Pentecost
21 - Year B
Mark
10:(32-34)35-45
A
Kingship Like No Other
I sent out a late-night request
for folks to bring their bibles this morning.
I apologize to those of you who didn’t get the message. I was a home, without access to the new,
fuller list of email addresses. So I made
use of the one old one, the one on the University server. I think I want to get in the habit of asking
you to bring your bible each week. Increasingly,
we are losing touch with our Bibles. And
while it is very convenient to have the lessons printed on the back of the bulletin
each week, it limits our ability to see for ourselves the context in which the
few selected verses occur. It also
prevents us from realizing that the differing texts are taken from vastly
differing parts of the Bible.
While I imagine all of us can
open a bible to the section where Mark is located – how many can easily find
Hebrews or for that matter Isaiah? This is
not intended to be an insult to anyone – other than preachers and church
teachers who have been too pre-occupied to notice the shift and attempt to do anything
about it.
So, maybe I start to ask you to
carry your bibles each week. I certainly
am going to give you a reason to have them with you today.
Mark 10:35-45 is the small sliver
of the bible printed on the back of our bulletin. I added to my reading this morning verses
32-34 – reason #1 for you to have a fuller copy of the text. And, perhaps, those additional three verses
alter what we hear in verses 35-45.
James and John make their request of Jesus immediately after Jesus had
told them (for the third time actually) that when they get to Jerusalem all
heck is going to break lose.
How might those additional three
verses alter our understanding of James and John’s request? If James and John were making their request
amid the references to a “High Priest” in Hebrews 5, we might draw lessons for
religious structures and procedures. But
this encounter does not happen there. It
comes, in Mark’s Gospel, after Jesus’ third attempt to explain to his closest
followers what it means for them to refer to him as “Messiah,” or “Master,” or “Lord.” It does not mean seats of honor or positions
of prestige. It means caring for others
and being servant of all.
This is Jesus’ third attempt to
help them understand. If you have your
bibles, and if you pre-marked the passages I referred to last night, now is the
time to look at them. Mark, chapter 8,
verse 31ff is the first prediction. Notice
that this statement follows the confession of Peter. When Peter finally gives voice to the hope
that in Jesus they have found Messiah, Jesus immediately tells him, the rest of
the disciples, and all of us, what his Messiahship means. It is NOTHING like anything we have ever seen
before.
Before we move on, make a note of
Mark 8:32a. (Jesus) said all this
quite openly. No secrets here. Nothing hidden or left up for
interpretation. Jesus makes it clear, he
states quite openly, what his kingship is all about.
Okay. Move forward in your bible, but only one
chapter. Just like chapter 8, chapter 9
contains another attempt on the part of Jesus to tell the disciples what is coming
and what all this means. Chapter 9,
verses 30-37. One of the reasons I stumbled
across this whole thing is that these were the appointed verses the last time
it was my turn to preach. Four weeks
ago, these were the verses printed on the back of the bulletin.
Second time that Jesus stops the
disciples up short and tells them what to expect when this mission he is on
reaches its conclusion. You may
remember, from four weeks ago, that the addition to the story in Mark 9 is the
use of the word “betrayal.” His death is
no accidental misunderstanding. There is
no confusion or inability to recognize the beauty of his sweet message or
promise. Jesus is betrayed by those who
knew him best.
He is betrayed into the hands of
those with power and authority. They do
what persons with power and authority naturally do. They put an end to his disruptions. They kill him.
But there is another betrayal in
that section from Mark 9. Do you see
it? Verse 32 says, “They did not
understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” Heck yea, they didn’t understand. Cause look at what happens next. After Jesus speaks, and they are on their way,
the followers of Jesus begin arguing among themselves as to who was the
greatest among them. Sound familiar? It is precisely the argument to which we
return when we get to Mark 10, and the third prediction of Jesus’ death.
We can assume, with some degree
of certainty that James and John were around when the earlier discussion of who
was the greatest had occurred. They might
have been the ones who instigated the discussion. In Mark 10, there is no doubt. James and John are the persons who are given
faces and names and associated with the desire to look past the betrayal and
crucifixion to some time of glory to come.
They want to be there, when the three days are past. They are anticipating what life might be like
for them when the rising is
all the talk of Jerusalem. They want to
be “the greatest.” Jesus reminds them
that his whole live and mission to invert greatness and to speak of it as
service and servant.
Open your bibles once more to
Mark 10. This part is on the bulletins,
so you can see it there. I know we like
to recycle the paper from the bulletins, but take this one home with you. And to remind you to do so, take out a pen or
pencil and underline, or circle or somehow denote the part which starts in
verse 42. Here, let’s all read it
together, out loud. Verses 42-44. Read with me, “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 one are tyrants over them. But 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.’”
I had you stop there, because I want
to end with a lesson from the history of theological discussions. For the first thousand years of Christian
history, it was the first half of verse 45 which received all the attention. In the early church, in the church closest to
Jesus and his immediate impact upon the world, it was his taking on the role of
servant that mattered. In the next thousand
years, we spent our time talking about the second half – about Jesus as the
ransom. It is as if we stopped worrying
about how he wanted us to live our lives (i.e. in service) and began instead to
look upon him as our ticket to the reward to come. We ceased to hear his insistence that we take
up our cross and we began to see in him our way to eternal bliss.
There are three predictions of Jesus’
crucifixion in these middle chapters of Mark’s gospel. Over and over and over Jesus tries to tell us
what is coming and what it means. Three times
he tells his followers; three times they think it is an opportunity for
greatness. Jesus calls them back again
and again to insist that they find themselves in his model of what it means to
be servant.
He bore the sins; he made intercession. To be counted among his followers is to do
the same.
Amen.
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