Deacon: Wisdom! Arise! Hear the Holy Gospel!

Priest:    Peace to you all. 

People:  And to your spirit.

Deacon:  A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [10:32-45]

People:  Glory to You Lord. Glory to You.

Priest:   Listen!

Deacon:

The disciples were on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus was walking ahead of them. They were in a daze, and the followers were worried. Once more Jesus took the twelve aside, and told them what was going to happen to him.

'Now we are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes.  They will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the gentiles. The gentiles will mock him, and spit on him, and scourge him, and put him to death.  But after three days he will arise again.'

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him.  They said, 'Master, we want you to do us a favour.'

He said 'What do you want me to do for you?'

They said, 'Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left, when you reach your glory.'

Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup I must drink? Can you be baptised as I must be baptised?'

They replied, 'We can'.

Jesus said to them, 'Then the cup I must drink, you will drink. With the baptism I must be baptised, you will be baptised. But as for seats at my right or left, they are not mine to give.  They belong to the people they have been reserved for.'  

When the other ten heard this, they were indignant with James and John.

So Jesus called them and said, 'You know, among the gentiles, their so-called rulers lord it over them. Their leading class push them around. This must not happen between you. No! Anyone who wants to be a leader among you, must be your servant. Anyone who wants to be first among you, must be slave for all of you.'

'The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. He came to give up his life, in ransom for the many.'   

People: Glory to You Lord. Glory to You.