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October 18, 2009—Proper 24

Lectionary Texts: Job 38:1-7, 34-41 or Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c or Psalm 91:9-16; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45

Sermon Text: Mark 10:35-45

“We Just Don’t Get It”

James and John request special treatment

The hair rose on the back of my neck that day in May 2001 when a Vietnam veteran went off medication and left death threats for every pastor in town. All calm and peace in my heart shattered as I heard the threat play on the answering machine. It sounded like something out of a horror movie. Did I experience fear and trembling? Yes. Did I have faith? It was hidden way down in the depths of fear. I learned that spring what true discipleship is. The man was arrested and placed under supervision until his medication regulated his behavior. We did not hear from him again, but for the first time I experienced true terror simply because I was following Jesus.

Anyone who thinks it is possible to follow Jesus without horror, foreboding, and an occasional shaking in the shoes, doesn’t get it.

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise" (Mark 10:32-34).

This was the passage immediately preceding our test. Jesus predicts His death, and then James and John ask for royal treatment.

“When the ten heard this they began to be angry with James and John.” Surely the other ten disciples have a right to be angry with James and John. What right do James and John have to ask for special treatment as Teacher’s pets? Yet in Mark this passage comes right after Jesus predicts His death for the third time.

They are angrier with James and John than they are upset that Jesus will die. They can’t see the forest for the trees. Usually we are so busy criticizing James and John we forget to evaluate the other ten disciples. Yet Mark focuses in on the ten who were “indignant.” We might call this “holy anger” or “righteous indignation.” Surely they were justified in their frustration, but they are not justified in the reason for their anger.

They just don’t get it. But do we? We are offended by the request but are we horrified at the prediction of death? Are we horrified that the Son of God would be arrested? It’s probably expected. Are we shocked that the Son of Man would walk towards Jerusalem? It is Passover--all good Jews do the same. But are we amazed that He would allow himself to be mocked, spit upon, and killed? Yes, in an earlier death prediction, Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him. Angry and indignant? Yes.

We are so numb by the violence we witness on TV we forget to recoil when we see it our neighborhoods.

Let’s just turn our gaze inward so we can forget about the hard stuff. Let’s focus on our new carpeting and forget children need food. Let’s fiddle while Rome burns. Let’s raise our own salaries and forget that people are starving. Let them eat cake.

Power means servanthood? please. How is that supposed to work? Doesn’t Jesus know how the Romans operate? None of them understand anything but brute force. The same argument is used to excuse violence over and over. No one will respond to anything but bombs. “We’ve tried talking.” We have not.

What does it mean to drink the cup? Or be baptized with the baptism? Drinking the cup involves sharing in the pain. Being baptized involves dying and being reborn.

Why would Jesus choose to go where He knows they will kill Him? Why not flee in the opposite direction? That is what I would have done and that is what the disciples want Him to do. Maybe they are still hoping He will not choose to let it happen; that He will show everyone His power. Maybe this is all about a distraction? Maybe this gets Jesus thinking about choosing His princes and warriors and not about suffering and death?

Now if I were Jesus, I would have blasted them both with a prediction of how they would cower in fear as He was dragged away in chains. Jesus does not do that. Instead He gently reminds them only God will choose such positions and points them back to the road--the one leading to Golgotha. Would they one day face horrific persecution? Yes. There was no way they could understand such a thing yet. That would come soon enough.

Isaiah 53: 6-7 says:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,/each of us has turned to his own way;/and the LORD has laid on him/the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted,/yet he did not open his mouth;/he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,/and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,/so he did not open his mouth.

The disciples would look back later and see Jesus through the lens of the Suffering Servant. For now there is still hope He will be the Mighty Messiah Warrior King Who Will Destroy Rome.
It is time to choose our focus. We may be angered over the fallen leaders of the Church near or far. We may be criticizing the church board. We may be full of suggestions for the global denomination. We may be so focused on the forest of Church we can’t see the harvest of trees out there waiting for us.

Get your nose out of the mundane business of criticism, disciples. Get your mind back on the reason why we are here. We are here not to pat ourselves on the back for having been the righteous ones who didn’t make the arrogant request, but to get our focus back on the road to Jerusalem. Turn back to essentials like feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, and challenging the powers that hold the weak captive. Preach freedom to those held captive by drugs, alcohol, and other addictions. Provide hope with love offered to the homeless in the form of shelter and job training.

Realize when you do focus on the essentials the powers that be are not going to like it. Heading to Jerusalem with Jesus means one thing: dying. Why would anyone choose the life of the disciple? Some of you have faced incredible hardship. As the economy plummets, so does the paycheck, or lack of it. Tightening belts becomes not just a metaphor. Forget retirement as 401Ks lose more than ever. Healthcare cost so much we pray we don’t get sick because we already owe the hospital so much they have turned us over to collection. Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t He send the stimulus package that will fix everything? You are ready to throw in the towel on this Christianity stuff. If God isn’t answering your prayers, why bother? As you get ready to turn your back you hear “and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” So you pick up the towel and go back to washing feet, remembering who “got to” drink the cup and be on the right and left hand of Jesus as the entire city looked up to Him. Who “got to” follow Him up the road carrying large beams, the crowd screaming insults and spitting up them? Who “got to” be “lifted up” in all their glory? As John walked down the hill toward the tombs, he noticed who was still on the right and the left of Jesus: two thieves.