MPC, 24th December 2000.Mark 10:35-45 - Last Things First
Phil Campbell MPC, 24th December 2000.
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I don't have many PRESCHOOL MEMORIES. Only the BIG TRAUMAS have stuck in my mind. That and the fact that the PINK JELLY BEANS are the special ones. That you'd get if you were especially GOOD.
But the big trauma I remember most clearly was the day I did something SO RIGHT and SO GOOD, that I was told that at the end of the day when it was time to STAND IN LINE and MARCH TO THE GATE to go home, that I could be FIRST IN LINE. Better even than a pink Jelly Bean.
You lined up for everything in those days. And so the rest of the day I spent daydreaming about the glory up ahead. That as the parents stood along the front fence waiting for us to march up to the gate, I'D BE AT THE FRONT... for everyone to see. And admire.
Trouble is, by the end of the day when it was time to stand in line, Miss Noyce had FORGOTTEN THE PROMISE. And SOMEONE ELSE was put at the front of the line instead. Which was quite a big trauma. And so I said, BUT YOU PROMISED. You said I COULD BE FIRST in the line.
For which Miss Noyce was very apologetic. But it was TOO LATE. They'd started marching already without me. So she said, quick as anything, she said I'll tell you what, YOU CAN BE FIRST at the OTHER END of the line. You go RIGHT AT THE BACK.
Now the funny thing was, I was happy with that! Being FIRST AT THE OTHER END seemed fine. But I guess I was young and innocent. You get older, you WANT your own needs to be put first, don't you. To have a share in the GLORY. To be honoured. You want to be FIRST AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE.
As did James and John. Disciples of Jesus. They'd been following Jesus - watching what he'd been doing. He's IMPRESSIVE. He's going places. They can see it a mile off. This guy's got potential. Last time we saw Peter at the end of chapter 8, finally getting it right. That Jesus is THE CHRIST. The one come to be KING. And here in Mark chapter 10, James and John want a slice of the action. They want to BE THERE... for the GLORY. Sharing in it. They're like the people clamoring around George W Bush. Something like 16000 applicants, I think I heard, for the TOP JOBS in the new administration. John's saying, MAKE ME SECRETARY OF STATE. James saying, I'll be PRESS SECRETARY. Media advisor. Don't care WHAT IT IS, as long as it's important. And highly paid.
Maybe not FIRST AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE... but at least SECOND AND THIRD. Have a look what they're saying - we're in Mark chapter 10, verse 35, " Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Jesus. "Teacher," they say, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asks.
And here's their answer. Verse 37 They say, here's what we want you to do. "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."
Put us RIGHT AT THE FRONT. Up there with you. The most prominent places of honour. When you do your KING thing.
Now it's very easy for US to do the same, isn't it. To associate ourselves with Jesus because we think it's a way to get NOTICED. To want to LEAD because we think it makes us more IMPORTANT. To go looking for POSITION and POWER; because we're thinking it somehow makes us GREAT ONES in the Kingdom. You can see it in the history of the church. In the clothes and the titles. Revered. Very Reverend. Most Reverend. Venerable. Wear the coloured robes and the pointed hats. We'll bow to you. But you can see it smaller as well. Whenever you start to think that there's a STATUS attached to chairing a committee, or being a youth leader, or being an ELDER.
Funny, can you see James and John have got it totally wrong? They haven't understood THE MISSION OF JESUS AT ALL. Or what DISCIPLESHIP MEANS. They haven't understood where the road to Jerusalem is leading. But he said it already back in chapter 8. Those words we saw last week. If you're going to FOLLOW ME... you've got to DENY YOURSELF and TAKE UP YOUR CROSS. You've got to put your ambitions on DEATH ROW. Follow me to the gallows. Literally, for them.
And they don't get it. Chapter 9, can I take you there for a minute. Look back a page or so. Mark 9:33. They're coming to Capernaum, home base. The disciples have been arguing on the road; Jesus says, WHAT WERE YOU ARGUING ABOUT.
Verse 34, they hang their heads, shuffle their feet. They KEPT QUIET - because on the way, they'd been arguing about WHO WAS THE GREATEST. And so Jesus sits them down, verse 35; he calls the 12 together, and he says, "If anyone wants to be FIRST, he must be the VERY LAST... and the SERVANT OF ALL."
Have they listened? Have they picked up on the fact that FOLLOWING JESUS means DENYING YOURSELF? That the road to GLORY is the ROAD TO THE CROSS? Have they understood that BEING FIRST means BEING LAST? Obviously not. Because here are James and John now in chapter 10 saying, when you become KING, give us the SEATS ON YOUR RIGHT AND YOUR LEFT.
Which is why Jesus says to them, "You don't know what you are asking," Come back to chapter 10. Verse 38. He says, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" He's talking about the CUP OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT. Which he's about to face at the cross. The cup he prays about later in the garden. And says, Father, if there's any other way, take this cup from me.
You guys want to be there on my right and left when I come into my GLORY. You don't know that that's going to MEAN. You don't know what's up ahead. BUT I DO.
But James and John are unstoppable. Full of confidence. "We can do it." And Jesus says to them, he says, "yep, you will." "You WILL drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with; as my disciples you're going to do it tough as well. "But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
Funny thing. Turn a few pages in Mark's gospel and you get to the point where Jesus is being CROWNED AS A KING. Except it's a crown of thorns. You get to the point where Jesus is under a sign that says THE KING OF THE JEWS. Except it's pinned to the cross. And we're told very clearly in exactly the same words... there IS someone on his right... and someone on his left. Except they're two condemned criminals. Want to see exactly what it looks like to get what James and John have asked for? To be on his right and his left at the moment of his glory. THERE IT IS.
But at this point where we are in chapter 10, the other disciples hear James and John have been trying to get in the good books of Jesus. Angling for position. And they're ANGRY. And so Jesus calls them together, and he says the words you can see in verse 42. He explains it again. He says, what I've come to do is totally DIFFERENT. Not GLORY BY PUTTING MYSELF AT THE FRONT. Glory by PUTTING MYSELF LAST. And if you're going to FOLLOW ME, it has to be the same with YOU.
Same words we saw back in chapter 9. One more time. He says, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The greatest in the kingdom is the ONE WHO SERVES MOST. And Jesus DEMONSTRATES THAT...by the fact that his GLORY is at the cross. His GLORY... is at the point where the King and Ruler of the Universe gives up his life. As a RANSOM for the rest of us.
And as he hangs there on the cross with the mocking sign above him, with the crown of thorns cutting through the flesh of his forehead, as he hangs there condemned and GOD FORSAKEN... it REALLY IS the demonstration of REAL GLORY. A glory that comes from GIVING. Instead of getting. Giving his life as a ransom for the sins of the world.
And he says to us, THAT'S GLORY. That's what to aim for. Not LORDING IT OVER OTHERS... but SERVING. Not pushing to the front of the line. But taking your place at the back of it. Not sitting back waiting to be served at morning tea. But serving. In the least noticed ways, of washing the dishes and sweeping the floors. Giving yourself in SERVICE FOR OTHERS. What true glory is made of.
See, if we take what Jesus says seriously, the greatest ones among us here today are the ones you'd least expect. The ones you don't notice. Serving in the background, over and over again. The ones who through the week cleaned the toilets. Swept the path. Folded the service sheets. Quietly made a meal for someone who needed it. Quietly gave some money to help meet someone else's need. Turned down the promotion at work because the extra hours would cut into ministry time. The ones who made themselves last in the sausage queue last Sunday night to make sure all the visitors were served first. Little sacrifices that add up; serving and serving and serving. In the same way as Jesus himself. Who did not come to BE SERVED, but to SERVE. And to give his life... as a ransom for many.
That's the Jesus we say we celebrate every Christmas. And yet I wonder for most of us if we should maybe RETHINK what it is that it means to FOLLOW a King like that. That's our goal. Growing FOLLOWERS OF JESUS. Which if you're on board with, means growing to be more self sacrificial. Growing towards making yourself LESS AND LESS AND LESS. Growing towards serving... more and more. And always delighting ... in being FIRST ... at the far end of the line.