A great problem we face today in understanding Our Lord’s words in the gospel is that we have a different understanding of glory than He did, as well as a different understanding of glory than He did.
But we may take heart in the fact that we are not alone in our mistaken understanding of these two concepts; indeed, we are in very good company – the apostles James and John! They too did not seem to grasp Our Lord’s hints that His moment of greatest glory would be his moment of greatest suffering – the hours He spent on the Cross.
All throughout the gospel we see the disciples either ignoring what Jesus has to say about His impending suffering or outright attempting to stop Him from embracing it.
We may see in this a reflection of how we approach suffering ourselves. Far too often for us it is something to be avoided at all costs, certainly not something connected to glory. Yet for Jesus suffering was something to be embraced generously and indeed the very thing that revealed the most genuine sort of glory – the glory of selfless love.
In Jesus we see that true power lies in service and true glory not in being able to avoid all suffering, but to have hearts selfless enough to embrace whatever suffering comes our way if there’s even the smallest chance it will benefit those we are called to love.
Fr. Michael Niemczak, Santa Maria De La Paz Parish in Santa Fe, New Mexico
