Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 19, 2003 Isaiah 53:10-11 Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45	Listen to Audio

The dialogue that we just heard between Jesus and his disciples depicts sin in action, and the efforts of grace to overcome sin.

It may not seem that this story was about sin. There are no dire warnings. There’s no threat of punishment that we usually associate with sin and evil. There’s no great tragedy in evidence, nor unspeakable horror. Yet the greatest evil is perhaps that the request of the two disciples seems so natural, so normal. Who can blame James and John for trying to get an inside track, and maybe a little greater advantage over the others in the final outcome of Jesus work?
And yet we get a glimpse of the results of sin in the resentment of the other disciples – sin begets sin, and leads to envy, argumentation, power struggles, greed. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how even petty sin can lead to violence and death. It happens all around us. And if we are honest, we feel its pull within us as well.

These weeks we are looking at sin in the Retreat for Everyday Life, and we are praying for the grace to see sin with God’s eyes. Last week, we were asked to see sin and the results of sin around us in our world. Not to look for blame, or guilt, or punishment, but to see – even to feel deeply – the emptiness, the void, the disorder that sin causes. This week, God is asking us to look at our own personal sinfulness – not to get discouraged or feel hopeless or be overcome with shame, but to open ourselves to God’s healing and forgiving power.

If you have been following the retreat guides, you will note that our experience of sin is described as a picture frame, which should not call attention to itself, but should point to the heart of the picture within it. Of course, the picture within is the presence of Jesus in our lives.

We can take the story in this Gospel reading as a guide to help us to identify the sources of sin in our lives, and to see how grace works, gently but firmly, to forgive and heal.

The request that James and John had doesn’t seem so wrong, does it? They may have thought they really had good reason. After all, they had the reputation of being “sons of thunder,” they were in Zebedee’s family, most likely a successful fishing enterprise on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They may have felt themselves uniquely qualified to be Jesus’ most trusted advisors and even generals of his army. They may also have wanted to make sure that Jesus did not make a mistake and pick the wrong person, like that dolt Simon Peter or that crook Judas Iscariot. Oh yes, they had good intentions.

The first thing Jesus tries to tell them is that they are playing in the wrong ballpark – or perhaps fighting in the wrong battlefield. He reinforces what he had already told them before. He was not to be a great warrior. In fact, following him meant only following him into suffering and death. Were they prepared for that?

They answered him yes without really knowing what they were saying, so Jesus paints them an unmistakable picture. He points out how authority is exercised in the world by dominating and controlling others. He says in no uncertain terms, “it must not be that way among you. Whoever wants to be great will be the servant of all.” And then he points simply to himself: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Of ourselves, we cannot change our lives and be the kind of servants that Jesus was and still is. At least not by ourselves. In this week’s retreat reflection and prayer on our own pride and sinfulness, we can only ask for the grace to see ourselves as Jesus does, to love ourselves as he loves us, and to place ourselves – sin and weakness and all – into his hands for healing and transformation. What experience teaches us we cannot do of ourselves, we pray for the trust to allow him to do in and for us.

If you have not yet started the Retreat for Everyday Life, it really is not too late. The retreat guides for the past few weeks and for the rest of October are at the Welcome Table in the patio. If you started last month, and perhaps have slipped a bit, now is a good time to get back into it. The graces and the rewards are many and well worth the effort.

© Thomas Welbers 2003