Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 25th July 2023

I had the great privilege, about 15 years’ ago, to visit the city of Santiago de Compostela on pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James the Apostle. On my many visits to northern Spain, I have also covered a good number of the sections of the famous Camino, which is so rich in historic churches, castles, towns and villages. It’s a part of the world, unique for its beauty, history and spirituality. Today, 25th July, the universal Church celebrates the feast of Saint James the Apostle, one of the sons of Zebedee. He is not to be confused with the leader of the early Church in Jerusalem, ‘James the brother of the Lord.’ (Ἰάκωβος ὁ Ἀδελφόθεος), possibly a son of Joseph by an earlier marriage and thought to have been martyred around the year 69. Today’s Gospel is about an incident related in the Gospels concerning James and his brother John, but it's their mother who speaks up for them, not their father!

 

We read from Matthew, (Mt 20: 20-28).

“The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’

  When the other ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

 

​Mothers can be embarrassing, especially when they come asking favours for their sons as did “the mother of the sons of Zebedee.” Jesus tells her straight, “You do not know what you are asking.” She must be out of her mind to ask such a favour. We hear no more of their mother, for Jesus now addresses her sons. When they say that they are prepared to drink the chalice that he is about to drink, the chalice of martyrdom and death, he tells them that drink it they can and they will, but seats at his right hand and left in the kingdom are not his to give. This privilege belongs to his Father alone. The other ten might well have been indignant, but would not their mothers have asked the same? What mother doesn’t want the best opportunities in life for her children? In response, Jesus has sound teaching for all twelve apostles. “Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave.” The lesson is one of humility and service. Such attitudes and forms of behaviour will lead to places of honour, as it were, in the kingdom of heaven, yet in heaven we will all be equally close to God and no one will be far from his heart and loving embrace. The punch line comes when Jesus speaks of himself. They must become like him, for “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”