***1st Reading***

2 Cor 4:7–15

However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours but as God’s.  

Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged. We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned,  knocked down but not crushed. At any moment we carry in our person the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us.

For we, the living, are given up continually to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence. And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.We have received the same spirit of faith referred to in Scripture that says:I believed and so I spoke. 

We also believe and so we speak. We know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us, with you, into his presence. Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

 

**** Gospel ****

Matthew 20:20-28

Then the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down to ask a favor. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here you have my two sons. Grant that they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

 Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.”  Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it.”

The other ten heard all this and were angry with the two brothers.  Then Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations behave like tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. 

It shall not be so among you; whoever wants to be great in your community, Let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man who came, not to be served but to serve and to give his life to redeem many.”

 

Reflection gospel:

“THE SERVANT OF ALL.”

Jesus sets the criteria for greatness, that is service. It is not power or the position one assumes. He laid this down as distinctive feature of how things run in the kingdom. In the community of disciples, human affairs are not to proceed through ambition and power, but service as the principle that should characterize the community, particularly those who hold leadership position(s).

A stark contrast is made clear, and Jesus modeled the manner by which the disciples/we are to conduct themselves/ourselves. Service, as motivated by love, addresses and fills a need. It seeks and is directed toward the good of the other, it is a going out of oneself because it sees a need outside of himself/herself. Whereas ambition’s and power’s primary objective is self-interest. Because the are directed toward self-benefit, ambition and power corrupts the human person. Their oppressive exercise manipulates, abuse and destroy. And their end result is the disintegration of Earth-human relationship and community.