DRINKING THE SAME CUP; DOING THE SAME MISSION
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time B
October 21, 2012
DRINKING THE SAME CUP; DOING THE SAME MISSION!
Political dynasty is a big issue from where I come. We never
see the end of families and clans being on the same road of what they love to
call “public service.” They drink of the same cups that run over with poise,
position, and power. If we go on in this strain, soon we might see fathers and
sons, first cousins and half-brothers with the same surnames occupying the
highest offices of the land, all in the name of “service.”
It is so easy for us in this forlorn part of the world to
identify with the two sons of Zebedee asking the Lord for a little favor, a
seemingly insignificant request. Come on! What harm can two brothers occupying
more or less equal places in the kingdom do? Haven’t they served the Lord?
Haven’t they given up family, home, and an entrepreneurial job with Zebedee as
chairman of the board, and the two as board members in the little fish trading
company in the lucrative shores of Galilee? Give me a break! We are just asking
for a little favor, for everyone knows we love to serve. Doesn’t everyone see
how great we are, and how much greater are the things we intend to do?
We Filipinos just love to literally and figuratively “drink
from the same cup.” Even now as I write, I am sure, in some little corner of
our poverty-ridden country, there is a group of men, young and old, who are
literally drinking from the same cup, sharing the same gin, or beer, or
lambanog (coconut wine), or some other strong spirit, like basi (rice wine). We
show our oneness in literally drinking from the same cup that we call “tagay”
(taking drinks by turns, in carefully graduated measures!)
We Filipinos love to go through things together … all for
one; one for all. We love to congregate during baptisms, weddings, fiestas, and
other invented occasions. And for many of us, including our armed forces, there
is nothing better than celebrating by drinking from the same cup, or, as the
case maybe, eating from the same banana leaves, in a celebration that is
graphically referred to, as a “boodle fight.”
James and John were doing the equivalent of such an
ill-concealed desire to stay on together, through thick and thin. Presumably,
since they were asking for right and left-hand positions in the “Kingdom,” what
they really had in mind, was more “thick” than “thin.” To push the analogy
further, it could safely be surmised that what they really had in mind, was not
more pain and suffering, but more glory and honor, as they were, indeed, looking
forward to the “kingdom.”
But yes, the Lord was intently observing, closely monitoring
the polls and the pulse of his close-in followers. But no, the Lord was not
impressed, and was not getting worked up either by the two brothers whose egos
were getting far bigger than their ability to understand the full implications
of what they were asking for.
The Lord was not one to fall for the shallowness of their
desires. He was not one to give in to the youthful excesses of two impulsive
young men, who were counting on being at the steeple, without counting the
steps to the steeple.
The Lord has bad news for them. No, the Lord had good news
for them. But that good news didn’t sound anything remotely related to being
“good.”
We all had our youthful excesses. We all know what it means
to dream far bigger than our real capabilities. We all understand what it means
to be taken up by ambition and greed. And yes! We all feel sad that our
politics is nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else but that which relates
to naked and selfish ambition. But to be honest, not even us holy clerics are
exempt from such manipulative positioning and ambitious plotting and scheming.
The Gospel tells us as much! And we get it straight from the
horses’ mouths – from James and John, no less.
But thanks be to God, today, we don’t have to be captive
audiences of the two. Thanks be to God, we, too, don’t have to be captive
audiences of our tri-media, biased, prejudiced, slanted and as manipulative as
manipulative can be. Thanks be to God, we have alternatives. And even if what
they say don’t approximate our definition of a “good life” in style, in power,
in position, and as members of an elite club who alone think they can “serve”
the people, we need to hear what they say. We need to see the alternative
culture. We need to be reminded that, one: there is indeed such a thing as
honest-to-goodness service; and second, that that service does not have to be
equated with power, wealth, position and control, backed up by hordes of adoring
and adulating fans that follow you only when they can get something from you
(with a little help from a lot of theatrics and gimmicks from mass media, of
course!)
Let us hear it from Isaiah, to start with. The servant he
speaks of, that of course, referred to Christ, was one who justified many
through his suffering. Clear enough?
Let us hear it, too, from the letter writer to the Hebrews.
The High Priest, again referring to Christ, was one who not only “sympathizes
with our weaknesses,” but also one who “has similarly been tested in every
way.”
But let us hear it direct from the horse’s mouth – the real
one – from the Lord Himself. He speaks and he knows whereof he speaks, of the
servant who does not lord it over others, but one who is great, but one whose
greatness is based on his being a real, authentic, genuine servant, not one
that is good only for tarpaulins and TV plug-ins, and star-studded campaign
gigs and all.
Now, this is tough. This is unacceptable. This is service
devoid of the title “honorable” and “distinguished” (even if one has not even
finished elementary education!) This is the real mccoy. And it is not fun, to
begin with. It does not pay. It does not lead to higher places. It does not
reward here and now. For what reason, we ask? “For the Son of Man did not come
to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”
Last thing I heard, there are two vacancies in the Lord’s
cabinet. Those who were called, sent, and placed there without applying are now
gone, after much suffering … Lorenzo de Manila, Pedro de Cebu (named
Calungsod), Blessed Mother Teresa, Blessed John Paul II … They all served and
suffered, and died!
Anybody interested? (oh, by the way, James and John changed
their minds. They don’t want the position anymore. They got something better,
by following the great servant leader of them all – their Lord and Master!)
They drank the same cup, eventually, and did the same mission. And they are
great, even without being part of the Lord’s cabinet.
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