29th Sunday Ordinary Time – Jesus Came not to Be Served, but…

OK, this part is very odd, very curious. And I don’t know what to make of it. You be the judge… Jesus came NOT to be served but to serve, right? That’s what Sunday’s gospel said.

Mark 10:42            So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Just saying, the verb, dokeo, “to serve, to wait on, to provide for,” appears three times in Mark. In each occurrence, either angels or women serve Jesus. See for yourself.

Mark 1:12–14             And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,

Mark 1:31             He came and took her [Peter’s mother-in-law] by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

Mark 15:40–42            There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

 Whaaaaa?

It’s either one of those gospel conundrums or… ???