Twenty-ninth Sunday in ordinary Time Year B 17th October 2021
Lectionary readings: Isaiah 53 v4-12; Psalm 91 v9-16; Hebrews 5 v1-10; Mark 10 v35-45.
A lesson about ‘Kingship’.
James and John asked Jesus if they could sit beside him when he ‘came into his glory’
Jesus was disappointed by their request for places of honour. They had failed to understand his teaching about the nature of kingship within the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus called the disciples together and said: “You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be everyone’s slave. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people”. (Mark 10 v42-45).
Once again, Jesus refers to himself as the ‘Son of Man’. The disciples understood Jesus to be referring to a vision given to Daniel; I saw what looked like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he was presented to the Eternal God. He was crowned king and given power and glory so that all people of every nation and race would serve him. (Daniel 7 v13-14a).
The disciples understood that Jesus was God’s chosen Messiah and destined to become King, but they did not understand the nature of his kingship.
Jesus taught that within the Kingdom of God, the King loves his people, and wants them to live happy and fulfilled lives. In order for that to happen, the people must live in a world where justice and mercy are practised by all. Members of the royal household are the guardians of a healthy and sustainable environment, in which those who work the land, and those that care for the sick and elderly are valued just as much as those who make and sell things. Positions of honour would be granted to those who do God’s will, without counting the cost; those who are willing to give all they have for the common good.
Jesus demonstrated through his life, death and resurrection, that he was a servant king. Jesus was willing to serve others, to do whatever was necessary in order to reconcile humankind with their Father in heaven.
Graham Kendrick encourages us to ponder the paradox of Jesus as our ‘Servant King’ in his well known hymn, ‘From heaven you came’ (Singing the Faith No 272 v1, 4 and chorus)
From heaven you came, helpless babe, entered our world, your glory veiled,
not to be served but to serve, and give your life that we might live.
This is our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant king.
So let us learn how to serve and in our lives enthrone him,
each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version.