In the portion of Mark’s gospel that we heard today, James and John the Sons of Zebedee, who had given up the family fishing business to follow Jesus, come to him asking to be seated on his left and his right when he comes into his glory. It appears that James and John are simply…

James Hewett writes, “God did not save us to be a sensation. God saved us to be servants.” Today’s gospel reading provides a remarkable contrast between sensation and servant. In this reading we hear the story of two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, who make the request to Jesus to receive a position of…

Sounds like the office doesn’t it? Two up-and-coming members of the team take the boss aside and ask to be made vice presidents. Maybe they thought Jesus had an easy time talking, healing, and feeding. People often assume that a genius is someone who does things without much effort at all. It just happens. They…

Oh, how we want to be important! How badly, how desperately, we want to be favored, to be loved, to be special. How much we want Mom or Dad to love us best (some of you will remember the old Smothers Brothers routines where Tommy says, “Mom always loved you best!”). Clearly, the disciples were…

Once, in a time long past but remembered in stories and brought to mind by bits of pottery dug up from mounds of earth that experts say were once towns, there lived a servant. This servant, or so he proclaimed himself, had no visible master. This peculiarity disturbed many people who came in contact with…

The gospel today is a powerful reminder that all the ambitions that confront us in the office, on the job, in the community, all the pettiness that poisons our days, and all the jealousies that we feel are not something unique to us nor to our age. Even the disciples knew these emotions. Let us…