Ambition, humility and Christian life

FROM A READING FOR OCT. 21, 29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
‘When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord will prosper...” — Is 53: 10

(Editor’s note: Other readings for this Sunday include Is 53:10-11 and Heb 4:14-16.)

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 10:35-45), we encounter the Sons of Zebedee, James and John. These two young men were Apostles, and indeed, John was the “beloved disciple” of the Lord.

John and James were privileged to be in the “inner circle” of the Lord Jesus’ disciples, along with Peter, witnessing both the revelation of His glory on Earth at His transfiguration — His highest moment in His earthly ministry, demonstrating His divinity — and in the garden during His agony on the night of his Last Supper, one of His lowest moments, showing His humanity.

These two young men were pretty high up there, to say the least, in the hierarchy of the Apostles.

Sons of thunder

In addition, these two Apostles were nicknamed the “sons of thunder” by the Lord, because of their temperaments (Mk 3:17). In another Gospel (Mt 20:20), the mother of James and John is the one who asks the Lord Jesus to grant her beloved sons a favored position in the kingdom of heaven.

So, it is a bit of a surprise when these sons of thunder make a bold request of Jesus: to “sit one at your right and the other at your left” when His kingdom comes in glory.

The other Apostles are, naturally enough, outraged by this. The Lord Jesus uses the incident as a teaching moment to speak about humility and service. The ambition of the Apostles James and John needs to be tempered.

Two thoughts

At the risk of sounding like I am contradicting Jesus’ words on humility, there is nothing wrong with being ambitious in our Christian life, as long as we keep in mind two things:

•  first, for whom are we ambitious? Is it for the Lord and building up the kingdom of God, or is it for ourselves?

Who’s getting the glory — us or the Lord? What are our motives? Are our intentions pure? Ambition for earthly titles and recognition, if done out of the wrong motives, can lead us to places where we do not want to go: the road to perdition.

•  Second, if we are ambitious for the kingdom of God, using our God-given talents and abilities for the Lord, are we willing to pay the price: namely, drinking the cup of His passion that the Lord drinks?

It’s great to have the titles, the prestige and the fame, but are we willing to suffer along with the Lord? Are we willing to suffer for our brothers and sisters?

Ambition, using the talents and gifts with which we have been blessed, is fine as long as our intentions are pure and as long as we are willing to, in imitation of the Lord, carry the cross we are given. Pray this week for the grace to discern this in our lives.