Wednesday of 8th week in Ordinary Time, Yr. II: reflection

Theme: The request of James and John and the rest of us Christians

Reading: Mk 10:32–45

In today’s gospel, Jesus told his apostles that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die at the hands of the chief priests and scribes, and to be raised on the third day. While the other apostles were perhaps sober about what would become of their master, James and John were preoccupied with material gains from the messianic intervention in human history and, consequently, they failed to understand the exact role Jesus was going to Jerusalem for. Hence, they began asking for positions at his right and left, believing He was going to seize the seat of power in Jerusalem.

What James and John did is not dissimilar to what many Christians of today consider to be the normal. It has been observed that nowadays, wherever and whenever anyone is popularly hailed as a man of God, what 90% or more of those who rush to his church events want has nothing to do with hearing the word of God, repentance from sins, and salvation of their souls, but rather material upliftment, business success, and physical healing. Many Christians of our time have become accustomed to attaching material gains or welfare to everything about Jesus, just as James and John did in today’s gospel.

Material success, bodily healing, and other miracles related to material welfare have sadly become the only yardsticks used to measure God’s messages and true messengers of God by many Christians of our time. People appear to be less concerned with salvation of their souls or the spiritual impact of Christian events/messages on their souls. Often, many people have renounced their faith in Jesus because they didn’t receive the material help they prayed for.

Dear friends, the mission of Jesus is to liberate us from the dominion of darkness and to save our souls and, as often as it pleases God, He also uplifts the material nature of the persons who harbor these souls. So, any attempt to assess the mission of Jesus and his messengers in terms of material gains would be a-Christian (anti-Christian). We should, therefore, purify our motives for going to Jesus and for attending Christian gatherings.

May God open our minds to look beyond material gains in our relationship with Jesus. Amen.

Fr Isaac C. Chima