Jesus calls us to share in his chalice

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

A reflection on the daily readings, for the Feast of St. James, apostle, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

+ Earthen vessels! A perfect image. Very fragile and easily broken. And yet they can carry the contents of food or beverage. And this is the image that could easily be applied to the disciples both then and now.

The disciples carry within them the death or dying of Jesus, so that those to whom the disciples were preaching might discover the life of Jesus.

Add to that the perfectly suited psalm response, the repetitive —

 “Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.”

From one vantage point, it almost sounds like a woman in labor screaming out in pain, throbbing with her own sobs; then, a beautiful baby is born, and it was all worth it!

+ And isn’t this the call the apostles are receiving from Jesus in the Gospel passage today? In Mark, the two disciples ask it for themselves. In Matthew (our Gospel today), it is the mother of the two brothers that asks for her sons.

Jesus takes this situation and this moment to teach the heart of his Gospel to them all —

“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.”

Yikes! And yet, this is what Jesus said to them after his third prediction of his own death and resurrection. The first two times literally left them all speechless. It would seem that this third time they were beginning to hear the last part about resurrection and coming back. Was mom trying to guarantee a special place “in the kingdom” for her two sons? Were the others jealous, either because mom beat them all to the punch, or because it seemed that mom here and the two brothers in Mark’s Gospel were asking this behind their backs? It seems that jealousy lunged forward, because the two brothers were plotting their own “positions.”

They were all surprised by Jesus’ response —

“Drink my chalice!”

That is what Jesus was asking of each of them. That is what would happen to each of them for the rest of their lives. That is precisely what would happen to James, the first of the apostles to be martyred. And that is what Jesus calls each of us — his modern day disciples — to do now (although, most likely, not literal martyrdom).

Jesus the Christ calls us to share that chalice — to serve and not to be served — to empty that chalice so that others can become full to love, and forgive always and everywhere and everyone.

Earthen vessels — that is what each of us is called to become, and to be.