‘We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’
This is a nakedly honest and bad prayer. Of course, I want what I want, because what I want seems good to me, but what I want, whatever I ask, may actually be bad for me or for others.
A perfect prayer would be to echo Our Lord in Gethsemane: ‘Lord, I want you to do this for me, but even more I want you to do for me whatever you want to do for me.’
You do not know what you are asking. This is so often the case for us. We ask for something like James and John did, but we don’t know the cost. When the cost is pointed out to us, we may say we will pay it —as the brothers do— or go away sad —as the rich young man did— but we don’t know the actual cost until we experience it.
On the one hand, to drink the cup and to undergo the baptism was much harder than the brothers could know. On the other hand, to leave everything behind to follow Jesus could have been much easier than the rich young man imagined. The bottom line is, God knows better than we do, so we pray wisely, Thy will be done.
The brothers are right to understand that Our Lord chose them along with the other ten apostles to be rulers, but they did not understand the kind of rulers they were to become.
Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
This kind of authority is currently called servant leadership. It is love applied to ruling. Love is desires the true good of the other, even if this requires sacrifice —in Our Lord’s case, his passion and death, a sacrifice Jesus declared James and John would participate in.
Over time, the two brothers received a marvelous formation, because they went from foolish self-seeking to profound self-giving.
In the narrative of the young rich man, the Gospels present us two programs of life, two perspectives:
- The young man proposal; he was rich and wanted to somehow “add” Jesus to his life and reach eternal life.
- Jesus’ proposal; the youth would live fully as a son of God and an apostle of Jesus who happen to be rich.
What is my choice?
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