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Ordinary 29
by Margaret Buchanan Mark 10: 35-45 In 1986, this story hit the news. On the evening of August 31, the Soviet cruise liner Admiral Nakhimov set sail on the Black Sea. This large passenger liner was carrying 884 passengers and 346 crewmembers on a voyage to Odessa. Shortly after 11 p.m., a 50,000-ton freighter was spotted on a collision course with the cruise liner. Marine safety workers warned the freighter it was on this collision course with the Nakhimov, but the freighter's captain failed to take evasive measures. At 11:20 p.m., the freighter struck the cruise liner, sinking it within 8 minutes. Four hundred forty-eight people died in the accident. The investigation revealed the cause of the accident was not a technology problem such as radar malfunction-or even thick fog. The cause was human stubbornness. Each captain was aware of the other ship's presence nearby. Either could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too set on his own path, too proud to yield first. By the time they came to their senses, it was too late. Like James and John, they each wanted the place they thought they deserved. This week, the news has been full of the celebrations in Rome. The cardinals have gathered for Pope John Paul II's 25th anniversary, and there have been many speculations about the Pope's health and his ability to continue to hold office. With those speculations come questions about who might become the next Pope. The world wants to know who will be the next to sit in that seat of honor. is because our world focuses attention upon those who achieve positions of power, honor, and success. The world we live in tells us it is important to strive for the top positions. The sports world raises up the athletes who score the most points and those who win the most races. In the business world, people are encouraged to climb the corporate ladder. Everywhere we turn, we are told to strive for position and power. Push others aside and stand on the shoulders of those below you. Climb to the top of the pyramid and proudly claim your position. This is the message of the world, but it is not the message of Christ. Christ turns the pyramid upside down and tells us that we are to be humble servants. This is what today's gospel lesson says to us. It is a message we have heard before. It is a lesson Jesus taught the disciples many times during his ministry in the world, but according to Mark, they just did not get it. It is difficult for minds steeped in the world's definition of success to grasp this lesson. As long as we see through the lens of the world where success means reaching the top, we are blind to Christ's teaching. We keep sitting in the material world rather than taking our seat in God's kingdom. James and John. Two disciples who had traveled with Jesus, witnessed his work, and listened to his teachings. After all that, what was it that led them to be so bold, so full of self-importance that they felt worthy to ask for seats of honor at Jesus' right and left hands? Who were they? We know James and John were brothers, sons of Zebedee, fishermen. Mark tells us that when Jesus called them to follow him, they left their father in the boat with the hired men. They were not poor fishermen. They were prosperous enough to have others working for them. From this we might assume that James and John had been raised with some of the advantages that money could buy. We also know that James and John were members of the inner circle of Jesus' disciples. The gospels always place them towards the beginning of the list of disciples. James and John, with Peter were the only ones called to accompany Jesus when he raised Jairus' daughter and they were the ones with Jesus at the transfiguration. It is easy to see how, by the world's standards, James and John could envision themselves sitting at the right and left hands of Jesus when he came to his glory. After all, they were already two of his closest and most trusted friends. So, on that day on the way to Jerusalem, they boldly stepped up to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Does that sound like a loaded question? Imagine going to your boss and saying, "will you give me whatever I ask?" We know what kind of response that would elicit. As children, we probably tried to get what we wanted from a parent with just such a question. "If I ask for something will you say yes?" When we look at it this way, we see how foolish their question was. Yet, we are sometimes guilty of asking just such a question of God. Dear God, please give me what I want. At such times, we are seeking a God who will do our will rather than seeking to do God's will. When James and John asked this of Jesus, he did not fall for the trap of such a question. Instead, he asked them, "What do you want?" They wanted the honor they thought they deserved, and responded, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Jesus said, "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?" The fact is that they did not know what they were asking, nor did they know what it would cost them. They responded, "we are able." Then Jesus declared that they would drink his cup and experience his baptism, but as for the position they sought, it was not his to give. It was God's to give as God so chose. Indeed Christ's prediction did come true. James and John had agreed to face what Jesus was facing, to drink the cup and accept the baptism, but they had not fully understood the challenges they would face. When Jesus was arrested, they fled with the rest of the disciples; failing the first test. Christ forgave them and later they met other challenges. James was martyred early in the life of the church. John, it is believed, went to Ephesus, lived a long life, and died naturally. Each in his own way gave up his own life to serve in obedience to God. Both drank the cup of Christ. Both chose to take the seats God prepared for them, seats of service that led to eternal life rather than the seats of honor they had sought. When we choose to serve God, we too must be ready to face whatever challenges may come our way and serve where God sets us. Let us return our attention to that day on the road to Jerusalem. There is more for us to learn. When the other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they naturally became angry. They were followers and friends of Jesus, too. Why should James and John get the seats of honor? Jealousy began to grow in their hearts. This is another problem that arises when we seek power and glory. In doing so, we hurt others and cause them to fight for their own glory. The path up the pyramid becomes a battleground. Jesus rebuked them all. He again told them that those who wish to be great must be servants. This is the example Jesus had been showing them and would continue to show them as he followed his path to the cross to give his life as a ransom for all. Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Today's passage from Hebrews says the same thing. "Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed... (by God)." "Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." As Christians, we are to follow the example of Christ. This means that we are to act in obedience to God and serve where God leads us. Where might that be? Look at us. The fact is, we are sitting right here in First Presbyterian Church, in Galena Illinois, in the United States of America. By the standards of the world, we are wealthy people living in a powerful nation. This makes it harder for us to be humble servants. We are nowhere near the bottom of the pyramid. As a nation, we are proud people. Listen to what has been said about us.... "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us." These words were not written yesterday, or within the last few years. They were spoken by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. They were true then, and they are truer today. We do live in a prosperous nation that sees itself sitting at the top of the world's power structure, at the top of the pyramid. We are a proud people. That pride is as dangerous as the pride of the two Soviet ship captains who refused to turn aside. As a nation we must stop seeking to nurture our pride and turn back to God, seeking to be servants doing God's will. The same is true for us as individuals. We have to struggle to escape from the world's image of success. It takes a conscious effort to refocus towards Christ who wants us to turn that pyramid upside down, no longer seeking to rise to the top, but to become servants. Our focus ought to be on God and not on self. When we turn to God in prayer we need to look deep inside ourselves and discern whether our desires are self-serving or God serving. As members of God's holy church, we have received Christ's baptism and we do drink from the cup of the new covenant. In doing so, we are making a commitment to follow Christ's example of servanthood and act in obedience to God. As a newcomer to this congregation, I am overwhelmed by all that is being done here. You are reaching out to your neighbors, sharing the love of Christ with the children of this community, and acting as servants to those in need. You are faithful Christians, members of a vital and living church. I also hear you saying that you feel led to do more. It is my prayer that we can work and grow together, focusing not on what we want, but on what God is calling us to do. God will give us the ability if we are willing to pay the price, face the challenges, and do whatever is required to serve here where God has placed us. By stepping away from the world's definition of success and seeking to obey Christ, we will receive seats in God's kingdom. This is God's promise to us so let us continue our journey. Amen.
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