The entrance antiphon of today's liturgy, describes the call of James the Apostle, whose feast we celebrate today: As he walked by the Sea Galilee, Jesus saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother mending their nets and called them" (cf. Mt. 4: 18, 21). And they followed the Lord and never left Him.
James and John were ordinary fishermen. Nothing out of the ordinary, like all of us. We are common folk whose hearts God knows! He sees what we are made us--He is our Creator--and He knows of what we are capable, in spite of our shortcomings, our weaknesses, our fears, our misguided ambitions. In the case of James and John, they commanded Jesus through their mother, that, in heaven, one sit at his right and the other at his left in the Kingdom. Jesus replies: "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink" (Matthew 20-28)?
Following Jesus, in any vocation, is not about being treated to special positions above others. Service, after the example of Jesus, means a self-emptying, a giving of ourselves for the sake of the other. In Jesus' case, self-emptying entailed being a victim of other people's jealousy, a jealousy that led persons to succumb to the evil of putting Jesus to death, getting Him, so to speak, out of their way of the power they coveted!
Power struggles are part of life. In fact, prior to their total conversion into what it means to be a disciple of the Lord, James and John and the other apostles strove for power over one another. Jesus says to them in today's Gospel: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. 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. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20: 20-28).
Whom are you serving? For whom are you willing to give your life?
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