disciples reacted James and John’s selfish ambition was making a
division (Mark 10:42a) and said:
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
(Mark 10:42b-45).
Again, Jesus admonished the disciples for their narcissistic
reaction to the third foretelling of his passion, death, and resurrection. The
last time, they reacted to his foretelling with narcissism by arguing who among
them would be the greatest (Mark 9:33-34) and reproved them with these words:
If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be
the last of all and the servant of all (Mark 10:35).
Then, placing a child among them (Mark 9:36) and said:
Whoever receives one child such as this in
my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives
not me but the One who sent me (Mark 9:37).
What is the running theme across these Jesus’
responses to the disciples’ self-interest was to remind them that the essence
of the discipleship is a service to one another and others with humility and
great care, especially for those who are devalued, marginalized, ignored, and
vulnerable. Being Jesus’ disciples are not like competing for a higher position.
It is not about lording over. These are what worldly ambitious people do. So
they curry favor to those who are more powerful than them with ambition to gain
a better position than others. But Jesus made it clear that such a worldly
competition has no place in the discipleship. Otherwise, the Church he vowed to
build would collapse due to divisions. Rather, Jesus directed the disciples to
be humble servers to their Lord, who is Jesus Christ, as he himself is a humble
server. This teaching was reiterated through his act of washing the disciples’
feet at the Last Supper (John 13:1-20). And he said that the service is an act
of fraternal love (John 13:34-35).
But the way Jesus serves is at much higher level,
because as these words, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as
a ransom for many “ (Mark 10:45), indicate, his service is to drink the cup
of suffering and to be baptized into death on the Cross, in order to redeem us
from the bonds of sin, so that we will not have to drink the cup of God’s wrath
but we can drink the cup of blessings and the cup of his blood as the new
covenant.
In regard to the servantship of Jesus, Paul calls us
to imitate him. So he wrote:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human
in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a
cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
Jesus the servant to pay ransom to free us from sin, by
drinking the cup of suffering and by being baptized into death on the Cross, serves
the Father, as it is His will to do so. For this, the Father is pleased, as
reflected in the First Reading (Isaiah 53:10-11), which is drawn from the fourth servant song (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). And this is why, as Paul puts it, the Father
exalts Jesus the Son (Philippians 2:9-11).
The fact that Jesus has drunk the cup of suffering
into death and been baptized into death on the Cross was an act of the high
priest from heaven, who sympathizes with our weakness to sin, allowing us to
confidently approach his throne of grace for taking away our sins through his
sacrifice, as reflected in the Second Reading (Hebrews 4:14-16). It is, indeed, out of mercy of God that Jesus
has drunk the cup and been baptized into death on the Cross, shedding his blood
for the cup of our blessings and the new covenant. And its essence is the
Divine Mercy. So we sing in the refrain of the responsorial Psalm:
Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place
our trust in you (Psalm 33:22).
No comments:
Post a Comment