Chutzpah of James and John

-->

Job 38:1-7, (34-41)

Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus 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." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 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. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 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."

The Gospel lesson today is another story of the Disciples not getting the message.  It is the story of our human nature.  It is a story that is re-emphasized by our own culture today.  We want to be the top dog.  And if we can’t be on the top we want to be right next to the top.  Taken by itself this little clipping out of the gospel of Mark is remarkable in the chutzpah of James and John but when it is put into context it is even more remarkable.  This section of Mark comes after the third prediction of Jesus’ passion.  Or as Rolf Jacobson, professor at Luther Seminary calls it the third of the “Interpretations of the Messiah's Servant Mission."  (workingpreacher.org) When Jesus is teaching his disciples about Messiah-ship, to coin a word, it is more than being a prediction about his death.  It is about how the messiah is going to act and how they should act.  In all three cases leading up to today’s reading when Jesus teaches the disciples what type of messiah he is they don’t get it.  After each of the three teachings the disciples do something that is ..well.. frankly human.  They don’t get it.  Rolf Jacobson provided a neat little outline of this central section of Mark.  It open’s with  Jesus Healing a Blind Man followed by the first interpretation of the Messiah's Servant Mission after which Peter puts his foot in his mouth – 

This first time follows Peter declaring that Jesus is the Messiah only to have Peter rebuke Jesus when Jesus talks about his death – messiahs don’t die they come in glory to over throw the oppressors in Peter’s world.  Peter is so adamant in his worldly view that Jesus rebukes him with “Get behind me Satan!”

The second Interpretation of the Messiah's Servant Mission we heard a couple of weeks ago which was followed by another occasion of Disciples putting foot in mouth when they argue who is going to be the greatest among them!

Last week we had the third Interpretations of the Messiah's Servant Mission with the story of the rich man.  At the end of last weeks reading Jesus reminds the disciple’s that “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”  And following on the heals of that message of Jesus’ mission we come to today. James and John putting their feet in their mouths. 

James and John come across as arrogant to say the least.  They first ask for Jesus to give them what ever they ask and then they ask to be sitting at places of honor when Jesus comes into his Glory.  James and John must have had visions of a victors banquet.  James and John still had visions of the type of messiah that they had been taught would come.  A messiah that would overthrow the oppressive regime and restore the fortunes of the house of Israel.  But that is not what Jesus has been telling them was going to happen.  Jesus is not about a worldly kingdom.  Jesus’ vision of the world is so anti-establishment that it is going to get him killed.  He knows this and keeps trying to get his followers to understand that the overthrowing of the oppressors won’t happen through a divine war.  It will happen through turning the assumptions of society upside down.  Jesus asks James and John if they can follow in turning the world upside down – because if they do they will indeed share in Jesus fate.  They arrogantly say that they can follow!  Which we learn later in the Acts of the Apostles that they do indeed follow.

 But in this moment in our gospel reading the other disciples overhear James and John and get upset.  The group dynamics are so predictable both in this story and today.  When we are in a group and someone or some sub-group wants to position themselves to be in a place of honor or power we react the same way.  Our response is likely to be “Just who do they think that they are?” In this and so many ways we are so like the disciples.  After over two thousand years society, to a large extent, still does not get it.  Jesus did not come to bring a princely kingdom.  Jesus came as the anti kingdom.  Jesus reminds the disciples and us that the rulers of the world “lord it over” the people.  In this election season that surely is evident that those who want to be leaders see themselves as better then the others.  Better than their opponents.  There are so many advertisements that denigrate the other side.  Both the opponent and by extension anyone who agrees with their views of the world.  So little seems to have changed.

But we are called to change.  Jesus reminds us that “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”  We are called to serve not to be served.  It is when we are serving others that we are doing God’s work.  It is when we see the good in creation that we are doing God’s work.  Jesus over and over again reminds his disciples, both those who followed him during his earthly pilgrimage – and those who follow him today - that the dream of God is not for us to be a powerful people lording it over those who have nothing.  The dream of God is a society that takes care of those who have the least.  It is a society where the hungry are fed.  It is a society where we clothe those who are naked.  It is a society where we take care of each other and don’t see “the other” as an alien.  For over two thousand years Christianity – when it is at its best - opens our eyes to see Jesus in those whom society ignores – or worse – kills.  We are called to feed the hungry.  To cloth the naked.  To visit the prisoners – in whatever prison they inhabit.  Like the story last week it could be the prison of wealth,  It could be the prison of addiction.  It can also be the prison of being bullied.  No matter the prison we are called as followers of Christ to be there.  We are called simply to bring a radical dream of God’s Love to fruition.

It may be a simple dream but it is not an easy dream.  The idea that we are to be servants of each other is antithetical to our society.  But that is what we are called to do.  The good news is that we do have a role model.  Jesus.  And in our gospel lesson Jesus reminds us that the “Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."  Another preacher commented that this metaphor of ransom would be better understood if we used the word “gift”  That Jesus came to give his life as a gift for many. 

Rolf Jacobson says that “Taken in the context of the Gospel of Mark as a whole, there is only one event that will finally pull the curtain all of the way back so that Jesus' followers will finally understand that he is a servant king -- the kind of king that God had always wanted Israel's kings to be.  That event is the resurrection.  But even then -- and this is a warning for all of us who live on this side of the resurrection -- we see, as St Paul says, only in part, as in a mirror dimly.” (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx)

I invite all of us, especially during this election season, to look for the good in society.  To look for ways to serve. What follows In the Gospel of Mark is the healing of a blind man.  It probably is not a coincidence that the writer of the Gospel put the healing next.  Jesus was trying to open the eyes of the disciples and is trying to open all of our eyes to the kingdom.  Look around you.  The dream of God is here.  We are part of that dream.  Let us go out into our society as anti-kingdom people.  Let us find ways to follow Jesus in loving God and loving our Neighbors – all of our neighbors – even those that don’t look or act like us – perhaps especially loving those who are not like us.