Wednesday, March 23

Read It:
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus 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 chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“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.”
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.”

Reflect on It:

In today's Gospel, we see that Jesus did not come to be served but to serve. It was a radical concept even then! He gave his life as a ransom as many. Today's gospel is a great challenge for us to look at service. Not just service projects, or going to the soup kitchen, but do we truly have a servant's heart. Jesus was ALWAYS putting others before himself and he loved them with a sacrifical heart. That's what service is about: Being willing to die for another. Are we truly willing to die for our brothers and sisters in Christ? This may not mean physical death, but perhaps Christ is calling us to let our siblings choose the tv show you watch at night or for you to pray for the person at school that is so annoying. Death to yourself means little things like not taking the bigger peice of cake or choosing to have a tough conversation with someone. How can you be a servant to someone today?

Pray about it: Dear Lord, help me to know who you want me to serve today and how I can die to myself a little more each day. It is in dying that we are brought into eternal life.

Live it! Challenge: Today, choose to serve your parent (or another family member) by doing something for them today. Perhaps you can make them breakfast or do all the dishes in the sink, or do one of their chores.