top of page

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Mark 10:35-45


“Can you drink the cup that I drink?”  (Mark 10:38)


When embarking on the great journey that is knowing Christ, often a desire is stirred up in us that we would do anything, go anywhere, for Him. We believe we would drink the cup that Jesus offers in today’s Gospel.  But then, when Jesus reveals the cup He wants us to drink, we reach a moment of shattering honesty that reveals we’re often only willing to drink the cup that we have planned out.  


Sure, some of us might think we’d go to the most desolate of places to share the good news of the Gospel without hesitation, but when the Lord says, no, you’ll better serve my name through offering up your suffering at home for the conversion of others, we don’t want to drink the cup.


Absolutely, we’ll stand on street corners, go door-to-door spreading the word of Christ to strangers, but when the Lord says, no, you’ll better serve my name through your steady and ever-present witness of my love to those you know, even though you will experience their judgment and rejection, we don’t want to drink the cup.  


Christ’s life was the embodiment of choosing to drink the cup, a cup no one expected Him to drink.  Imagine asking the messiah to choose a cup of death and pain.  But yet, look at the cup of suffering in humble obedience He willingly chose.  


In moments where the cup we find in front of us seems to be the farthest thing from what we’d choose, I find it a gift to be able to turn to St. Therese of Lisieux, who desperately wanted to be a missionary.  She died of tuberculosis without ever having the chance to fulfill that desire.  Yet we have named her the patron saint of missionaries, not because she was a literal missionary, but because she lovingly chose to drink the cup Jesus offered her.  


What is that cup for you?  Maybe you have had grand plans to share Christ in the most marvelous ways.  Maybe you would hop on a plane to anywhere without hesitation and look death in the face to speak the name of Jesus.  Those are beautiful desires, and maybe those are cups.  But I know for me, the question I need to ask is, right here, right now, what is the cup He is asking me to drink? 

0 comments

Comentários


bottom of page