Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-14
Brethren:
But when Christ came as high priest of the good
things that have come to be, passing through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by
hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he
entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with
the blood of goats and calves but with his own
blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the
blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a
heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so
that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from dead works to worship the living
God.
Gospel: Mark 10:32-45
They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and
Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and
those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve
aside again, he began to tell them what was going to
happen to him. “Behold, we are going up to
Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to
the chief priests and the scribes, and they will
condemn him to death and hand him over to the
Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge
him, and put him to death, but after three days he
will rise.”
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to
him 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. Can you drink the cup
that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with
which I am baptized?” They said to him, “We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will
drink, and with the baptism with which I am
baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my
right or at my left is not mine to give but is for
those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at
James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to
them, “You know that those who are recognized as
rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their great ones make their authority over them
felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather,
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.”