Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
Three times Jesus speaks about his coming passion and three times the disciples do not understand. Peer did not, nor did the disciples as a group. This time James and John show their lack of understanding.
If we were Jesus, we would have been tempted to say, “I just told you that I was going to be crucified on a cross, and all you can think about is sitting on thrones as if you were Charles III of England!”
If we were disciples of Jesus, we would have to live the slogan, “one for all and all for one.” We would use the same drinking cup with the same contents in it. We would eat from the common table. We would walk the same walk, carry the same cross, die the same way. This one-for-all- and-all-for-one is what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Christ. For us, as for James, John and the rest, this is not easy, but it is something we can do. We can means that we have the power and the ability to follow Christ, not because of our power, but because we have God’s power.
If we become disciples, then we become part of the ransom for the many. Who, then, gets the ransom? Why, God, of course, who receives us, with Christ, as ransom.