Mark 10:17-31
What an idiotic thing for James and John to ask! Especially after the passage that is just before this one, which reads,
“ They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again."”
And then, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
They just don't get it, do they? Or maybe in horror they just glossed over all the mocking, spitting, flogging and killing, and just focused on the rising again. Maybe they thought they could just stand back and watch all the bad stuff, and get into the good stuff later. Obviously the glory part is what they wanted.
And are we all that much different? We want the glory and resurrection, certainly! And yes, they will be ours. But the way to all that glory is not so pleasant. We don't get to just sit back and watch.
Following Jesus means following Jesus, including going to the cross. And although nobody is threatening to execute us, what we are called to do can still be pretty painful. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
Now being a servant is often not very much fun. It means putting what you want to do aside, and doing what someone else wants you to do. People do this all the time, of course. Nowadays we call it having a job. And the reason “thank God it's Friday” is such a popular saying is because it is the time when you can stop doing what someone else wants, and do your own thing. And this is good, we all need a Sabbath, a day off.
Nothing wrong with that.
But Jesus wants James and John, and all of us, to pay more attention to our job as disciples. It is to be a servant of all. It is to do things that other people want done for them. We often like to do things for people, but it is usually the things that we think they should like. How many times have you had someone do something for you, and it was exactly the wrong thing? The person didn't really know what you wanted, and took a guess, and guessed wrong. My mother always used to give me money to buy Christmas gifts for my children from her, because she said she had no idea what they would want or like. Wise woman!
The thing is, being a servant means knowing what the person you are serving wants and needs. A waiter in a restaurant who gets the customers' orders all mixed up is not going to get very many tips. So the key to being a good servant is to pay close attention to what the other person really needs.
Jesus knew what we needed. It was not another King to lord it over us the way kings usually do. We needed to be shown that power-tripping is not the way to happiness. We needed to be shown that violence does not solve problems. We needed to be shown that peace lies in being forgiven and in forgiving others. We needed to be shown that God loves us so much that God would even die for us.
So Jesus went to the cross, willingly, to teach us all that. He came not to be served but to serve. And he still serves us, still teaches us, still calls us to be reconciled to God. And he still calls us to carry out his work of serving the world.
And of course the key to doing this successfully, is to pay close attention to what the world needs. We can't just assume that our neighbours need to come to church on Sundays. We have to find out from them, what their actual needs are. That means we have to talk to them. We have to be curious about their problems and their concerns. We have to learn to think about what God may have to offer them in the difficult paths of their lives. And then we have to learn how to offer God's help, in very real terms.
This may mean offering to pray for them or their loved ones – many people really appreciate this. Or it may mean offering some more concrete help. Even bothering to find out what's going on in their lives might in itself be a help, as they discover that someone really cares about them.
And this is the big payoff. As we get to know our neighbours better, we develop a relationship with them. And relationships of love enrich our lives in so many ways. What seemed a burden in the beginning can turn into a joy.
Our congregation has made some efforts in the last while to find out just what it is that the people around us want and need. We have been asking them just what their spiritual needs are and how we can help. We are not here to organize the kind of worship service that we like, just because we like it. We are here to serve our neighbours. And then God will have the glory. Thanks be to God. Amen.
What an idiotic thing for James and John to ask! Especially after the passage that is just before this one, which reads,
“ They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again."”
And then, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
They just don't get it, do they? Or maybe in horror they just glossed over all the mocking, spitting, flogging and killing, and just focused on the rising again. Maybe they thought they could just stand back and watch all the bad stuff, and get into the good stuff later. Obviously the glory part is what they wanted.
And are we all that much different? We want the glory and resurrection, certainly! And yes, they will be ours. But the way to all that glory is not so pleasant. We don't get to just sit back and watch.
Following Jesus means following Jesus, including going to the cross. And although nobody is threatening to execute us, what we are called to do can still be pretty painful. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
Now being a servant is often not very much fun. It means putting what you want to do aside, and doing what someone else wants you to do. People do this all the time, of course. Nowadays we call it having a job. And the reason “thank God it's Friday” is such a popular saying is because it is the time when you can stop doing what someone else wants, and do your own thing. And this is good, we all need a Sabbath, a day off.
Nothing wrong with that.
But Jesus wants James and John, and all of us, to pay more attention to our job as disciples. It is to be a servant of all. It is to do things that other people want done for them. We often like to do things for people, but it is usually the things that we think they should like. How many times have you had someone do something for you, and it was exactly the wrong thing? The person didn't really know what you wanted, and took a guess, and guessed wrong. My mother always used to give me money to buy Christmas gifts for my children from her, because she said she had no idea what they would want or like. Wise woman!
The thing is, being a servant means knowing what the person you are serving wants and needs. A waiter in a restaurant who gets the customers' orders all mixed up is not going to get very many tips. So the key to being a good servant is to pay close attention to what the other person really needs.
Jesus knew what we needed. It was not another King to lord it over us the way kings usually do. We needed to be shown that power-tripping is not the way to happiness. We needed to be shown that violence does not solve problems. We needed to be shown that peace lies in being forgiven and in forgiving others. We needed to be shown that God loves us so much that God would even die for us.
So Jesus went to the cross, willingly, to teach us all that. He came not to be served but to serve. And he still serves us, still teaches us, still calls us to be reconciled to God. And he still calls us to carry out his work of serving the world.
And of course the key to doing this successfully, is to pay close attention to what the world needs. We can't just assume that our neighbours need to come to church on Sundays. We have to find out from them, what their actual needs are. That means we have to talk to them. We have to be curious about their problems and their concerns. We have to learn to think about what God may have to offer them in the difficult paths of their lives. And then we have to learn how to offer God's help, in very real terms.
This may mean offering to pray for them or their loved ones – many people really appreciate this. Or it may mean offering some more concrete help. Even bothering to find out what's going on in their lives might in itself be a help, as they discover that someone really cares about them.
And this is the big payoff. As we get to know our neighbours better, we develop a relationship with them. And relationships of love enrich our lives in so many ways. What seemed a burden in the beginning can turn into a joy.
Our congregation has made some efforts in the last while to find out just what it is that the people around us want and need. We have been asking them just what their spiritual needs are and how we can help. We are not here to organize the kind of worship service that we like, just because we like it. We are here to serve our neighbours. And then God will have the glory. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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