(Mark 10.32-45)
A reflection by Dave Shull
Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ
Sammamish, Washington
The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany: January 31, 2010
When I think about how Jesus asks his followers to live, I wonder why any of us says Yes to his call?
Jesus tells the rich man who wants to follow him that first he has to sell everything he has and give it to the poor; only then can he return and follow him (Mark 10.17-31). So Jesus asks his followers to redistribute wealth so every life in creation has enough.
Jesus stands on a hillside in Galilee, and says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5.43-48). So Jesus asks his followers never to respond to violence with violence. And to refuse to give permanent shelter to hate.
Jesus hangs on his cross, and prays, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23.33-34). So Jesus asks his followers to move through the desire for revenge so, in time, they can forgive all who harm them.
Is there something Jesus calls his followers to do that you find especially hard these days? …
If this is how Jesus asks his followers to live, why do any of us say Yes to his call? Why does anyone choose to follow him?
This morning’s reading from Mark’s Gospel sounds like it only adds to the list of impossible things Jesus asks of his followers. In a culture whose highest-rated TV programs are championship sports events and entertainment awards shows, how do we hear what Jesus says? And how do we imagine following it?
Listen for a word from God.
Back on the road, Jesus, and his followers set out for Jerusalem. Jesus had a head start on them; the disciples were amazed, and the others following were afraid. He took aside the Twelve and began again to go over what to expect next. "Listen to me carefully. We're on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Romans, who will mock and spit on him, give him the third degree, and kill him. After three days he will rise alive."
James and John, Zebedee's sons, came up to him. "Teacher, we have something we want you to do for us."
"What is it? I'll see what I can do."
"Arrange it," they said, "so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory—one of us at your right, the other at your left."
Jesus said, "You have no idea what you're asking. Are you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism I'm about to be plunged into?"
"Sure," they said. "Why not?"
Jesus said, "Come to think of it, you will drink the cup I drink, and be baptized in my baptism. But as to awarding places of honor, that's not my business. There are other arrangements for that."
When the other ten heard of this conversation, they lost their tempers with James and John. Jesus got them together to settle things down. "You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around," he said, "and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage” (adapted from The Message Remix © 2003 by Eugene Peterson).
This is the third time in Mark’s Gospel Jesus tells his followers that when they get to Jerusalem, he is going to be tortured and killed. And they refuse to hear it. They hold on to the belief that Jesus will lead them to a triumphal entrance in Jerusalem. And after he kills all those nasty Romans, they will bask in the glorious greatness of the kingdom he will build there. James and John’s delusions of greatness take this form: Going into Jerusalem with Jesus will be like walking down the red carpet at the Academy Awards presentation. They imagine climbing out of the limousine on either side of Jesus … spotlights and TV cameras everywhere … drumrolls announcing their entrance. James and John can see the YouTube clips already. Greatness will be ours! they think.
The rest of the disciples get angry with James and John. Not because James and John refuse to accept the fact that they’re following Jesus to his death. No. They’re angry because they didn’t ask Jesus the question first. They want seats of greatness in this glorious kingdom that Jesus will build in Jerusalem.
And Jesus tells these followers whom he loves and who drive him crazy, You don’t have a clue what it means to be great.
He asks, do you think great means achievement? Making the honor roll? Winning the pennant? Wearing the green jacket? Pastoring the biggest congregation? Shattering box-office sales records? Being known and noticed wherever you go?
Jesus says, If that’s what you think, then you’re confusing success with greatness. Winning the championship, getting the promotion, being popular and sought after may be signs of success. And may be reasons to celebrate.
But for Jesus, success has nothing to do with greatness. Jesus says, to be great, you must be a servant. The way Jesus sees it, those who are great devote their lives to help make individuals, communities, and institutions more whole, more loving, and more just. To be great is to inspire individuals, communities, and institutions to become servants themselves.
Which doesn’t mean servants become doormats. Jesus doesn’t ask people to follow him by themselves. It’s impossible to follow Jesus alone. Almost every book in the New Testament is written to faith communities who want to follow Jesus. Which means Jesus asks his followers to live in these next-to-impossible ways because it’s not at all impossible to follow him when we’re doing it with each other. We can be great – we can be servants – without becoming doormats because we are part of a community of servants. So there will always be those in our community who want to serve us when we need more wholeness, healing, love, and justice. So there’s no contradiction between being great … and needing others. There’s no shame in not being the best, and not having it all, and not being able to do it all. There’s no shame in needing people to lend us a hand or a shoulder or a $20 bill … or lend us their faith for a while because we don’t fell like God is too close or too real these days.
Being great means loving and letting yourself be loved back. It has nothing to do with success.
Henri Nouwen taught spirituality at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard. He was one of the most popular and sought-after religion speakers in the world. Everything he published became a best-seller. Who could argue that he had not achieved greatness? He had convinced himself he was great.
So why did he feel empty?
Nouwen left Harvard … and traveled east a bit … to Toronto. Where he spent the last 12 years of his life living and falling in love with people who couldn’t read any of his books or listen to any of his speeches or be impressed by his very impressive resume. In Toronto, Nouwen lived and fell in love with people who were so severely handicapped many could not talk, or feed themselves, or dress themselves. People couldn’t understand his actions. All those great universities where all those great students and great colleagues are … and Nouwen throws greatness away … to live with people who will never recognize or appreciate his greatness. Why would he be so foolish?
Nouwen would be so foolish because he knew he had spent his whole life thinking success was greatness. His success had left him empty. And now he wanted to be great in the way Jesus says we’re great. His teacher on what it means to be great was a severely handicapped young man named Adam. Nouwen writes:
I want you to understand a little better what happened between Adam and me. Maybe I can say it very simply. Adam taught me a lot about God's love in a very concrete way. First of all, he taught me that being is more important than doing, that God wants me to be with God and not to do all sorts of things to prove that I'm valuable. My whole life had been doing, doing, doing, so people would finally recognize that I was okay. I'm such a driven person who wants to do thousands and thousands of things so that I can somehow finally show that I'm a worthwhile being. People say, "Henri, you're okay." Here I was with Adam and Adam said, "I don't care what you do as long as you will be with me." It wasn't easy just to be with Adam. It isn't easy to simply be with a person without accomplishing much.
Adam showed Henri what all his great students and colleagues and books couldn’t. For Jesus, greatness is not about success. Greatness is about serving. To show what it means to be great, Jesus takes us back to our baptism. Where God says to each person, You are chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life. If everyone is chosen and marked by God’s love … if God takes infinite pride in everyone, then everyone is great. How dare any of us who follow Jesus believe we can decide what makes someone great? God made us. So we are great. And we live into our greatness by being servants.
A deep sadness in my family history has to do with what my grandparents decided made someone great. My great-grandparents had 10 children: 7 boys and three girls. Six of the boys became ministers. My great-grandparents were so proud. How great to have so many ministers in the family. The seventh son became a handy-man. And his parents were ashamed of him. I’m sure it’s not the only reason this great-uncle lived with mental illness most of his life. But it’s a part of the reason. To be treated like a failure, and a disappointment … to hear all your brothers called great … when Ralph was just as great as any of them.
Maybe that’s why we follow Jesus. In spite of all he asks of his followers. Because he throws out all the ways our culture tells us we’re not great. He throws out the shame that paralyzes and the standards of success that leave so many kids and adults alike feeling like failures. He says to all, no matter who they are and who they are not, no matter what they can and cannot do, Follow me. And we follow. Because all of us can bless another life with wholeness. All of us can help another life heal. All of us can love. All of us can bring a bit more justice to this world.
All of us can be servants. All of us are great. And all of us can live into our greatness by becoming servants. Amen.
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Writing this sermon, I was inspired by various works on the topic of servant leadership. Check works by Robert Greenleaf, Steven Covey, and Margaret Wheatley. I also was inspired by Donald Kraybill’s book, The Upside-down Kingdom, Herald Press, 1978, particularly the last two chapters.
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