In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Over the last few weeks, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have heard of our race being divided into two—publicans and pharisees, sheep and goats, righteous and unrighteous—and that we must repent, turn again to the living God and journey with Him with our own crosses: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
And having chosen to follow Him, having taken up this journey towards the Holy City, towards the Exodus out of the dominion of death, I come before the Lord and say to Him, “Teacher, I want You to do for me whatever I ask of You; Grant me to sit beside You in Your Glory.” This seems reasonable to me, I have chosen to follow Him, I have rejected the power of death, I know I must be as the publican, the sheep and the righteous. And the Lord looks upon me with compassion and love and says to me,
You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?
He does not reject my request but asks me if I fully understand it. I have chosen to follow Him but I have not suffered for Him, I have walked the path without yet any consequences. I am as a parent of a new-born baby—fully a parent yet with only theoretical knowledge of the trials and sacrifices that would entail over the coming years—so in the same way is my Christian faithfulness: untested, inexperienced, untried; I have heard the Gospel, I have chosen to follow it, but I have as yet not done it.
And the Lord looks into my heart. And if the Lord sees there both the desire to follow Him and the determination to do whatever is necessary for the sake of the Kingdom, He would say to me,
The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised.
For this it is to be a Christian, to be co-crucified with Christ so that we co-die with Him; and if we co-die with Him then we will co-rise with Him and co-reign with Him. And to be co-crucified with Him is to accept the ridicule, the pain, the service, the suffering, the cost of being a Christian in this world, to give without expecting return, to love not only those who love us but also those who hate us.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the request of the Sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17) was of someone young in the Faith, but the Lord sees into their hearts and honours their love for Him despite the presumption they have shown. And when the Lord looks into your hearts and He looks into mine, what will He find? Will He find the love of one who wishes to follow Him whatever the cost? Or will He find a fair-weather Christian, someone who shows faithfulness only when convenient, who is a Christian up-to and until something is required of him, who desires the freedom but not the service, the dignity without the responsibility?
Let us then, dear brothers and sisters, seek not only resurrection but also the Cross, let us demonstrate our fidelity to the Lord by serving rather than being served that we too may give even our lives as ransom for many. (cf. Mark 10:45) Let us be more than Christians in name, let us be Christians in deed.
That we may offer true praise, honour and worship to our crucified and risen Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, (John 14:6) together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
— Hebrews 9:11–14
At that time, Jesus took his twelve disciples, and he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise.” And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant of James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
— Mark 10:32–45