Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.”
Overview
Today’s readings go to the heart of the human experience: What are we here for? Does our life have meaning and purpose?
In our Old Testament reading Job is railing at God for his suffering. What has he done to deserve this?
In the Gospel this week James and John are arguing over their status; they want to be important; they want to be significant.
In each reading their lives are put in perspective. They are shown, on the one hand, how tiny and insignificant their lives are in the sweep of the universal history and, on the other hand, how this broad view gives them back a different kind of significance. What they achieve and acquire is ultimately worthless, yet their own individual being is part of the great and beautiful sweep of universal history and salvation. When we let go of our egos and accept our innate God-given godliness, we can inhabit our lives as a tiny, yet unique and particular, facet of God’s glorious story.
Readings
FIRST READING
Job 38:1-7; 34-41
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when they crouch in their dens,
or lie in wait in their covert?
Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food?
GOSPEL
Mark 10:35-45
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
