29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Bullet Points (Mark 10:35-45)

• It’s election season once again. Many individuals, especially politicians, want to have positions in the government—promising to serve their constituents. Well, you know what usually happens in the Philippines after elections—those who were not given positions joined the opposition and those who were given positions seem to end up in graft and corruption… all because of ambition.
• The gospel today tells us something about James and John. It tells us that they were ambitious. They expected the Messiah to be a political figure who would overthrow the Romans and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. And when the victory is won and the triumph is complete, James and John wanted to make sure that they will have the best jobs in the kingdom. They wanted to be great by having great positions.
• All of us want to be great and that’s alright. The question is how and what for? Today’s gospel gives us the criterion of greatness that the Lord himself has set: “Anyone who aspires to be great must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of others.” If you want to be great, be the TSIMOY at TSIMAY ng bayan! Greatness, therefore, is based on our ability to serve others and to offer our lives for our fellowmen.