Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking... whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The Atonement of Christ for the sins of mankind
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, before the childish claims of notoriety of the Apostles, Jesus opposed its divine responsibility: He wanted to "atone" (to pay) for our sins. In Jesus’ Passion, all the filth of the world touches the infinitely Pure one, the soul of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. While it is usually the case that anything unclean touching something clean renders it unclean, here it is the other way around.
Through this contact, the filth of the world is truly wiped out, transformed in the pain of infinite love. But is it not a "cruel God" who demands infinite Atonement? The reality of evil that disfigures the world and at the same time distorts the image of God is an existing reality through our sin. It cannot simply be ignored, it must be eliminated. It is not the case of a cruel God demanding the infinite; it is exactly the opposite: God himself becomes the focus of reconciliation, and in the person of his Son takes the suffering upon himself.
—God Himself grants His infinite purity to the world.
