Mt 20,17-28 – Saint Casimir – Optional Memorial
The geography of this page of the Gospel of Matthew is crucial to grasp its drama. Jesus is going up to Jerusalem, the city where his destiny will be fulfilled. He knows that there he will be delivered, condemned, put to death. And just as he ascends towards that place, he confides to his disciples what awaits him: passion, death and resurrection.
In this climate full of awareness and gravity, a scene appears that seems completely out of place: «Then the mother of Zebedee’s children approached him with her children, and prostrated herself to ask him something. He said to her: “What do you want?”. He answered him: ‘Tell these sons of mine to sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your kingdom.'” The request seems out of place. While Jesus talks about the cross, someone thinks about places of honor. As He announces the gift of life, the disciples imagine a distribution of power. But this doesn’t just reveal a mother’s ambition; shows, more profoundly, that no one has yet truly understood the logic of the Kingdom that Jesus inaugurates.
Jesus’ response is clear and at the same time revealing: «Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave; like the Son of man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Here every human criterion is overturned. Greatness does not coincide with dominion, but with service. Primacy is not a privilege, but a responsibility that is expressed in the gift of self. If we are disciples of Jesus, we must remember that we follow a crucified and resurrected king. Not a sovereign who imposes, but a Lord who delivers himself. Being his disciples means adopting his same logic: not seeking the first place, but being available for the last; do not expect to be served, but choose to serve.
True love is not measured by the position we occupybut by the willingness to give ourselves. This is the new mentality that Jesus came to inaugurate. And every time we forget it, we risk misunderstanding the Gospel, mistaking the Kingdom for a career and following it for an opportunity for affirmation. And this applies to the Pope and to the person ultimately responsible for the flower stand of the left altar of the most remote of our parishes.
