# What Real Power Looks Like - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 24 Jul 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73038752/what_real_power_looks_like_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you friends. Our gospel's taken from the
[0:02] Speaker 1: tenth chapter of Mark, and it's such high octane spiritual
[0:07] Speaker 1: business here. It just behooves us to attend very carefully
[0:11] Speaker 1: to these dynamics, because what's being laid out for us
[0:15] Speaker 1: is something just pivotal in the spiritual order. Here's what
[0:18] Speaker 1: we hear. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came
[0:22] Speaker 1: to Jesus and said, Teacher, we want you to do
[0:25] Speaker 1: for us whatever we ask of you. This is comical.
[0:31] Speaker 1: You know you're in a bad spiritual space when you're
[0:34] Speaker 1: opening move is to say to Jesus, you need to
[0:38] Speaker 1: do whatever we want. So right away, we're in a
[0:42] Speaker 1: bad spiritual space when my ego is now dictating terms
[0:47] Speaker 1: to Jesus. But you know what I invite you to do,
[0:49] Speaker 1: fellow sinners, is remember the times when you've been in
[0:53] Speaker 1: precisely this attitude. I can think of Zebra, oiler, Lord,
[0:57] Speaker 1: why don't you do what I want? Why are things
[1:00] Speaker 1: going the way they're going? Just get with it. I
[1:04] Speaker 1: know what's best for me, and why don't you just
[1:06] Speaker 1: do it? You are, ipso facto, in a bad spiritual
[1:11] Speaker 1: space when you start dictating terms to Jesus, think of
[1:16] Speaker 1: Martha and the Martha Mary start, hey, Lord, tell my
[1:18] Speaker 1: sister to help me. There she is dictating terms to
[1:23] Speaker 1: the word of God. Never a good idea the Bible
[1:28] Speaker 1: wants is always in the attitude of receptivity to the
[1:31] Speaker 1: divine words. He's the opposite of this. Lord, tell me
[1:36] Speaker 1: what to do. Lord show me the way. Lord send me.
[1:39] Speaker 1: Think of Isaiah here, I am. Send me. That's the
[1:43] Speaker 1: right space to be in. So we know right away
[1:46] Speaker 1: we're going to be in some trouble with these two.
[1:48] Speaker 1: And they're young men. I think of, you know, James
[1:51] Speaker 1: and John here. You know, people died much younger. Back
[1:55] Speaker 1: in ancient times. People lived in their forties, their fifties.
[1:58] Speaker 1: They were old people. So I think of these as
[2:00] Speaker 1: young kids. And they show here the attitude of young,
[2:05] Speaker 1: immature people. So Jesus humors them. What do you wish
[2:11] Speaker 1: me to do for you? They answered, grant that in
[2:14] Speaker 1: your glory, we may sit one at your right and
[2:17] Speaker 1: one and the other at your left. So you know,
[2:21] Speaker 1: in one way reasonable enough. Jesus is by this time
[2:25] Speaker 1: a pretty big deal. Many are convinced he's the Mashiak,
[2:28] Speaker 1: the anointed of Israel, the son of David, the one
[2:31] Speaker 1: who will throw off the Roman yoke, who will reign
[2:33] Speaker 1: as king of Israel and even king of the whole world.
[2:36] Speaker 1: That was the Messianic expectation. So these close followers of his,
[2:41] Speaker 1: watching all this, watching his miracles, watching the crowds gather. Yeah,
[2:47] Speaker 1: their ship has come in. They backed the right horse.
[2:50] Speaker 1: This is the right guy to advance their career. Can
[2:53] Speaker 1: I suggest again too, maybe when you were younger, some
[2:57] Speaker 1: of the older folks listening, young people this thing right now,
[3:01] Speaker 1: we find ourselves precisely in this position. What I want
[3:05] Speaker 1: above all, I want to be a power player. I
[3:09] Speaker 1: want to get to the top of the greasy pole.
[3:12] Speaker 1: I want to be in a powerful, honorable position. So
[3:17] Speaker 1: I'm casting about. I'm looking for those who might facilitate
[3:22] Speaker 1: this journey to the top. You know, pick your field,
[3:25] Speaker 1: academics or business, or finance or entertainment or dare I say,
[3:29] Speaker 1: at the church you can find this attitude. So there
[3:33] Speaker 1: they are, Lord, And in a way I admire these
[3:36] Speaker 1: two kids because they're so upfront about it. They're not
[3:38] Speaker 1: trying to hide it. See, most people, once you mature
[3:42] Speaker 1: a little bit, you still have these desires, but you're
[3:45] Speaker 1: much more canny, and you'll mask them. They're right up front. Okay,
[3:49] Speaker 1: here's what we want. One of your right, one of
[3:51] Speaker 1: your left. In other words, we want to be the
[3:53] Speaker 1: two plenty of potentiaries that are reigning over Israel and
[3:57] Speaker 1: the whole world next to you. They want power, they
[4:00] Speaker 1: want honor. Okay, you say, well, well, what's the problem
[4:04] Speaker 1: with that? Is power a bad thing? No? And I've
[4:08] Speaker 1: said this to you before, precisely because we call God
[4:12] Speaker 1: all powerful. It's an elemental description of God. It's in
[4:15] Speaker 1: the creed, right, Almighty God. So power can't be bad
[4:19] Speaker 1: in itself. And think of some of the most you know,
[4:23] Speaker 1: beneficent figures in history. They had power and they knew
[4:29] Speaker 1: how to use it. Well, power is the capacity to
[4:31] Speaker 1: affect change. That's what power means. So you have the
[4:34] Speaker 1: reins of power in business or finance, or government or religion,
[4:38] Speaker 1: you can affect change. Don't tell me for a second
[4:42] Speaker 1: Lincoln didn't know how to use power and didn't want it.
[4:46] Speaker 1: You know, his law partner, Herndon, you know, said that
[4:50] Speaker 1: Lincoln's ambition was the little engine that knew no rest.
[4:53] Speaker 1: I mean, Lincoln wanted power, and I say, thank god
[4:56] Speaker 1: he got it at the right moment. Churchill wanted power
[5:00] Speaker 1: all his life, thank god, he got it in nineteen
[5:02] Speaker 1: forty and knew how to use it. FDR wanted power
[5:06] Speaker 1: and knew how to use it, you know, for the
[5:08] Speaker 1: most part in a good way. So I'm not bad
[5:11] Speaker 1: mouthing power or even the desire for power. They want
[5:16] Speaker 1: an honor necessarily a bad thing. No, No, honor, as
[5:21] Speaker 1: a client has said, is the flag of virtue. So
[5:24] Speaker 1: when something's good or beautiful or true, we honor it.
[5:28] Speaker 1: We put a flag on it and say, hey, look
[5:30] Speaker 1: at that. That's worthwhile. And so, you know, people have
[5:33] Speaker 1: accepted honors. Everyone I just mentioned would have accepted honors
[5:37] Speaker 1: in the course of his life. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
[5:40] Speaker 1: accepted honors, you know. And at their best, these people
[5:44] Speaker 1: would have said, yeah, it's a flag of virtue. It's
[5:48] Speaker 1: meant to draw attention to something good that I've done
[5:51] Speaker 1: or am doing. All right, fair enough to desire that
[5:56] Speaker 1: in itself is not a bad thing. Now what's the
[6:01] Speaker 1: problem though, And now listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus.
[6:05] Speaker 1: Jesus said to them, you do not know what you
[6:07] Speaker 1: are asking. Why can you drink the cup that I
[6:12] Speaker 1: drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I
[6:15] Speaker 1: am baptized. Of course they say, sure, sure we can.
[6:20] Speaker 1: Or you know, what's he talking about? What's the cup?
[6:25] Speaker 1: What's the baptism? Precisely this baptism by fire, Precisely this
[6:33] Speaker 1: acceptance of suffering for the sake of the world. See.
[6:42] Speaker 1: Is Jesus powerful? Yes, yes, he's the son of the
[6:47] Speaker 1: almighty God. Of course he's powerful. When the son of
[6:51] Speaker 1: man is lifted up, Oh, like a king or emperor,
[6:54] Speaker 1: he will draw all people to himself. That's a powerful move.
[7:00] Speaker 1: But see the lifting up is the lifting up of
[7:04] Speaker 1: the cross, not an imperial throne. The power is exercised
[7:09] Speaker 1: precisely through a willingness. Listen, a willingness to bear the
[7:15] Speaker 1: suffering of the world. Jesus invites these apostles of his
[7:23] Speaker 1: He invites all of us who long to be as
[7:26] Speaker 1: followers to take this same path. Can you drink the cup?
[7:32] Speaker 1: Can you be baptized? Can you accept suffering for the
[7:38] Speaker 1: sake of the world. See, there are a lot of
[7:42] Speaker 1: social justice warriors around, and I don't want to mock
[7:46] Speaker 1: them too much, But the problem with the social justice
[7:49] Speaker 1: warrior thing is, you know that's wrong, and whatever it is,
[7:54] Speaker 1: there's a thousand things wrong with the world you can
[7:56] Speaker 1: point to that's wrong, and I am against that, and
[7:58] Speaker 1: I want you to know how much I hate that. Well, yeah, okay, good,
[8:03] Speaker 1: you're right. Probably you could point all over the world,
[8:06] Speaker 1: all over our country, to all kinds of bad things
[8:09] Speaker 1: and you could shout out that's bad. But what's the
[8:14] Speaker 1: test that you're not just signaling your virtue as we
[8:17] Speaker 1: say today? What's the test? The test is are you
[8:21] Speaker 1: willing to go where the suffering is and to bear
[8:27] Speaker 1: the burden of those who suffer? Can you go and
[8:31] Speaker 1: suffer with them so as to alleviate something of their
[8:37] Speaker 1: own pain? You know, I mentioned Mother Teresa a good example.
[8:42] Speaker 1: So Mother Teresa's certainly noticed the great injustice in Calcutta
[8:46] Speaker 1: when she was a young nun, the terrible suffering of
[8:50] Speaker 1: the people there. Could she have stayed within the confines
[8:53] Speaker 1: of her kind of upper crust a girls' high school,
[8:56] Speaker 1: and raised her voice and sent out mimiograph of paper
[9:00] Speaker 1: complaining about the situation in Calcutta? Yeah sure? And would
[9:05] Speaker 1: that have been a good thing? Yeah? Yeah? Would she
[9:08] Speaker 1: had been right? Yeah? Sure? But what does Jesus want see,
[9:15] Speaker 1: can you drink the cup? Can you be baptized? You
[9:19] Speaker 1: want to be at my right and my left. Well,
[9:21] Speaker 1: then you need to go where I'm going. What did
[9:24] Speaker 1: mother Teresa do? Well, she left her comfortable high school
[9:29] Speaker 1: and she went out into the worst slum in the world.
[9:33] Speaker 1: I've been there. I saw it. Not that I'm no
[9:36] Speaker 1: mother's reason. I wasn't there, you know, serving the poor.
[9:39] Speaker 1: I was there just to visit her sisters. But she
[9:42] Speaker 1: went out into that slum. She didn't just complain about
[9:47] Speaker 1: the injustice of it, but she picked up the sick
[9:53] Speaker 1: and the dying, and she she gave them food and
[9:57] Speaker 1: water and medicine, and she brought them to hospitals, and
[10:00] Speaker 1: she cared for them in love until they died. She
[10:04] Speaker 1: drank the cop say she was baptized with the baptism.
[10:09] Speaker 1: Now go back, with all that in mind, go back
[10:13] Speaker 1: to the first meeting. And the church juxtaposes this beautifully
[10:16] Speaker 1: with the gospel is from Isaiah chapter fifty three, and
[10:19] Speaker 1: it's one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament.
[10:22] Speaker 1: Get out your bibles and look up Isaiah fifty three,
[10:26] Speaker 1: and this description of the so called suffering servant It's
[10:30] Speaker 1: mysterious because the same Isaiah who looks forward to the
[10:33] Speaker 1: redemption of Israel and the return of the exiles and
[10:36] Speaker 1: the Messianic era, but is very clear about who this
[10:40] Speaker 1: Messiah is. Listen, the Lord was pleased to crush him
[10:47] Speaker 1: with infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering
[10:51] Speaker 1: for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life.
[10:55] Speaker 1: Because of his affliction, he shall see the light in
[10:59] Speaker 1: fullness of days. Now listen, through his suffering, my servant
[11:05] Speaker 1: shall justify many and their guilt. He will bear. Oh
[11:10] Speaker 1: there's that cruel you know, sadistic God of the Old Testament. No, no, no, no,
[11:15] Speaker 1: no no. When you see all the patterns and trajectories
[11:18] Speaker 1: of the Bible, what is this. But the Lord is
[11:22] Speaker 1: pleased when his Mashiah is anointed, his son of David. Indeed,
[11:28] Speaker 1: the great leader of Israel is crushed by infirmity. That
[11:33] Speaker 1: means he willingly bears the suffering of the world and
[11:41] Speaker 1: thereby saves many, thereby brings salvation. He doesn't bring it
[11:47] Speaker 1: by announcing, Hey, the world is full of injustice. Well, okay,
[11:52] Speaker 1: everyone can see that. Doesn't do it by signaling his virtue,
[11:56] Speaker 1: doesn't do it by hovering above the muck and mud
[11:59] Speaker 1: of the world, pronouncing judgment upon it. No, no, he
[12:03] Speaker 1: gets down into the muck and the mud. He bears
[12:09] Speaker 1: the suffering of the world, suffers with those who are
[12:13] Speaker 1: in pain, and thereby takes away their suffering. See now,
[12:18] Speaker 1: go back, what's the cross. It's where Jesus is heading.
[12:24] Speaker 1: When these two naive kids come up and say, hey,
[12:27] Speaker 1: we want power and honor. Yeah, it's not mine to give,
[12:31] Speaker 1: it's up to the father. But but the is implying
[12:34] Speaker 1: something here. You want to be my right my left
[12:37] Speaker 1: when I come into my glory. Well when is that?
[12:42] Speaker 1: That's precisely when he's raised up on the cross, in
[12:48] Speaker 1: this attitude of extraordinary suffering taking upon himself, we say
[12:53] Speaker 1: the sins of the world. That's the messianic task, that's
[12:58] Speaker 1: the kingly move. That's where he's going. They want to
[13:02] Speaker 1: be at his right and is left. Okay, think of
[13:05] Speaker 1: the two thieves crucified on either side. That's what's on
[13:10] Speaker 1: the right and left of Jesus when he comes into
[13:12] Speaker 1: his glory. So, in conclusion, anyone out there wants power
[13:17] Speaker 1: and glory. Okay, they're not bad in themselves. But here's
[13:22] Speaker 1: what they look like, real power, real glory. They look
[13:26] Speaker 1: like a willingness to enter into the suffering of the world.
[13:30] Speaker 1: And with Christ, I'll use another New Testament image yoked,
[13:35] Speaker 1: yoked to him to help him bear the suffering of
[13:40] Speaker 1: the world. And God bless you.

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