MARK 10:35-45
WHEN YOU HEARD THE GOSPEL
TODAY, DID YOU THINK SOMETHING WAS MISSING? IF SO, YOU HAVE A GOOD
MEMORY. BECAUSE THIS SAME STORY IS IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, BUT IN THAT
CASE, IT'S THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOHN WHO ASKS JESUS FOR THIS
FAVOR. MARK'S GOSPEL WAS WRITTEN FIRST, AND IN IT, THE APOSTLES
DON'T SEEM TO BE VERY BRIGHT. MATTHEW AND LUKE WERE WRITTEN MUCH
LATER, AND BY THEN, THE APOSTLES ARE PORTRAYED AS MORE NOBLE, MORE
INTELLIGENT. SO MATTHEW PROBABLY FIGURED THAT JAMES AND JOHN WOULD
NEVER ASK JESUS A QUESTION LIKE THAT, – FULL OF PRIDE AND
ARROGANCE, BUT IT WOULD BE THE KIND OF QUESTION A DOTING MOTHER MIGHT
ASK. SO MATTHEW CHANGED THINGS A BIT, PERHAPS, TO SHOW THE APOSTLES
IN A BETTER LIGHT.
BUT AS IS OFTEN THE CASE
WHEN WE HEAR A READING FROM THE GOSPELS, WE DON'T CATCH THE MORE
SUBTLE THINGS – IF ONLY WE COULD HEAR THEIR VOICES, SEE THEIR
GESTURES. MY FIRST REACTION TO THIS GOSPEL WAS THAT JAMES AND JOHN
HAD A LOT OF NERVE. WHAT MADE THEM EVEN THINK THAT JESUS WOULD
CONSIDER THEIR REQUEST? I SYMPATHIZED WITH THE OTHER APOSTLES, WHO
ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL, ARE ANGRY, OR INDIGNANT. BUT THEN I
THOUGHT, IT WASN'T TOO LONG AGO THAT JESUS LET PETER HAVE IT FOR
TELLING JESUS THAT HE SHOULDN'T GO AROUND SAYING HE WAS GOING TO BE
IMPRISONED AND TORTURED AND PUT TO DEATH. SO WHEN JESUS ANSWERS
JAMES AND JOHN IN A VERY REASONABLE WAY, THERE MUST BE MORE GOING ON
THAN SEEMS TO BE.
THE FIRST THING TO
REMEMBER IS THAT PART OF THEIR PROBLEM WAS JESUS' OWN FAULT. HE HAD
PROMISED THAT THE TWELVE APOSTLES WOULD SIT AS JUDGES OVER THE TWELVE
TRIBES OF ISRAEL. SINCE THEY ALL HAD A VAGUE IDEA BY THIS TIME THAT
JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH, AND THEIR CONCEPTION OF A MESSIAH WAS A
CONQUERING KING, A HIGH PRIEST, A GREAT PROPHET, THEY ENVISIONED
THEIR FUTURE AS BEING THE PEOPLE WHO REIGNED WITH THE MESSIAH. AND
JAMES AND JOHN, TWO OF THE THREE APOSTLES CLOSEST TO JESUS, DID NOT
THINK THEIR REQUEST WAS SO UNREASONABLE; THEY MIGHT HAVE ALMOST
EXPECTED IT AND WERE JUST LOOKING FOR REASSURANCE.
AND JESUS GIVES THEM
CONDITIONS – HE DOESN'T JUST LAUGH IN THEIR FACES OR PUT THEM DOWN.
HE REQUIRES TWO THINGS; TO DRINK THE CUP HE MUST DRINK, AND TO BE
BAPTIZED IN THE BAPTISM HE MUST BE BAPTIZED IN. WE'VE HEARD THAT
REFERENCE TO CUP BEFORE. IN THE 23RD PSALM IT MEANS GOOD
THINGS; “MY CUP RUNS OVER” WHEN MY SHEPHERD LEADS ME TO GREEN
PASTURES. IN ISAIAH, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE CUP REFERS TO BAD
THINGS; IF JUDAH WILL TURN BACK TO THE LORD, THE CUP OF WRATH WHICH
THEY CURRENTLY HAVE WILL BE TAKEN FROM THEM. AND OF COURSE WE HEAR
JESUS HIMSELF, IN THE GARDEN OF GESTHEMENE, PRAYS TO HIS FATHER THAT
“THIS CUP BE TAKEN FROM ME”. SO A CUP SEEMS TO BE YOUR LOT IN
LIFE; WHAT YOU GET WITHOUT SEEKING IT. WHEN WE DRINK OF THIS CUP, WE
ACCEPT THE WILL OF GOD IN THAT SITUATION. SO JESUS IS SAYING “CAN
YOU ACCEPT WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR YOU WHATEVER IT IS?”
THE BAPTISM IS SOMETHING
ELSE. IT DOESN'T MEAN THE SACRAMENT TO WHICH WE GIVE THAT NAME. THE
GREEK WORD MEANS “TO DUNK” OR “TO DIP”. THE BAPTISM OF JOHN
WAS A SIGN OF COMMITMENT TO CHANGING YOUR LIFE, TO STRENGTHENING YOUR
LOYALTY TO THE DREAM OF ISRAEL AS GOD'S OWN PEOPLE. TO JAMES AND
JOHN IT PROBABLY MEANT COMMITMENT TO A CAUSE, REAL LIFE-CHANGING
COMMITMENT. YOU BURNED YOUR BRIDGES BEHIND YOU.
AND JESUS ASKS JAMES AND
JOHN, AND YOU AND I, TO DO THE SAME – NOT ONLY TO ACCEPT, BUT TO
EMBRACE THE WILL OF GOD, TO BE LIKE MARY, WHO REPLIED TO THE ANGEL,
“THEN DO IT TO ME!” WHICH IS A BETTER TRANSLATION THAN “BE IT
DONE UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD”. AND TO DO THIS WITH TOTAL
COMMITMENT, WITH WHOLE-HEARTEDNESS, NOT LOOKING BACK, LIKE JESUS DID
IN ANOTHER PART OF THE GOSPEL WHERE IT SAYS “HE SET HIS FACE TO GO
TO JERUSALEM.”
WE CAN FOLLOW THE REST OF
THE STORY WITHOUT TOO MUCH HELP. JESUS TEACHES THAT IF YOU WANT TO
BE GREAT, YOU NEED TO SERVE. ONE OF THE POPE'S TITLES IS “SERVANT
OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD”. WE DEACONS WEAR A STOLE WHICH IS SUPPOSED
TO REMIND US OF THE TOWEL A WAITER WOULD WEAR; THE VERY WORD “DEACON”
COMES FROM A WORD MEANING “TO WAIT ON TABLES”. CHRISTIANITY IS
ALL ABOUT SERVICE, ALL ABOUT BECOMING A SERVANT TO OTHERS. AND WE
DON'T TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY ENOUGH. RIGHT HERE IN LONGMEADOW THERE ARE
PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES COULD BE GREATLY IMPROVED IF YOU AND I WERE MORE
CONSCIOUS OF JESUS' COMMAND TO BE SERVANTS.
JESUS TELLS US THAT THE
POSITIONS ON HIS RIGHT HAND AND LEFT HAND ARE RESERVED; HE CAN'T
PROMISE THE APOSTLES THOSE PLACES; THEY ARE ALREADY SPOKEN FOR,
ALTHOUGH JESUS IN HIS HUMAN NATURE DOESN'T KNOW WHO THOSE PEOPLE WILL
BE.
I DON'T KNOW WHO THOSE
PEOPLE WILL BE EITHER. ONE THEORY I LIKE IS THAT THEY ARE FOR MARY,
JESUS' MOTHER; AND MARY MAGDALENE. THE MOTHER OF JESUS ISN'T A BIG
STRETCH; AFTER ALL, SHE IS SINLESS, SHE COMMITTED HERSELF TOTALLY TO
GOD'S WILL, AND SHE SUFFERED AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. SHE DRANK THE
CUP AND WAS BAPTIZED WITH THE BAPTISM JESUS SPOKE OF. AND SHE WAS
THERE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY OF JESUS, OF GOD TAKING ON HUMAN
NATURE. AND I THINK THE OTHER ONE IS MARY MAGDALENE, WHO WAS RESCUED
BY JESUS FROM SEVEN DEMONS; BECAUSE SHE WAS THERE AT THE NEW
BEGINNING. WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD HE APPEARED TO HER FIRST,
AND SENT HER TO THE APOSTLES. AND ON EASTER SUNDAY, MARY WAS THERE
LOOKING FOR JESUS' BODY WHEN THE APOSTLES WERE STILL HIDING IN THEIR
ROOM.
THAT'S A NICE THEORY.
BUT MAYBE JESUS LEFT THOSE PLACES AT HIS RIGHT AND LEFT HAND EMPTY
BECAUSE THEY ARE THERE FOR YOU AND I. IF WE WISH TO BE GREAT IN THE
KINGDOM, WE MUST SERVE, EVEN TO THE POINT OF GIVING UP OUR LIVES.
MAYBE SOMEONE IN THIS CHURCH WILL TAKE UP HIS OR HER POSITION ON
JESUS' RIGHT HAND OR LEFT HAND. MAYBE IT'S YOU.
