Sharing in the Lord's Suffering

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

This episode takes place immediately after our Lord had prophesied His death and resurrection for the third and last time. Instead of responding to this and seeking further clarification, the disciples respond once again in the most inept and tactless way. On the first occasion, St Peter tried to convince our Lord to change His mind on going to Jerusalem. In the second instance, we have them secretly discussing who will be the greatest. Now on this third occasion, we have the two brothers privately seeking places of honour, and the others feeling indignant because these two had obviously jumped the gun in trying to secure promotions before the others had a chance to do so. They were more concerned about their positions in our Lord’s future organisation, that they were oblivious to His words on His imminent suffering and death.

In wanting to secure the top positions in the Messiah’s future government, the two brothers and other disciples had once again misunderstood the nature of our Lord’s mission and their identity as His disciples. Our Lord then throws them a challenge - will they be willing to drink the cup which He has to drink or be baptised with the baptism with which our Lord must be baptised. What is the meaning of this cup and baptism?

Obviously, our Lord is not just referring to the drinking cup which intimate friends and family members sometimes share at a meal as a sign of fellowship, nor is He referring to the baptism He received at the River Jordan when He was baptised by St John. In both instances, He is speaking of a future event symbolised by both the cup and the baptism. Our Lord is asking His disciples, which includes all of us, if we are willing to be united with Him in His redemptive suffering. Both the Eucharistic cup of the Blood of Christ and the baptism by which Christians are to undergo, are a participation in the death of Christ. In contrast to the world’s standards which see a sharing in a great king’s perks and benefits as a sign of honour, to share in Christ’s death and suffering would be the greatest privilege and honour for Christians.

Our Lord reminds us that the values of His Kingdom will be in stark contrast with the values of the world, values which prioritises privilege, power, and riches: “This is not to happen among you.” In fact, the values of the Kingdom will be profoundly counter-cultural and counter-intuitive: “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.” There is no place for self-promotion, rivalry or domineering conduct among Christians.

Ultimately, we are to look to Christ as the model par-excellence for greatness in the Kingdom of God. This last line sums up our Lord’s messianic mission: “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.” The words of our Lord are thus the fulfilment of the prophesy of Isaiah concerning the atoning suffering of the Servant which we had heard in the first reading. There is no way around this. This is the mission of the Suffering Servant. He has come to suffer for the atonement of sins. And it is clear in the gospel, that He did not only suffer, but came to die, “to give his life as a ransom for many.” God sent His Son to die on the cross for us and for our salvation. He could have redeemed us in another way that involved less agony for Jesus, but the suffering was a key part of the sacrifice. In the words of the theologian Jürgen Moltmann, “God not only participates in our suffering but also makes our suffering into His own, and takes our death into His life

The redemptive suffering of Christ which we are called to share, flies against common notions on suffering. Suffering is not an achievement trophy, like how athletes show us when they’ve put in the effort for a good workout. Neither is suffering a curse inflicted upon us by a cruel and sadistic God. Most certainly, suffering is not a mark of failure. By suffering for humanity, our Lord has transformed the curse into a blessing, into something redemptive.

But it isn’t only our Lord who suffers redemptively for us. He also invites us, by challenging us to share in the cup which He must drink and the baptism which He must undergo, to share in His work of redemption by uniting our suffering with His in an eternal offering of love. Seems like a crazy kind of love, right? But redemptive suffering is the most beautiful and perfect love. Offering up our suffering is a powerful way to become like Christ and love others, as He loves them. We are able to love this way because of grace. Redemptive suffering is a gift accorded to us because we are His friends. It is impossible for us to love this way on our own. It is only possible with God.

One of the most profound witnesses of redemptive suffering was Pope Saint John Paul II. Karol Wojtyla, as a young man and even during the early years of his pontificate, was a picture of health, vigour and vitality. However, in 1981, he suffered an assassination attempt in Rome. In the early 90s, however, a series of health problems began to take their toll. Describing the Holy Father in the fall of 1998, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stated: “The pain is written on his face. His figure is bent, and he needs to support himself on his pastoral staff. He leans on the cross, on the crucifix....” Despite the visible pain, he carried his suffering in a prophetic manner. His courage and perseverance in carrying out his activities as pope, despite his physical afflictions, was a heart-lifting example for all of us.

 In 1984, he published the apostolic letter “On the Christian Meaning of Suffering.” When confronted with suffering, most of us desperately seek answers to the question ‘Why’? Why me? Why now? The pope responds by telling us, that Christ does not really give us an answer to such questions, but rather a lived example. When we approach Christ with our questions about the reason for suffering, says the pope, we cannot help noticing that the one to whom we put the questions “is himself suffering and wishes to answer...from the Cross, from the heart of his own suffering.... “Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering,” he points out, “but before all else he says: ‘Follow me!’ Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world... Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him” (#26).

Many who suffer the infirmities of aging and illness may ask the poignant question, ‘What can I possibly do in my present condition?’ Old age and illness both seem to be impediments to all the things a person hopes to achieve in his or her life. But the Lord and the witness of the Saints remind us, especially those of you who are leaning on the cross of Christ, that your suffering need not be futile nor meaningless. Do not waste your sufferings by complaining about them or grow bitter as a result of them. For in courageously bearing with your sickness, your pain, your troubles, in continuing to show love despite your fatigue, you reveal and proclaim the profound mystery of Christ’s presence even in the midst of suffering. Through your suffering, you make visible and audible the Suffering Christ from the cross who invites us: “Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?”