What we want or what we need

Today’s gospel passage begins with a very bold request.  Two of the disciples – James and John – who are brothers, come to Jesus and say: Teacher, we want you do for us whatever we ask of you (Mk 10:35).  There was a time when some of us may have thought that such a question was rather impertinent, disrespectful, but in many cases today, the rules that once applied no longer seem to apply.  In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we all act in this manner when we come to Jesus to ask him for what we want: we present our prayer and we want him to do for us whatever we ask.

Sometimes, these prayers are couched in hidden desires too.  We attend Mass more often, we do our best to act obediently, and we secretly hope that in return, God will do whatever we ask of him, but how would we feel if the shoe was on the other foot?  Have we ever known a situation where people seem only to have time for us when they need something?  The human tendency is to react to such requests by pronouncing judgment, but Jesus is able to see beyond the limited vision of the disciples’ question.  He does not scold them for asking, nor does he punish us for presenting our requests in prayer.  Rather he encourages us to widen our understanding.

The question he asks of James and John, Jesus also asks of us: Are you willing to drink the cup that I must drink, or to be baptized with the baptism that I must be baptized with (Mk 10:38)?  Even then, in their eagerness, the disciples speak without thinking.  How often have we said yes to such conditions without giving them much thought and only later discover the truth that we have agreed to something that we didn’t truly understand?  In the world of business, we are always taught never to sign a contract before we have read it and understood the terms and conditions.  This same rule should apply in other circumstances too, but sometimes we act before we think.

Thankfully, Jesus is able to sympathize with us (cf Heb 4:15).  He knows that we sometimes speak out of turn, and he loves us so much that he is able to overlook our eagerness.  He knows exactly what we need and when we need it.  Who among us has not prayed for something and thought that our prayer had gone unheard, or at the very least unanswered.  Could it be that what we were asking for was not what we truly needed at the time?

The boldness of the question asked by James and John also provoked jealousy among the other disciples (cf Mk 10:41).  Here again, we see that they were unable to comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.  Jesus was always compassionate with them.  He was always willing to use such moments in order to teach important lessons: about love and sacrifice, about authority and power.

The prophet Isaiah spoke about the servant who would make many righteous (cf Is 53:11), but no one expected this servant to define greatness in terms of being servants (cf Mk 10:43-44), yet this is precisely what is needed.