Isaiah 53:10-11; Psalm 33; Hebrews 4:14-16 MARK 10:35-45
The readings today help us focus on the question of what God expects of us, and how we are loved by God.
Some words of Jesus are easier to understand than others. We have an example of that in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 10:35-45). There Jesus says, “For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’.”
Jesus’ words about coming to serve are readily understandable. Even non-Christians know that Jesus did not come to be waited upon by his followers. Rather, Jesus humbly served others. He healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He embraced the outcast. He offered forgiveness to the sinner. He proclaimed to all people that God’s kingdom of love, justice, and peace was breaking into this world. His ministry of service was dramatically illustrated when he stooped to wash the feet of his disciples.
However the words, “to give his life as a ransom for the many,” are not so readily understood. From what did Jesus ransom the many? What was holding them in its power?
We might suppose that Jesus ransomed us from the power of the devil, the power of darkness and death. Yet if that were so, it would seem to imply that evil was able to overcome good and could snatch us out of the hand of God.
Or perhaps Jesus ransomed us from the wrath of God that humanity incurred when it rebelled against God. We sinned, and the justice of God demanded satisfaction. But that idea seems to be contradicted by the image of the forgiving father found in the parable of the prodigal son. There the father demands no payment, no penance, to welcome back his wayward son.
Perhaps what Jesus did was to ransom us from ourselves. He ransomed us from our false ideas and misconceptions about ourselves, about others, and about God.
We see Jesus doing just that in Sunday’s Gospel as he “ransoms” John and James from the false idea that had taken hold of them – the idea that greatness was to be found in power and position. Instead, Jesus tells them, “anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all.”
Jesus ransoms us from the lies, the erroneous beliefs, the half-truths, the warped values that have tried to enslave humanity from the time of Adam and Eve.
Christ suffered to win back our trust. We read in the second reading from Hebrews “For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin.” But it is not enough to understand this with our minds. We have to learn to trust him with our lives, in our hearts, in all that we do. Again in Hebrews “Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.”
Today’s responsorial psalm captures the core of what Jesus attempts to teach his disciples: the only adequate response to suffering is to turn toward the Merciful One, in whom we place all our trust. This is not an explanation for how a merciful God can allow innocent persons to suffer, but it is the response of faith.
Jesus gave his life “as a ransom for the many.” He gave his life that we might know the truth and the truth would set us free.
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