A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (18:18-20)
They said, ‘Come on, let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah, for priests will never be lost for Law, wise men never be lost for advice, prophets never be lost for the word. Come on, let us slander him and pay no attention to anything he says.’
Pay attention to me, Lord,
hear what my adversaries are saying.
Should evil be returned for good?
Now they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before you and spoke good of them,
to turn your wrath away from them.
The ‘confessions’ of Jeremiah contain personal outpourings of the prophet, often similar to the psalms of lament. This short passage begins with words of the enemies of the prophet. Are there not enough priests, wise teachers and prophets? We can surely do without this one! In his prayer the prophet turns to the Lord pleading for assistance. His sense of hurt is compounded, for he has spoken only the truth. They have ‘dug a pit’ for him, though he has constantly interceded for them. Jeremiah 38 reports that the prophet was thrown by his enemies into a muddy cistern.
Psalm 31 (30) has a similar tone to the words of Jeremiah’s confession. The psalmist pleads for release from those who slander him, and expresses his trust in the Lord.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (20:17-28)
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the road he took the Twelve aside on their own and said to them, ‘Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised up again.’
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and worshipped him; and he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ He said to them, ‘The cup you shall drink, but as for sitting at my right hand and my left, this is not mine to grant; that is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’
When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the gentiles the rulers lord it over them, and great men tyrannise them. Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your servant, just as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
In answer to Peter’s question about the reward the disciples could expect, Jesus has already promised they would sit ‘on twelve thrones’ (19:28). So it is no surprise that the mother of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, brings them to Jesus to make a request for places of honour in the kingdom. They are zealous for the kingdom, and, when Jesus speaks of the ‘cup’ of suffering, they remain committed. But places of honour in the kingdom are not the concern of Jesus, for they are ‘prepared by the Father’. When the other ten disciples hear about the conversation they are annoyed. Jesus speaks of how the ‘gentiles’ crave power and position. For the twelve by contrast there is the call to be a ‘servant’. Jesus understands himself in this way: he came to serve and ‘give his life as a ransom for many’. The suffering servant in Isaiah 53 is the model, for he ‘gives his life as a sin offering’.
It takes time for the full implications of discipleship to sink in.
For those who seek power and position for themselves, and not for service, we pray.