Twenty-ninth Sunday in
Ordinary Time
A cup. How many symbols are in that little word
cup. And so Jesus says can you drinking
of this cup. And of course they say, “Oh
yeah we can.” Jesus said, “Okay. You’re going to get it. You keep following me you’re going to have suffering;
you’re going to have hardship. It’s
going to be there.”
Now notice the other
disciples get a little bent out of shape because they think James and John are
beating them to the punch. Oh, you know
we want the glory as well. Isn’t that
true sometimes in our own lives? If
somebody else gets the recognition, somebody else seems to get all the attention;
we get a little bent out of shape. Well,
what about me? Look at all that I have
done. And you know we can get into our
little self pity traps as well.
So Jesus says, “Okay guys,
get together. Here’s what I’m
about. The willingness to serve. It’s not about glory. It’s not about the positions of authority or
power. How willing are you to serve the
needs of one another and to do it without the recognition, without all the
traps that come with it?” So maybe I
think that’s something for us to reflect on today.
You know we all probably
have plans in our life. Someone was
telling me one time. They said, “Do you
want to make God laugh?” I said, “Well
sure. How can I make God laugh?” This person said, “Just tell God your
plans.” We all have our plans
right? Our agenda. How we think it should go. How I think I should be honored or put in
places or whatever it might be. And God
says, “Don’t give me your plans, but if you’re looking for glory, authority,
power, control, manipulation all that kind of stuff, that’s not a part of My
plan.” That’s when Jesus really brings
us back down to remind us about that.
I think a couple simple
things we pull from our reflection this morning. Maybe today when you take your cup of coffee
or tea, whatever it might be. Just hold
that cup in your hand and think about what that represents for you. Your hardships, your difficulties, the pains
and sorrows, yes. But does it also
reflect for you how God has been there with you, how God has poured over you,
overflowed into your life the blessings, the joys, the gentleness, the peace,
the patience, the forgiveness through the presence of others through His own
abiding presence with you.
And then ask yourself, okay,
whatever this cup represents for me Lord, I thank you and I will drink this cup
today for giving me life this day and I get through another day I will drink it
with gratitude. If you get another day
tomorrow hold it again very gently and start all over again.
Another thought that comes
to me too is, maybe when is the last time, think about it, when you did
something good without expecting any reward or any recognition or notice. How humbling can we be about the good things
that we do? And I am sure that there are
many people here who do things very quietly, behind the scenes, either in the
parish, at your work, or in your home.
Sometimes you know human nature says, “Boy I wish someone would
recognize it.” God does. So come back again to your cup and sit gently
with it.