“Lord, whom can I serve?”

Mark 10, 35-45

In the gospel today Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee in front
of his disciples, and they follow him, perhaps a bit reluctantly,
because he has already explained twice to them the purpose of the
journey to Jerusalem. Jesus had said that he is going to Jerusalem to
be insulted, condemned to death, tortured and killed—who would want to follow this guy??!? Jesus had explained this so clearly to those who would follow him, but in reality, his disciples still don’t understand this. I wonder if I really understand his words?

And then slowly James and John walk a little faster and catch up to
him. And their request to Jesus, unfortunately, sounds a little bit
like my own prayer life, “Lord, I want you to do what ever I ask!”
Now I hope that I am not quite as arrogant in my own prayers and
needs, but sometimes it seems that I am constantly telling the Lord
what to do in my life. My prayer is reduced to a list of things I
think God should fix. And maybe you too are doing the same.
Thankfully, Jesus looks at them kindly, doesn’t rebuke them, and asks
them, “do you really know what you are asking?”

We pray to be good Christians...do we know what we are really asking?
We pray that we want to follow Jesus...do we really understand this?
Each time we gather in this chapel, we glance ahead to see what
happened in Jerusalem. Do you understand that to be a Christian, to
be a disciple and follow Jesus, you can expect only the same? The cup
that Jesus drinks is death, death to self, death to self-centeredness,
death to sin and false pride, and ultimately physical death. The
baptism he shares is service.

For many Christians, and I think especially for us in religious life,
we so often speak and pray that our desire is “to serve the Lord.”
Yet this gospel seems to turn this around. I think often that my
life, my vocation, my desire to follow Jesus is always focused on
serving the Lord. But the gospel today explains how this is done.
You see, serving the Lord, means becoming a servant of others and in
fact, in the words of St. Mark...to be a slave.

Now most often, I think I do a pretty good job at this service
thing...but then I examine the gospel again and realize there is one
more condition. I’m really pretty good at serving others, I think,
especially when I can choose those whom I want to serve! But the
Gospel today is clear, “whoever wishes to be first among you will be
the slave of all. No exceptions. No exclusions.

And so once again, the gospel turns our human way of doing things
upside down. Husbands how will you serve your wife? Parents, how
will you serve your children? Superiors, how will you serve the
novices? What about the friend who has hurt you, the family member
who has a grudge against you, the widow, the orphan, the person living
with AIDS. How will you serve?

There is nothing wrong with prayers of petition, but today we learn,
the answer to our deepest needs, will always be a call urging us to
serve. Today, instead of praying, “Lord do for me whatever I ask,”
today our prayer must be, “Lord, whom can I serve?”

What Jesus reminds us today is that if you are serious about being a
disciple, if you really want to follow and serve the Lord, you are on
the way to Jerusalem, and the only response can be loving service to
others, all others, no exceptions.