Is it possible to live without suffering? Would this not be the most desirable life? Would not the best way to obtain it be to always flee the cross and satisfy our egoism in everything? Life without sorrow is a utopia, pure illusion. Man’s worst suffering is that of not suffering rightly, in view of an end that justifies his life.
Gospel of 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
35 “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.’ 36 And He said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ 37 And they said to Him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’
38 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?’ 39 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; 40 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.’
41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 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. 43 But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’” (Mk 10:35-45).
I – The Theology of Suffering
It is not unusual to find, among those who embark on the study of religion, signs of indignation analogous to the reaction of Clovis, king of the Franks, when he heard the narration of the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “Ah! Why was I not there with my Franks?”1 It is difficult to imagine how the Divine Saviour, Supreme Goodness, could have been killed, so unjustly and cruelly, with no one, not even one of the many beneficiaries of His miracles, coming forward to defend Him.
This Sunday’s liturgy furnishes an answer to this problem as it deals with what could be called the “theology of suffering”.
“Perfect knowledge” is reached through suffering
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah shows that Our Lord suffered everything possible to redeem mankind.2 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53:10-11).
In the hidden designs of God, the Father is pleased to allow the Son, the Servant of Yaweh, to be “bruised and put to grief.” It is a poignant expression, which evokes the grinding of wheat or the crushing of grapes in the winepress. And how did He endure this “bruising”? Serenely and tranquilly, like a lamb, without complaint, with utter patience and submission to the Father’s designs. Thus, St. Thomas teaches, He “merited the glory of being exalted, through the lowliness of His Passion.”3
Through the way of suffering, the prophet explains, Jesus was able to “see” and have “knowledge”. Now, what could Our Lord receive that He did not already have? He is God; therefore, He is Knowledge and Truth in substance! To what knowledge is Isaiah referring?
In Jesus Christ we may distinguish four types of knowledge: divine, because He is God; beatific, since His soul was created in the beatific vision; infused knowledge, received at the moment of His human conception; and experimental, in his humanity—the only one capable of growth, because “it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time,”4 to the degree that He had contact with things.
In His earthly life, to merit His own knowledge and, moreover, to obtain knowledge for others, Jesus had to suffer. He confirmed through experimental knowledge what He already knew through the other three, acquiring in this way perfect knowledge from the life of suffering.
Perfection is reached through the way of suffering
Isaiah shows us, then, that perfection is reached through suffering, in imitation of the Messiah. It becomes clear, then, that suffering well accepted is the only way to draw down divine blessings for the perpetuity of a supernatural work. There is no other means! Jesus showed us only one way to follow Him: “to take up the cross” (cf. Mk 8:34), through which we fulfill the Lord’s will.
Now, our nature is adverse to the cross; we have a horror of suffering and our instinct of conservation prompts us to flee from pain. This situation, so common to the human condition is presented and analysed in-depth in the Gospel of the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
II – The Final Ascent to Jerusalem
The Divine Redeemer is going up to Jerusalem for the last time. The Apostles try to dissuade Him, arguing that He is putting His life at great risk (cf. Jn 11:7-8), given the blatant hatred of the religious authorities against Him. But the Master does not waver. Thus, they are caught between the anxiety of the conservational instinct—of course they are concerned for Jesus, but they also fear for their own lives—and confidence in the mysterious power that He has repeatedly manifested.
In fact, the Apostles had difficulty fathoming the possibility of Jesus’ death. They imagined a Messiah in accord with their speculative intelligence, with a perfection matching their human criteria, who would assume the political rule of the nation. They judged that Our Lord could not die, because, with the extraordinary powers by which He healed and resurrected, He had the means to live indefinitely, and in this way He would mount a supreme earthly kingdom.
However, the thoughts and ways of the Saviour were very different and moved in a contrary direction. As they walked along, He very clearly revealed to them what would happen: “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” (Mk 10:33-34). Truly, He could not have been more explicit!
Directly after this revelation, seeming to have completely overlooked what they had heard, the brothers James and John make a surprisingly bold request to Jesus. On this, Lagrange notes: “For it seems that the lesson of the sufferings had yet to make a serious impression on the disciples; they did not imagine what relation these had to the Messianic work. Perhaps they even believed that the Master’s impression was mistaken. Whatever the case, He Himself spoke of the resurrection. All the rest was merely an episode over which they glossed lightly so that they could linger on this glory.”5
An unreasonable request received with goodness
35 “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.’”
They present this demand to Our Lord with complete confidence and familiarity, in front of the others. It could be classified as an inappropriate request, made in a thoughtless and tactless manner. There was every reason for it not to be heeded. But the reaction of the Divine Master is surprising.
36 “And He said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”
Although He was fully aware of their intentions, the Lord listens to them kindly, showing a willingness to heed them. In other words, God receives even apparently absurd requests benevolently. Why? Because, such is His desire to facilitate our way to salvation, that even when we behave unbecomingly, He receives us as the best of Fathers.
They ask for human glory; they received eternal happiness
37 “And they said to Him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’”
We are astonished when we read this verse today, almost two thousand years after the fact: how could St. James and St. John have spoken in this way? It is perplexing. Clearly, both of them were expecting an earthly glory with Our Lord becoming the King of Israel; that is, with the glory of a human Messiah conquering the political, social and financial power of the chosen nation. Thinking this was imminent, they banked on the likelihood of obtaining good posts, judging by the privileges that the Master had already granted them.
What is more impressive is that Jesus, in a certain sense, is ready to heed them, not granting them what they wish, but much more: eternal happiness in Heaven. Our Lord transfers their earthly request to heavenly glory, giving them “the gift of this enormous grace which is love of the Cross.”6
Our Lord always wants to give us the best
38ª “But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking.’”
For some, this verse is a condemnation of all and any desire for distinction, but there is no basis for this interpretation in Our Lord’s response. He makes it clear that the two brothers are asking for little. Their human nature is eager for worldly and fleeting honours, while the Master wishes to invite them to heavenly and eternal ones. Thus, He does not deny the request, whose full breadth they do not see. They do not know what they are asking because they are mistaken as to the type of honour desired.
This demonstrates that it is legitimate to aspire to reasonable earthly grandeur—as long as it is useful for the sanctification of the aspirant and of others—for St. Thomas teaches that, regarding temporal goods, “Our Lord forbade, not necessary, but inordinate solicitude.”7
The chalice of suffering
38b “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
The Redeemer’s response denotes that the sons of Zebedee are ignorant of how to attain this glory that they covet. Our Lord wants to grant it, but on the supernatural plane: “Instead of immediately admonishing the two brothers’ ambition, Jesus strives to correct the false concept that they have of His mission.”8
Our Saviour is well aware of all that He would suffer, and thus He mentions the chalice and the baptism of blood, both symbols of suffering.9 And in the Garden of Olives He would even ask: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee: remove this chalice from Me; but not what I will, but what Thou wilt” (Mk 14:36). Therefore, He asks St. James and St. John if they are prepared to drink the chalice that the first reading describes as being that of sorrow, suffering and tragedy. And the baptism of blood will correspond to the Passion of the Lamb: “Jesus speaks of immersion as if He must be engulfed in an abyss of torments.”10
Blindness before the perspective of pain
39a “And they said to Him, ‘We are able.’”
Undoubtedly, the two brothers assume that the chalice and the baptism to which Our Lord alludes represent the difficulties to be overcome in attaining the temporal glory they envisage, and therefore, it is worthwhile to confront them… They might have also optimistically believed this baptism to be one of honour and prestige.
Now, this error stems from not having comprehended Our Lord’s foretelling of His Passion and Death, which He had already broached three times, even outlining the torments He would suffer (Mk 8:31-32; 9:31; 10:33-34). Meanwhile the threats that this was impending were becoming increasingly clear (cf. Jn 10:31-40; 11:49-54).
But the Apostles, in their blind hope of earthly happiness, stubbornly clung to the idea of the temporal Messiah. They assigned a symbolic value to the Divine Master’s previsions, perhaps judging that He would finally spark a coup d’état and be proclaimed King of Israel, as the descendent of David that He was. James and John answered Our Lord’s question with alacrity: “We are able.”
God’s plans are unalterable
39b “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; 40 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.’”
To the request made on a merely natural plane and according to mistaken criteria, Our Lord answers from a supernatural perspective: from all eternity, God the Father has chosen each one’s place, according to the sapiential plan He has devised. Therefore, although the desire of the sons of Zebedee was legitimate, it was necessary, above all else, to fulfil the Father’s will.
In fact, the Master’s words about the two brothers were confirmed: history records St. James as the first Apostle to drink the chalice of martyrdom in Jerusalem, in the year 44 (cf. Acts 12:1-2). St. John is said to have died a natural death, at an advanced age, in the year 104. But the beloved disciple did not fail to “drink of the chalice,” for he was the only Apostle to personally follow the Passion of the Lord and to suffer together with Him, and, according to long-standing tradition, he was later thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, and emerged miraculously unharmed.11 Therefore, what Jesus foretold concerning both of them was fulfilled: they drank the chalice and experienced the baptism of blood.
The disputes in the Apostolic College before Pentecost
41 “And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.”
The remaining Apostles attentively followed the conversation at a distance, becoming indignant when they heard the two brothers’ request. Certainly, this was not out of true zeal for Jesus, but, perhaps, because each one believed himself more worthy to receive the desired honour. In the end, they also wished to enter this dispute. This clearly shows to what degree these twelve magnificent columns, upon which the sacred edifice of the Church would be erected had a human and social-political vision of Jesus Christ before the descent of the Holy Spirit, and that their eyes were fixed on gaining temporal power.
42 “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.’”
With this reference to the rulers of the time, Christ warns His Apostles that those who desire worldly glory and assume power out of self love ultimately become tyrants. Indeed, without the help of grace and the practice of virtue, the tendency of those in power is to oppress subordinates. Since the Jews had been enslaved on several occasions, they still bore the scars of bitter experience…
The criteria for pre-eminence among the good
43 “But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”
What should be the criteria for pre-eminence among the good? Our Lord would insist twice that it is one of submission; to be a servant and slave. Within the institution that He is founding, one must learn to serve: whoever serves more, will be greater; whoever serves less, will be among the least. The main qualification for the Kingdom of God is the willingness to serve.
Our Lord does not, therefore, condemn the desire to be the first in the line of goodness, but rather the erroneous way of reaching this position. “He is not shocked by the preoccupation of the disciples, nor does He contest the principle of hierarchy, but suggests the new spirit that must animate leaders.”12 Indeed, the way is that which He Himself gave example: service and slavery.
The example of the Son of Man
45 “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Since His infancy, Jesus completely subjected Himself and put Himself at the service of His Mother Mary and St. Joseph, while being their Creator and God. Furthermore, He submitted Himself to whoever needed Him, not to say to all of mankind whom He would redeem on the Cross.
This is how He ransoms and orders all of creation. In fact, the Apostle teaches that “almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). Christ came to pardon and save us, to serve and to give His life for us. And in Heaven, He is the closest to the throne of the Father, where, having our nature, He remains disposed to help us.
III – The Church’s Need for the Holy Spirit
We may distinguish two conversions in the Apostles before Pentecost.
The first was when, called by Jesus, they resolved to follow Him. Nevertheless, they still had a temporal notion of the Messiah, common to all the Jews of that time, especially those formed in the school of the Pharisees. And the Apostles—despite several having been guided and prepared by St. John the Baptist—maintained an entirely earthly notion of the Kingdom of God, in accord with Pharisaical principles. They believed they had found the Liberator of Israel, whom they would serve in a manner not entirely free of self-interest.13
The second conversion took place when, acknowledging their own wretchedness at having abandoned the Divine Master at the hour of the Passion, they received a special grace of repentance and began to consider Him within the ineffable mystery of the Cross.14 However, they persisted in their human perspective of the Messiah, to the point where they did not believe, at first, in His Resurrection (cf. Lk 24:9-12). At the time of the Ascension of the Lord, they still manifested their desire to see the Kingdom of Israel restored, according to this erroneous concept (cf. Acts 1:6-9).
The absurdity of wanting to adapt God to our mentality
As the Apostles constantly sought to adapt Our Lord’s extraordinary revelations to their previous mentality, their vision of the Good News remain distorted until the descent of the Paraclete in the Cenacle. There, the Holy Spirit took over the infused virtues in their souls, and made the gifts—which had been in a passive state, like a lamp switched off—light up with maximum energy. Only by the action of these gifts are the infused virtues able to attain their full and perfect development.15 We may thus judge the incomparable importance of the Holy Spirit’s action for the life of the Church, whom St. Cyril of Jerusalem calls “the Guardian and Sanctifier of the Church, the Ruler of souls, the Pilot of the tempest-tossed, who leads the wanderers to the light, and presides over the combatants, and crowns the victors.”16
Finally, with the effusion of the graces of Pentecost, this human vision of Our Lord died in the Apostles’ souls. However, under various guises, it has persisted throughout history, and perhaps we can even find vestiges of it in our own soul, like a worm gnawing at us from within, prompting us to base all our actions on egoism, for purely personal interest, considering religion from a social and political perspective.
Necessity of suffering to attain glory
In reflecting on today’s liturgy, we see that, for those who number among the good, the true and sole triumph is found in love of the cross and the acceptance of suffering. St. Paul teaches, in the second reading, that we have a great High Priest, “tempted in all things,” who intercedes for us and, therefore, whom we should approach with complete faith and confidence (cf. Heb 4:14-16).
This way indicated by Our Lord is not easy, but let us recall the famous expression of Corneille: “À vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.”17 There is no glory in a triumph won without dangers and risks. St. Augustine affirms: “No man becomes known to himself unless tried, nor can he be crowned except he shall have conquered, nor can he conquer except he shall have striven, nor can he strive except he shall have experienced an enemy, and temptations.”18 This victory is reserved only for souls united to God, who put their confidence in Him and thus are able to confront every danger.
Due to our nature, our optimistic vision of life, and our horror of suffering, we erroneously think that to triumph means to never suffer or experience misfortune. This is not what our arduous earthly existence tells us. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira affirms: “The life of the Church and the spiritual life of every Catholic are ceaseless struggles. Sometimes God grants days of splendid, visible and palpable grandeur to His Spouse, and gives souls admirable moments of interior or exterior consolation. However, the true glory of the Church and of the faithful comes from suffering and from fighting. It is an arid fight, with neither sensible beauty nor perceptible poetry. It is a fight in which one advances, at times, in the night of anonymity, in the mud of indifference or misunderstanding, amidst the storms and assaults unleashed by the combined forces of the world, the flesh and the devil. However, it is a fight that fills the Angels of Heaven with admiration and attracts the blessings of God.”19
Just as carbon must be submitted to extreme temperature and pressure in the earth’s mantle to be transformed into a diamond, in the same way, our souls need suffering, in this valley of tears, to merit heavenly glory. So as to successfully endure the sufferings that await us, let us, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, make the request contained in the psalm of today: “Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in Thee” (Ps 33:22). ◊
The true glory of the Church and of the faithful comes from suffering and from fighting. It is an arid fight, without sensible beauty […] However, it is a fight that fills the Angels of Heaven with admiration and attracts the blessings of God
