Saturday, 25^th of July – Feast of St James the Apostle – Matthew 20:20-28

Today’s text places Jesus on the threshold of his ministry and his approaching suffering, death, and resurrection, with the Gospel leading into Holy Week and his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Just prior to this passage, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection for the third time—proving that even as the crowds cheered his arrival, his eyes were already fixed on the cross.

In the midst of this, Salome, the mother of James and John, steps in to ask for a favor. This was clearly no ordinary request, as she kneels reverently before our Lord. While we cannot know the mind of Christ, his response is striking, “What do you want?” We often fail to realise that Jesus can see right through our grand gestures straight to the true motives of our hearts.

Contrast Salome’s privilege with the desperation of the two blind men sitting by the roadside in Matthew 20:30-31. They, too, seek a favor from Jesus, but while the mother of James and John kneels comfortably to ask for power, these men are forced to aggressively shout through a rebuking crowd, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”.

Both, Salome and the blind men are asking for something. She for her sons the blind men for themselves. Both of them use a different style of approach; one kneels and the other shouts out. Both get the Lord’s attention yet Salome’s wish is not granted but the blind men’s wish is

When Jesus stops to address them in Matthew 20:32, his question shifts slightly to, “What do you want me to do for you?”—proving that those who ask for mercy get a specific offer of service, while those who ask for status get questioned on their motives.

Jesus almost seems peeved with Salome and he sounds curt in his response, yet the blind men get a pointed question from the Lord, as if to suggest that Jesus would do for them what they asked no matter what.

Interestingly, when Salome asks the Lord a question, he does not answer her but turns to ‘her boys’ who seem to have accompanied her or were just hanging around. Relying on the trends our human nature sets, I think it is the former, not the latter. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” asks Jesus. Our Lord knew that a couple of verses later he would enter Jerusalem and that would be his darkest hour of suffering.

St. James and his brother John clearly want a share in the glory. They desperately want the crown, but they completely fail to understand that the cross must come first. They wanted the destination of the throne without ever walking the path of the tomb.

 They speak out of zeal not out of knowledge when they say, “We are able.” Discernment is so essential to the Christian life. A willing heart without a discerning mind will eagerly volunteer for a battle it does not yet understand. While I am enthusiastic to live for the Lord, he may want me to die for him. Remember he said, “Whoever loves his life will lose it.”

Our Lord’s response to James and John will forever be for each of us a point of constant reflection. How often have we asked the Lord for something that we think we deserve or that we want and his response is the same that he gave to James and John; “You do not know what you are asking.” We so often beg God to open doors of blessing, forgetting that we lack the strength to handle the weight of what lies behind them.

St James did get his cup of suffering. He was the first of the Apostles who suffered martyrdom. Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great who had massacred the Holy Innocents, was trying to please the Jews in every possible way. In the year 43, St James became the scapegoat to be used by Herod Agrippa. At this point in time, St James was the authoritative figure in Jerusalem. The church had grown substantially and the beheading of St James, it seems, was the object of appeasement for the Jews. When the truth moves the hearts of the masses, the powerful resort to violence to silence the message.

The Spanish though will vehemently claim that St James preached to them and that his body now rests in Compostela. This place was and still continues to draw thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.

If you are a druggist, potter or pilgrim, then St James is your patron. He is also invoked in times of war and for patients with rheumatism.