True Greatness
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- Luke 22: 14 - 23, 56
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for April 13, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
True Greatness
As we enter into Holy Week once again, this year we’ve been hearing from Luke’s Gospel at Mass on Sunday. And this Palm Sunday, we hear “The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.”
It can be an interesting exercise to compare the Gospel Accounts and note the difference of emphases between the different authors, what some included and others did not, where certain stories are placed, and things like that.
One example of story placement is how Luke places during the Last Supper, a conversation which Matthew and Mark place between Jesus and his disciples as they are about to enter into Jerusalem.
The conversation in question is the one about who would be the greatest among them. In all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus says in reply to the disciples:
“But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.”
[Luke 22:25-26]
Then, in Matthew and Mark, Jesus says:
“…the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
But in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says the same thing, but differently, and with reference to the Last Supper:
“For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”
As we approach Holy Thursday and the commemoration of Jesus’ gift of the Eucharist, it might be worth asking ourselves how do we come to the Lord’s table, who do we meet there, and how do we leave?
“…The Eucharist is the central act of our daily life because it is here, through our participation in Christ’s Paschal Mystery by dying and rising with Him, that we encounter the deepest meaning of the Resurrection. In the Eucharist, we also experience reconciliation with our brothers and sisters and unity of heart and soul as we, together with Christ, offer ourselves to the Father. It is in the Eucharist that Christ, our spiritual food, enables us to strengthen our baptismal and religious commitments. A natural outcome of our participation in the Eucharist is our devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament”