WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:06.160 When most people think of Saint James the Apostle, they think of one thing the Camino de Santiago. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:16.960 Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk across northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where the church has venerated his relics for centuries. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:25.039 Some walk for spiritual renewal, others for healing, some are searching for God, others are searching for themselves. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:32.799 But before Saint James became the patron saint of pilgrims, he first had to become a pilgrim of conversion. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.359 In fact, if you read the gospels carefully, James was not always the saint we imagine. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:44.560 He was ambitious, he was impulsive, he had a fiery temper. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:51.840 Jesus even gave him and his brother John a nickname Sons of Thunder. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:59.439 At one point they wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village because it had rejected Jesus. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.159 Now that hardly sounds like a saint. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.519 But today's gospel we find another revealing moment. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.200 Their mother approaches Jesus with a bold request. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:16.079 Command that these two sons of mine sit one at your right and the other on your left in your kingdom. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:22.400 She wants places of honor, she wants greatness, she wants influence for her sons. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:30.400 The other apostles become indignant, not because they are humble, but probably because they wanted those places for themselves. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.799 But notice what Jesus does. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.920 He does not condemn the desire for greatness. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.959 Instead, he completely redefines it. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:44.079 He says, Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.120 That sentence changed history. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:56.079 Before Christ, greatness was usually measured by power, by wealth, by military victories, by political influence. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:59.920 The more people served you, the greater you were. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.640 The greater you were considered. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:06.799 But Jesus turns the entire world upside down. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:13.919 In his kingdom, greatness is measured by how many people, how many people you serve? 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:18.479 The greatest person in the room is the one who loves the most. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:23.280 The greatest leader is the one willing to wash feet. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.159 The greatest disciples is the one willing to carry the cross. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:33.120 But then Jesus asks James a question that becomes the turning point of his life. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.639 Can you drink of the chalice that I'm about to give you? 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.800 Can you drink from the chalice that I'm going to drink from? 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.240 James answers immediately, we can. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.159 But I wonder if he understood what he was saying. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:03:00.400 The chalice Jesus speaks about is not first the Eucharistic chalice, it is the chalice of his passion, the chalice of suffering, the chalice of complete self-giving. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:04.319 James says yes before he understands the cost. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.319 Years later, after Pentecost, he would discover exactly what that yes required. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:16.000 According to the Acts of the Apostles, James becomes the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:22.960 Around the year forty-four, King Herod, Agrippa, ordered him to be executed by the sword. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.520 Think about that transformation. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:33.360 The ambitious young man who once sought a throne became the apostle who willingly embraced the cross. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:37.520 The son of thunder became a faithful witness. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:43.039 The man who wanted glory discovered that true glory passes through sacrifice. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.080 That's why the first reading is so beautiful today. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.960 Saint Paul writes, We hold these treasures in earthen vessels. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:53.039 What is the treasure? 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:55.439 Well, it's the life of Christ. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.280 What is the earthen vessel? 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:58.080 We are. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:03:59.039 Us. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:05.919 We are fragile, we become sick, we grow tired, we experience fear, we carry wounds. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:10.719 Yet God deliberately chooses fragile people to carry his gospel. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:11.439 Why? 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:16.319 Well, he says so that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.240 God has never waited for perfect people. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:25.519 He works through ordinary people who are willing to say yes over and over again. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.040 James was not chosen because he was already a saint. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.199 He became a saint because he kept allowing Christ to transform him. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:36.959 That should give every single one of us hope. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.560 Because sometimes we think our weaknesses disqualify us. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:50.240 I'm too impatient, I have failed too many times, I have far too great of weakness, I'm not holy enough, I don't know enough. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.680 Well, James would understand every one of those excuses. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:03.120 Yet Christ saw not only who James was, he saw who James could be, and he sees the same in all of us. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:07.199 Perhaps that's why the Camino has captivated so many people. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.399 It's not simply a walk across Spain. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:14.560 It's a reminder that the Christian life itself is a pilgrimage. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:17.680 No one becomes holy overnight. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:22.800 We stumble, we get back up, we grow, we learn, we keep walking. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.920 James did not become a saint in a single moment. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:34.800 He became a saint by following Christ one faithful step at a time, until that final step led him to martyrdom. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:43.120 Today Jesus asked each one of us a very same question he asked James, can you drink the chalice that I'm going to drink from? 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.560 Most of us, that will not mean shedding our blood. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:06:01.680 Will mean dying of selfishness, choosing to forgive over resentment, serving when no one notices, remaining faithful when life becomes difficult, loving when it costs us something. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:06.079 That's the chalice every Christian is asked to drink. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:11.839 And if we drink it with Christ, then one day we will also share in his resurrection. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.040 For the road to greatness has never changed. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.920 It is still the road that Saint James walked. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.000 It's the road of humble service. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:22.000 It's the road of the cross. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:27.680 It's the road that, in the end, always leads to the glory of Easter. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:28.639 Amen.