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By Bénédicte Rollin | Lithuania
They are totally off the mark.
That's the least that can be said about James and John, especially if we look at the context of their conversation with Jesus in today's Gospel passage.
Jesus has just, for the third time, spoken to his disciples about his mission as the suffering messiah and servant. He must be humiliated and rejected; he is heading for total failure in human eyes.
And then these two brothers come forward to ask for positions of honor in the Kingdom!
Matthew softens the blow in his account of this incident by involving their mother. But, as usual, Mark does not flatter the disciples.
In each of three prophecies about the Passion, Mark notes how inadequately the apostles respond.
They are unable to understand, even through simple empathy, what is in the heart of their master. They cannot accept his choice, admit that they are following a "loser" or, even more importantly, share his humility.
Ambition, jealousy, a competitive spirit and authority placed at the service of personal ambition…. These are the "norms" in the world of politics, business and the workplace. And they permeate the mentality of the disciples, just as they do ours.
But Jesus responds with this very firm teaching: "Among you it must not be so!"
Today's Gospel passage immediately brings to mind Pope Francis' tireless fight against the many forms of the abuse of power in the Church and, of course, the issues at stake in the in-depth work currently being done on synodality.
But we must not reduce this to a question of how the institution functions. What is essential is a profound change of mentality.
This is what the pope invites us to do when he urges us to contemplate the Crucified One.
"(Jesus) explains that his mission will culminate in the glory of the resurrection, but only after the abasement of the cross," Francis said last month in Budapest at the Mass to conclude the International Eucharistic Congress.
"In other words, (glory) would be revealed according to the wisdom of God, which, as Saint Paul tells us, 'is not of this age or of the rulers of this age' (1 Cor 2:6)," the pope said.
It's a shocking statement and it astonishes us.
In order to save us, Jesus became a servant; in order to give us life, he died. We should be astonished by this!
Before the Crucified One we experience a beneficial inner struggle, the bitter conflict between "thinking according to God" and "thinking according to mortals".
On the one hand, there is the logic of God, which is that of humble love. God's way rejects all imposition, all ostentation and triumphalism, and is always directed towards the good of others, even to the point of self-sacrifice.
On the other hand, there is the "thinking according to mortals": it is the logic of the world, attached to power and privilege, prestige and success; it's worried about what gets the most attention and allows one to show off in front of others.
He who reigns in silence on the cross is far removed from the false god that we would rather see reign by force and reduce our enemies to silence!
How different is the Christ, who offers himself with only his love, from the powerful and victorious messiahs adored by the world!
Bénédicte Rollin is a member of the Assumption Sisters in Vilnius (Lithuania).
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