Ecclesiasticus 36:1, 4-5, 10-17 / Mark 10:32-45
Master sculptors would usually decide on the object of their work and then choose a suitable block of marble to work on it.
Or they may look at a block of marble and decide what to carve out of it.
Well some master sculptors were looking at a block of marble but they rejected it saying it was "flawed" and hence they can't make anything out if it.
But a master sculptor took it and when others asked him why, he simply replied: I am going to release a beauty from within.
And indeed he did. The master sculptor Michelangelo carved out from that "flawed" block of marble the masterpiece called "David".
The gospel passage tells us how flawed the disciples were.
Some were in a daze (whatever that meant!), others were apprehensive, others like James and John were thinking about honour and status.
Any sensible leader would have put aside these flawed men.
Yet Jesus took them and eventually carved them out to be the foundations upon which He built His Church.
So, unworthy as we are, Jesus still invites us to drink from His cup.
Flawed as we are, Jesus will carve a saint out of the sinner in us.
Let us look beyond our flaws, let us look beyond the flaws of others, and let us let the Lord shape and carve us to be His servants, who like Him, came to serve and not to be served.