What sign can you do?

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John 6:30-35 If I wasn't in the same boat as these sinners following Jesus I would probably be laughing right in their face. I often wonder how Jesus kept from rolling on the grass laughing at what some people do. Today we hear the crowd ask Him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?..." Is this not the same crowd who in verse 2 we are told - "followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick ."? Are these not the same people who in verse 14 " when they saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."? Yet still they seek a sign. However, they are not seeking a sign so that they might believe, they are wanting to be fed. Jesus worked a "sign" with the loaves and the fishes and now they want Him to do it again. Wisely, Jesus is using their bellies to get to their hearts; He is using earthly things to move them,
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Sharing the Cup of Suffering

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Matthew 20: 17-28

Sharing a cup is an intimate gesture. Most of us would not likely share our Coke with just anyone off the street. Even among family members it isn't a common practice. Hardly ever will you find me offering my brother or my best friend a sip out of my beer mug! The sharing of a cup shows a trust and love that goes beyond friendship.

In today's Gospel Jesus offers to share His cup with James and John, and with us. But first He tells them and us that, "You do not know what you are asking." He is saying that you don't know what you are getting yourself into. By answering, "We are able" we are saying that it doesn't matter, we don't care, we want to be where He is no matter what.

A good analogy for this event is a wedding. Here, a bride and groom promise to stay together come what may. The priest questions - rich or poor, sickness or health, and so on. The priest echoes the words of Christ in the fact that truly they do not know what they are getting into. They do not know what life has in store. They have an idea. They have a dream. They have fantasized about life together but they haven't a clue. The couple responds, "we are able" in their "I do".

In today's Gospel these Sons of Thunder don't have a clue but they are in love with Christ. Come what may, they want to be where He is. If He's going to Jerusalem, they are going too. If He is going to suffer, they are going too. Yet, like the bride and groom, James and John have no clue what all this really means, but they will. In the end they will find out what their vow to Him entails. They will know what it means to drink from His cup! And their relationship will survive the trial and shine like the stars for eternity.

At the beginning of your Christian life you said, "I am able." Don't give up on this relationship. Don't walk away from your true bridegroom. He is willing to share His cup with you, the cup of suffering. Ask any couple who has been married for any length of time and you will find that it is in drinking from this cup that they are strengthened, that the bond is forged - here and for here-after.

FROM THE SAINTS - 
"Drinking the cup of another was a sign of deep friendship and of readiness to share a common destiny. It is to this intimate relationship that Our Lord invites those who wish to follow him. To take part in the glorious resurrection one has to share the Cross with him." - Francis Fernandez - In Conversation with God #2, 15.1

"If you are working for Christ and imagine that a position of responsibility is anything but a burden, what disillusionment awaits you!" - Saint Josemaria Escriva (The Way #950)

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