Everybody can be great....

Ambition can be a powerful force in people’s lives.  The Gospels reveal how even the worst ambitions can be masked by what appear to be good intentions.  Ambitious people sought to trap Jesus and eventually to put Him to death.  That same ambition, however, clouded their vision to the point where they saw Jesus as a threat to their power.

The Reign of God, the kingdom, rejects such ambitious power.  Jesus tells us what true kingdom values are: “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.  Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:17-28)

Jesus invited His disciples – and us - to live in power; not the ambitious, self-serving power, but the liberating power of sacrificial love.  The Kingdom of God is a kingdom where the power of love unites us to live as a community of disciples and as servants of the people of God.

Following Jesus is not something we ought to do half-way.  If we want to be a true follower of Christ then we, too, need to drink the chalice of His Precious Blood deep into our souls and to be nourished by that gift so that we are ready and willing to give of ourselves to the point of a total sacrifice.  We need to be ready and willing to hold nothing back, even if that means the greatest of sacrifice.

Very few people will be called to be literal martyrs like the Apostles were, but we are ALL called to be martyrs in spirit.  This means that we must be so completely given over to Christ and His will that we have died to ourselves.

So when Jesus asks us, “Can you drink of the chalice that I am going to drink?”, our resolve should be to say “Yes,” drink the chalice of His Precious Blood and daily offer our life in total sacrifice.  It will be well worth it!