Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
The mother of the sons of Zebedee had one strategy for approaching the suffering and death that the passion of Jesus would entail, but Jesus recommended another. Faced with the threat of imminent danger to her sons she desired to make sure that they would be compensated. If things were going to be as dire as Jesus had said she asked that they be maximally rewarded.
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
The response of Jesus showed them it was nothing so simple as compensation for their efforts. It was not something they could earn, nor even which Jesus himself could give. It was not a transaction which replaced something bad with something good. The reward required entering into the mystery of suffering together with Jesus himself. It would only be comprehensible in this context.
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
The reward of the Cross was not going to be authority that as the Gentiles or great ones understood it. It was not going to be something which in which the sons of Zebedee could take pride, nor something of which the other ten would become indignant if they had realized what it entailed. The reward of the Cross was that the partakers therein would be perfected in love, made in the most profound way servants of those around them.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
The thrones nearest to Jesus are reserved for those who give of themselves as he did. For to sit on these thrones is to partake of the divine nature, which is itself an eternal outpouring of love in which the Father begets the Son, and in which their mutual love breathes forth the Spirit. The passion of Christ is our entry point into a love that can offer itself completely, with nothing held back.
When we embrace the Cross of Christ we need not fear when our adversaries plot against us as the adversaries of Jeremiah plotted against him. We may well face a precarious and pit filled path ahead of us. We likely won't be recognized for much of the instruction or counsel or messages we try to offer. But even more than Jeremiah the Cross shows us how we can embrace hardship with the trust of sons and daughters, of friends to whom God has made known his very heart.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
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