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Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent

December 1, 2023

Invitatory

The earth is the Lord’s, for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Reading: Matthew 20:17-28

While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.’

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes 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 a ransom for many.’

Meditation- Rebecca Northington

I often wonder what goes through Jesus’s mind in these moments. Does he think “why do they persist with these kinds of questions? Why are they always worrying about who comes first, and who is more important? Haven’t I shown them, haven’t I explained ad nauseam that things are not as they believe them to be?” Even as Jesus describes the torment he is about to experience, all the mother of the sons of Zebedee concerns herself with is her understanding of the glory to come for her sons. As though she refuses to hear what he is really saying; which is that nothing will be as it was, no order or hierarchy, or “winning” as we understand it will exist after he is risen.

That mother, the sons, the disciples even, are all us, still, today. We respond to the incarnation and the resurrection with a “yeah, yeah, but what does it mean for me” attitude : how can I benefit? And yet God loves us still.

Inevitably my mind always goes back to the youth and their struggles in 2023, which are not that different really. We have parents responding to God’s story with an attitude of expectation, entitlement really; as though the sacrifice of Christ should guarantee something for our sons and daughters, without paying attention to the rest of the Gospel message. The end of this passage clarifies that while we may drink the cup, it is in the re-ordering of society that we experience greatness. Jesus says “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve”.

Much of today’s society places the spotlight squarely on each young person as though the camera is following their every move, and each one of them is a young prince or princess. I myself fall victim to this kind of parenting just as the mother of the sons of Zebedee did, as I do whatever I can to guarantee my kids have the life (or after life in her case) that they should have. But in this formula we all fail to allow them to be servants or slaves of Christ. In our misguided desire to provide and protect, we hamstring our young.

The documentary Mission Joy follows the friendship and conversations regarding joy that the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmund Tutu have explored over the last decade or so. It is an extraordinary film with many important takeaways, and one critical one, as it relates to this passage. Both of these giants of spirituality believe that joy comes from giving joy to others. It is simple really, and resonates with both of their faith traditions; but speaks directly to Jesus’s call to serve one another, in complete deference, with no personal gain.

Simply put: God wants us to have joy. God loves us, even when we are self-serving; but being self-serving does not bring us joy. Serving others does, and this is what God wants for us. As we enter this season of waiting and hoping for the baby Jesus to arrive and usher in a new world, I hope instead of physical gifts, we can remember to give of ourselves.

Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,