TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY

2 Cor 4,7-15; Ps 125; Mt 20,20-28
25 JULY
I do not believe that there exists a more complete and perfect passage, to give full light to the passage of the Gospel offered to our meditation today, of the Song of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. Jesus wants his disciples to live his same service, but it is often ignored that He serves by expiating, He gives himself from the cross, as a Crucifix. He is the martyr of love.

See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him –  so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals – So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins,

Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. (But the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses (Is 52,13-53,12).

Jesus does not know other services. They do not belong to him. They do not exist in his kingdom. If they do not exist, he might not even assign them to his disciples. However, they will be introduced in his kingdom but by doing so a kingdom according to the world, not according to God will be made.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My cup 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.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. 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. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Every disciple of Jesus must avoid two temptations: avoiding to live as the kingdom of the world in the kingdom of God. Attention must be total. Avoiding to grant that others can do it. Jesus immediately rejects the request of James and John and corrects the thinking of his other disciples. Who is the kingdom of God must serve as the true kingdom of God as Jesus the Lord. He must be a collaborator of the kingdom of this world neither with words nor with works. These two temptations are lethal.

Faithful Virgin, Angels and Saints, help us to serve as Christ Jesus as true kingdom of God.