Homily on the Fifth Sunday of the Great Lent
Mark 10:32-45.
In today’s Gospel we have the Saint James and Saint John (the sons of Zebedee) asking that they may be granted the opportunity to sit on the left and righthand side of Christ in the Kingdom (heaven). However, what is striking is how Jesus responds to their request – he tells them that although they will taste from the same cup of suffering as He the honour of sitting at his right and left hand is not His to give but rather it can only be given to those for who it is prepared. Now this must have confused the first century Jews because as far as they were concerned the Christ for whom they were awaiting was to be a warlord sent to liberate Israel from its captivity! Christ then goes onto make clear that his reign is to be a reign of service. What do I mean by this? Well Christ states:
“…Whoever of you desires to be first shall be a slave to all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life (as) a ransom for many.”
Again, we have a hint of the suffering servant as prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 53:3:
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
And again, in today’s Gospel Christ states:
“Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will scourge Him, and spit on Him and kill Him. And on the third day He will rise again”.
Therefore, Christ is indicating that his path is to be a path of service which will bring him many sufferings – a path of loneliness, derision, and ultimately a path that will lead to his suffering, death, and resurrection!
What is clear here is that his Kingship is not being described in the terms one would expect such a Kingship to be described – rather, in many ways He is making us understand that his Kingship is not of this world; as his great mission is not of military conquest but rather of diakonia (service) which leads to the healing of that which is broken. In other words, He came, the great king, not to conquer the physical world with an army of loyal generals, but rather he came as the great physician/ servant to bring man back to His Father (God)! Saint Paul is Clear in today’s Epistle (Hebrews 9:11-14) on this in that Christ’s blood is the offering that will cleanse our conscience enabling us to truly serve God as goes on to state:
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Taking all of this into account it is then clear that our Lord and Saviour places a huge emphasis on service to others! However, is this just blind service or does this service have a purpose? Well just as the service (ministry) of our Lord and Saviour had a purpose i.e. reuniting fallen and broken man to his Father (God) so to must our service have a purpose – that of building God’s kingdom here on Earth! What do I mean by this? Put it this way as Christians we are called to help in anyway we can – we must never refuse to help someone! However, in saying this there are different types of service some better than others. Say one wishes to create a charity to benefit a region that has issues with the supply of food, is it not better to put money into teaching the people how to farm rather than just giving them food? If one does this than one gives this people, the long-term ability to feed themselves - a much better prospect than being dependant on others for food! So to it must be for us Christians when we offer to help we must like Christ seek a solution that will help the other person progress – progress in ways that will positively impact their growth as a person as well as positively impact their relationship with the All Holy Trinity! In other words, whilst the Church is called to service we the Church are NOT a social justice agency dispensing social justice! We are called to responsibly serve those in need in ways that will help them grow. All our actions are to be Christ centred and come out of Christ’s Mystical Body- His Church!
Christ’s earthly ministry was all about getting people to grow in ways that made them physically and spiritually healthy again. Think of it in this way Christ brought many sinners out of desperate situations to full spiritual and physical health - the most perfect example of this is how Christ rehabilitated Saint Mary Magdalen! Saint Mary Magdalen throughout her early life had been a prostitute meaning spiritually she was ill and subsequently far from God. However, through the forgiveness that she received from our Lord and Saviour she was renewed and grew to become one of the greatest early saints of Christ’s Church!
Finally, I have always thought of the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent as a sort of celebration of the order of the diaconate. In many ways this venerable order of clerical service has been over looked as just a stop on the way to becoming a priest! However, the deacon is a manifestation of the service of Christ par excellence. He the deacon is at the heart of the parish, it is his role to mix with the people finding out if they need help with anything, and then if required, alerting the priest to this need. Furthermore, the deacon has the ever-important role in the liturgy of not only helping the people pray but also of assisting the priest in offering the Holy Mysteries on behalf of the people of God! Also, it is the deacon’s role to be the one who instructs catechumens in the mysteries of the faith as well as lead the youth as they seek to grow close to God. Let us ever be thankful for our deacons for they exercise an important service(ministry) within the Body of Christ.
This week let our prayer be that we may always help others in ways that will help them grow and consequently be brought closer to the All Holy Trinity! Let us also pray for our deacons that Christ may bless and guide their ministry. Finally, let us pray that many more men will see value in being a deacon and answer the Lord in accepting this great ministry.
The ultimate example of Chris the servant as he humbles himself even to wash his disciples feet.
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