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Roman rulers, who loved position and authority. Those desired
power, privilege and position are now transformed or equipped
to embrace the cross.
Sacramental sense of sharing as a mark of resistance
to the empire

Jesus while promising to share his sufferings with
them which may have nothing to do with the prophesy of
martyrdom for them, but have a sacramental sense of sharing
in His death. Here we see a clear indication of Jesus’ invitation
to James and John to share in His experience of suffering,
which Jesus characterizes as a cup and a baptism. The cup was
an acknowledged metaphor for an experience of sharing while
baptism seems to be stretching of the term to denote a similar
experience.

Using therefore the poetic terms of the cup which
symbolises suffering and death and the baptism, familiar from
the Old Testament period (Ps.11:6, Isaiah 51:17,Ps.42:7 etc…) as
descriptions of suffering an immersion in overwhelming sorrow
, he tried to lead them to what lay between him and his glory
and therefore between them and the realization of their desire.
.Jesus’ words represent an effort to understand more deeply
what is implied in the church’s sacramental practices. These two
disciples were failed miserably to understand the very core of
Christ’s message and they do not grasp the cost of the kingdom.

Reflection and Conclusion

Today we live in a context in which religion and politics
join together to use violence as their tool and inject hatred in
human mind for their selfish and personal gains. Lordship and
authority over others are their key motives. James and John
the key characters in our reading desired to gain the prominent
positions from Jesus who compels us to lose our lives. They
were largely infected with the values of the Roman Empire.The
application of this teaching to the life of Mark’s own community

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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People