GOSPEL Mark 10: The holy gospel, according to Saint Mark, the tenth chapter. Glory to you, O Lord.

Transcription

1 GOSPEL Mark 10: The holy gospel, according to Saint Mark, the tenth chapter. Glory to you, O Lord. 35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. 36And he said to them, What is it you want me to do for you? 37And they said to him, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. 38But 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? 39They 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; 40but 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. 41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So 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. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

2 So promise you won t get mad? No pleasant conversation begins that way right? And it s usually unpleasant for everyone involved We don t ask someone not to be mad unless we re afraid they will be And we don t ask someone to promise to do what we ask before we ask it unless we re pretty sure there s a chance they won t want to. James and John two brothers among Jesus followers come to Jesus in the scene we hear play out today. They come to speak to him just after he predicts his death for a second time and just like Peter did after the first time, they prove that they didn t really hear what he was telling them, and they certainly didn t understand. Scholar of Mark s gospel, David Rhoads, throughout his translation famously and whimsically refers to Peter as Rocky since that s the meaning of the nickname Jesus gives him and he also has nicknames for the other two spotlight stealing disciples James and John, Zebedee s boys, are the Sons of Thunder which is what their father s name means. And reading Mark s gospel, we might imagine that Rocky and the Sons of Thunder are about as much brawn and as little brain as their names make them sound. So now the Sons of Thunder have sidled up to Jesus to try to claim their place as his right and left hand dudes...or whatever. Promise to give us whatever we ask? They say knowing full well that they have no right to ask or they wouldn t start out that way. Don t be mad Jesus. Be cool. We ve got this plan. Let us be your guys. When this gets good you know when you come into your power and show all these jerks giving us a hard time now who s boss then bam! We re there for you, man. And Jesus knows that they just don t understand yet they can t understand yet but he tries to explain again one more time what being his right hand

3 and left will look like what kind of suffering will be shared by those who drink from the same cup as him. In so many words, he tries to paint a picture that his right and left hand won t be jeweled thrones or chariots or warhorses or reclining couches at a great feast Whatever James and John are imagining, whatever image is floating through their beefy imaginations in Jesus mind are the shadows of three crosses Jesus knows that none of these friends of his wants to be at his right or left hand when the moment comes to fulfill his purpose, to complete his work. I wonder if that discouraged him or made him feel lonely or afraid. So, Jesus speaks one more time about turning our expectations inside out about forgetting everything we know about power and glory about who s first and best and who is last and least. Jesus has told us that the world is being turned upside down and that power isn t what we think it is. One great teaching Martin Luther gave us was about the difference between a theology of glory and a theology of the cross A theology of glory is not honest or real. Glory denies death and suffering. Glory allows the poor to stay invisible, speaks of wealth as the reward of righteousness. A theology of glory promises we earn what we get and we get what we earn and however much praise the world will shower on us is ours to claim. Today the Sons of Thunder are theologians of glory. But, it s not a very comforting way to see God and the world, in the end. It involves a great deal of self-deception to find a theology of glory comforting because we have to be able to imagine ourselves as worthy, as powerful, as good, as cheaters of death. And the truth that we confess almost every week around the water where God claims us is this. We are none of those things. And this the one place in the world whose existence is not or should not be predicated on perpetuating that lie. By ourselves we can do so little. Because we are captive to the evil that we do. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us We are theologians of glory. When we confess what is true, we become again theologians of the cross. If I do say so myself, I am a very skilled theologian of glory. It is not hard for me to seek praise, to find my sense of worth in how others value what I do. I wrote a comment on a blog post yes you heard me a comment on a blog post this

4 week that I checked more times than last Thanksgiving s turkey to see who liked it who clicked the link I put there the number next to the little star icon at the end of my comment that showed how many people thought I said something good might have actually held my entire sense of self-worth for that afternoon And then after a day my words were old news and if I was going to live or die by the credit I received, I would have been flickering like Tinkerbell before everyone claps enough to bring her back to life. This world only has enough love, it seems, for a precious lucky few. And, if we re honest, it will probably never be us. There is a lovely children s book called You Are Special, by Max Lucado. It is about a world of wooden dolls, who go through their lives declaring the value of others by covering them with gold stars or sad grey dots. Stars for when others are good at things dots for when they aren t. It may seem like an ok idea in a way rewarding and acknowledging goodness but it becomes a selffulfilling prophecy the ones covered with stars sometimes get more stars just because of how many they already have and the ones with dots become heavy with shame. One day a dot-covered doll named Punchinello sees another doll with no dots at all and no stars either and he cautiously asks her why and how She sends him to the carpenter to the maker, who teaches Punchinello that the starts and dots only stick if you care about them. Then the maker tells Punchinello that he made him just the way he is and that he loves him And as Punchinello walks out of the carpenter s shop, one grey dot fell to the ground It s a simple story and sweet. Maybe too simple and too sweet but it holds a truth. Our quest for stars can consume us, so much that we forget that God made us in God s image in the first place and we don t need to cover that with anything any more beautiful than it already is. Of course, we also live in a world where it is easier for some of us to pick ourselves up and let the harshness of the world roll off our backs. It s not as simple as believing in our own God-given goodness some days. But if we could not only believe and remember that for ourselves, but also for each other. If we could build our lives as God s people around honoring the God-given goodness

5 of all people well now that would be something to see and something Rocky and the Sons of Thunder wouldn t really get. They are chasing the glory. But a theology of the cross promises that when we are ourselves in the shadows, invisible and suffering, we are as close to God as we will ever need to be. And when we go near to those who suffer and have no power again that is when we go closest to God. It is the cross centers our lives Christ who comes and heals and preaches and teaches and who suffers and dies is the Lord who claims us. So when we suffer, we are not alone And when we try to escape suffering and find power and glory in its place we are doing nothing less than walking away from God. It is no small thing, to be claimed as God s own but we are and our story goes on. As you leave this place today, fed with God s word and very presence may you go with God into whatever this new week holds for you, trusting in the God who created you, in Christ who redeems you, and in the Holy Spirit on whose wings you go. Thanks be to God. Amen.