In today’s Gospel we hear of the request made by the sons of
Zebedee, James and John, to be at the right hand and left hand
of Jesus in his glory.
In the Gospel of Mark, the expression “right-hand and left-hand”
only appears twice. In today’s Gospel, on the journey to
Jerusalem (Mk 10,37) and on Golgotha (Mk 15,27) when next to
Jesus are crucified two sinners, two criminals.
‘Right and left’ are key concepts not simply in terms of space
dimensions and organisation but in an anthropical sense, in the
Bible and within every human culture. They are places of honour
speaking of a proximity which is not merely physical but
theological. Two sinners hold these places. While James and John
want to seat near Jesus, Jesus ‘seats’ on his Cross near sinners.
But there is more. In Christian iconography, apart from the two
criminals, at the right hand and left hand of the crucified
Jesus we often see Angels holding chalices collecting his
precious blood. Who are they? What will they do with His blood?
These Angels are the Church evangelising. They go everywhere,
to announce that “the ransom for many (all)” has been paid. The
term ‘ransom’ (also in today’s Gospel) has a very specific
meaning. It is the price to be paid in order to set free
prisoners of war or insolvent slaves, otherwise destined to be
sold or to remain in prison.
In two months, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of Saint
Peter’s and of the other three Papal Basilicas making the
beginning of the Jubilee Year of Hope. With one sole exception,
a Holy Door will be opened in a prison to “offer prisoners a
concrete sign of closeness”.
Whether on the right-side or left-side, we are all called to see
ourselves as sinners who have been loved, slaves who have been
set free, prisoners whose future is different from their past.
