On Jesus’ Terms

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, October 17, 2021

In today’s Gospel (Mark 10:35-45) James and John, two brothers and sons of Zebedee approach Jesus and say, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” James and John are in a very bad spiritual space because they are saying that their ego is the criterion, their ego determines what is good or bad. When you start telling God what he needs to do for you, you are in a very bad spiritual place too. The proper biblical attitude to prayer is always: “Speak Lord, I am listening.” It is always, “Not my will, but your will be done.” The right spiritual prayer surrenders ego unto God. It is not about us, rather about God. So, the next time you find yourself telling God, “Please, give me what I want,” try and change it to, “Please Lord, give me what you want for me.”. 

After James and John make their request, Jesus indulges them, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They say, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Within the Jewish framework, their request makes some sense. At this point, they are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. And the Messiah is meant to be the king who is going to reign over the twelve tribes of Israel, and by extension, he is going to be the Lord of all nations. That’s the expectation of every Jew, and it is also the expectation of these two brothers. Simply put, James and John want to be Jesus’ prime ministers when he begins to reign as the king of Israel. They want power and honor. 

Are power and honor in themselves bad things? No! We say that God is all powerful. So, power cannot be in itself a bad thing. Think about anyone in human history who had accomplished something impressive for the common good. They are people who in some degree have the reign of power. Power means the capacity to make things happen. Think about Abraham Lincoln. He used his presidential power to free the slaves and protect the union. Without power, all he could have done was to wish, to pray and to dream. Winston Churchill used the reigns of power in British political system in key moments in human history to hold off the Nazi tyranny and saved the western civilization. In a more spiritual order, Mother Teresa of Calcutta knew she had power and knew how to use it. She didn’t hesitate to use her spiritual power to convince Cardinals, Archbishops, and Popes to get things done. Think about Saint Pope John Paul II. He didn’t have tanks and armies, but he had power. When he came to Poland in 1979 and gave that famous speech in Victory Square and inspired the people to chant, “We want God! We want God! for fifteen minutes, he knew what he was doing. He was using his power to effect greater good. The fall of Soviet Union and the break up of the Communist empire in that part of the world without shots being fired was because of this very spiritually powerful man. So, power in itself is not a very bad thing. Even asking God for power is not bad in itself but it must be asked for the right  reasons.

James and John are also looking for honor. The deep desire of the human heart is to be honored, to be thought highly of, and to have titles and good positions. Is honor in itself a bad thing? No! We say that God is honored. We honor the saints, we honor especially the Blessed Mother. Saint Thomas Aquinas said that honor is the flag of virtue. When we see something good, something virtuous, we put a flag on it as a way of drawing people’s attention to it. There is nothing bad about this. But what is the problem? When we ask for honor in the wrong way and according to the wrong spirit, we wreak havoc. The problem with James and John here is not so much what they are asking for, but the spirit in which they are asking for it. They are asking for honor and power so that their egos might be aggrandized, might be puffed up. If this is the reason why some people want and aspire for power and honor, then we have serious problems. Look up and down the centuries, look through the history books, look through the Greek literature and what you find is loads and loads of examples of people who sought power and honor in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. In a very short order, they produced chaos around themselves. Such people exercise power not out of love, not for the sake of the good, not on the standpoint of wisdom, rather from the standpoint of ego and for the sake of ego. Think about figures like Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Stalin etc. The havoc these figures caused around themselves from the abuse of power is enormous. In the literature, Macbeth, the man Macbeth desperately wanted power and honor due to the prediction of witches. The three witches told him he would become king and from that very moment, all that Macbeth did was to acquire that power. Imagine the havoc he caused in that play. The destruction of his own soul and the lives of the people around him was immense. The hunger for honor can be destructive if unchecked. 

Sisters and brothers, all of us fall into this temptation: “Oh! If I get that position… if I get that title…” that kind of hunger, if unchecked can destroy us, can destroy organizations, and mess up people’s lives. Seek honor for the sake of God. Seek honor for the greater glory of God. Seek for power in order to effect God’s will in the world. Don’t come to Jesus and say, “Lord, we want you to give us whatever we want.” If you do, you are in a very bad spiritual space. What is the supreme irony of this story? James and John wanted to sit on both sides of Jesus when he comes into his glory. When does Jesus come into his glory? On the cross where he wears the crown of thorns! And over his head is placed a sign: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” That’s what James and John were anticipating, and it came true. He was indeed the King of the Jews. But he was reigning from the instrument of torture. And the crown he wore wasn’t the crown of gold but the crown of thorns. And who was at his right and at his left when he came into his glory?  The two criminals crucified with him. Do you want power and honor? Ask for them as long as you want them on Jesus’ terms, and not yours. The kind of power and honor that Jesus is going to give you can be seen not from worldly figures, but from those thieves crucified along with Jesus when he came into his glory. What’s the cure for the hunger for power and honor? Become like a child, as Jesus says. Be ready to be guided and be led by God.