2nd Week of Lent - Wednesday - Christian Greatness

Yesterday’s Gospel ended with the words: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted”.  And today, the mother of two of Jesus’ Apostles, James and John, the sons of Zebedee comes seeking an exalted position for her sons in Jesus’ kingdom. 

She wants greatness for her sons, as any mother would.  So there is something commendable in her words, she wants the best of her children, and she has come to believe that Jesus was destined to be king.  Yet, that belief is a misunderstanding of what the Messiah’s kingship means and entails. 

James and John seemed pretty ready to grasp at it the worldly greatness, perhaps dreaming of endless wealth, celebrity recognition, political power, and command of military might. 

Jesus, however, defines “greatness” very differently.  Greatness comes from giving, and service, and sacrifice. Whoever wishes to be great must become a slave, he says.  Greatness comes in not being loved greatly, but in greatly loving, in serving others with one’s entire life. 

It is good to strive for greatness.  But, whose version of greatness do you strive for, the world’s or Christ’s?  The royal road to Christian greatness is the cross.  The Christian strives for great sanctity through great self-sacrifice.  The greatness of the saints is found in their ability to die to their own ambitions, and to pour themselves out abundantly in service to the kingdom of God. 

Jesus promises that James and John would drink of the same cup he would drink—the cup of torture and death for the salvation of souls.  James was the first of the Twelve to drink the cup of Christ when he was beheaded in Jerusalem about ten years after Jesus’ death by Herod Agrippa.  And although John was the only apostle to die a natural death, this was not before experiencing great hardship and exile.  One could say John lived a martyr’s life even if he never died a martyr’s death.

Are you leading a martyr’s life?  Does the courageous blood of the martyr’s flow in your veins in readiness to be poured out in service to Christ?

Through our intensified prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we pray that we become more conformed to Christ who suffered that we might have life, that attitudes of entitlement and self-preoccupation may be conquered within us, and that we continue to be lead in the way of self-sacrifice and service, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.