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 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 is 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
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