Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that we may hear your word, understand it, and be obedient to what you are calling us to do.
Amen.
I'm reading today from the tenth chapter of Mark, verses 35 to 45.
James 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.
And he said to them, what is it you want me to do for you?
And they said to him, appoint us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.
But 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?
They 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.
But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
When the 10 heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
So 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.
But it is not so among you. Instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.
And whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
This is the word of the Lord.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Morning.
Okay, are there any kids left in the building? Okay. Cover their ears. This is important. We don't want them getting any ideas.
In the 2021 film yes, Day parents Carlos and Allison Torres Give their kids 24 hours to ask for whatever they want. And the parents have to say yes to it all. Within reason, of course. We gotta be safe.
Naturally, this is a kid's dream. They take full advantage of the opportunity. They ask for an all you can eat buffet of candy and treats for breakfast.
Going to a theme park and riding all the rides they want and eating whatever they want and even going through a car wash with the windows down.
Yes. Day is the day when the kids boldest and most audacious dreams come true because their parents had to say yes to whatever they want.
And doesn't that sound like kind of a good day for us too? Do you ever wake up and just think, I would love a day just to do whatever I want? No one asking me for anything or asking me where something is, or asking me for a snack.
I can sleep in bed as long as I want, get up whenever I want, not have to go to work, just enjoy it sounds like a pretty good day in today's passage, it sounds like James and John are asking for their own yes day, essentially with their bold and almost childish request.
Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.
Like really whatever we ask. They think Jesus is going to fall for that one. This isn't his first rodeo.
It's the kind of setup where you can almost hear the voice of a parent knowing what's coming when Jesus responds, what is it you want me to do for you?
And their response, grant us to sit one at your right and one at your left in your glory, reveals just how audacious their request really is.
Many translations title this passage the Request of James and John, but I think this would be more aptly titled the Audacious Request of James and John.
Like the kids in yes Day, they are making a bold request without understanding the gravity of what they are asking for.
They see and ask for the reward, but they're not ready for the cost.
At the beginning of Jesus ministry in Mark 1, Jesus proclaims the good news of God, saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good News.
This was really good news for the people of Israel. They had been waiting centuries under foreign oppression longing for the fulfillment of these prophecies that God would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed, that he would send a Messiah to deliver them.
You can imagine the relief and the long the excitement at hearing the long awaited kingdom of God was finally near.
It's easy to see then how this excitement might lead James and John to make such a bold request.
I mean, who wouldn't want to secure the best seats in the house, especially in a kingdom that would reign forever. It never hurts to at least ask you shoot your shot when seats of glory are on the line.
The problem was James and John didn't know what they were asking for.
Their vision of the kingdom was shaped by worldly expectations of power and glory. Like the kingdoms of this world, but better.
They expected the Messiah to overthrow their political oppressors and restore the kingdom of David.
They did not realize that the kingdom of God would look nothing like the worldly kingdoms.
It would upend everything they thought they knew about power, privilege and glory.
What they thought would be a seat of glory in the earthly kingdom was in fact A call to share in Jesus suffering in the kingdom of God. The path to glory goes straight through the valley of suffering and death.
There is no resurrection and glory without the cross.
Jesus challenged James and John's expectations when he said, can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?
You may recall the wonder and glory shown at Jesus baptism in the Jordan river when the heavens tore open and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven proclaimed, you are my son, with whom I am well pleased.
And perhaps we expect the King of Israel to drink the finest wine. I mean, this is the same Jesus who we may recall, turned water into wine. It's got to be the good stuff.
But this cup is not filled with refreshing water or fine wine, but unbearably bitter medicine.
It is the cup of suffering that even Jesus begged the Father to take from him in the garden of Gethsemane.
And his baptism was not then into the waters of the Jordan, but into the fullness of the world's sin, into death. And when he rose from the waters, it was into the resurrection and the glory of the kingdom of God.
This glory and kingdom was diametrically opposed to what the disciples thought they were getting when they followed Jesus.
So much so that Peter rebuked Jesus for it.
After Peter identified Jesus as Christ the Messiah in Mark 8, Jesus foretold His death and resurrection for the first time. And in response, Peter pulled Jesus aside and rebuked him, as if Peter was the parent reprimanding a misbehaving child.
Perhaps Peter felt like Jesus was the misbehaving Messiah.
He was supposed to be the king of glory, not a suffering servant.
Israel had been servants. Israel had done suffering. It was time. It was their turn for long awaited glory. And that's what they were promised.
But the prophet Messiah didn't just prophesy about the Messiah. He also prophesied about the servant of the Lord. An anointed one who endures extensive suffering.
We read in Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected by humankind. A man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces. He was sorry, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The image of the suffering servant Embodies the hope that while Israel was broken and rejected, now they will someday be exalted.
The suffering servant represents the hope that one day their suffering would serve a larger purpose.
And while Isaiah never explicitly links the Messiah and the servant of the Lord in the three predictions Jesus makes of his death, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus shows the disciples that he is the Messiah and the suffering servant.
Jesus tells the disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected, mocked, spit on, flogged and killed. And after three days he will rise again.
The Messiah was to be the anointed king. But in the kingdom of God, the anointing king is also the suffering servant.
Peter was prepared for the Messiah's glory in an earthly kingdom, but not for the suffering servant to bring glory through suffering and death.
Jesus rebuked Peter's misunderstanding. Get behind me, Satan, for you are setting mind not on divine things, but on human things.
He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it. And those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel will save it. For what will it profit them? To gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
The glory of the Messiah who came to save is brought about through the suffering of the servant. And that is diametrically opposed to any concept of earthly glory.
There is no glory without the cross. And that is true not just for Jesus, but for those who follow him.
But it seems that pill was still too hard for the disciples to swallow.
It seems that they were still hoping for this Messiah without the suffering servant, for the glory and privilege of earthly kingdoms. When Jesus then predicted his second death. I'm sorry, his death for a second time, they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they continued on their way. Immediately after arguing about who was the greatest among them, right after Jesus had told them he was going to be rejected and killed for the second time, they argued about who was the greatest.
Over and over, the disciples see and hear what they choose.
The Messiah without the suffering servant.
Heavenly glory through human means. That's position, rank and privilege, not sacrifice.
It's the contrast of two kingdoms, two kinds of glory.
And the great irony in the disciples request for and arguments over rank, power and privilege is that in doing so, they're imitating the very powers and rulers they despise.
Were they to receive glory through human means by attaining power and glory, in earthly kingdoms, the good news of Jesus Christ would not be good news for all.
It would be good news for the few in power.
And how would that be any different from all the powers and rulers that have come before?
The only success would be in putting a different set of humans on top.
As theologian N.T. wright writes, the cross is God's way of putting the world and ourselves to rights.
It challenges and subverts all human systems.
The kingdom of God, ruled by the Messiah and by the suffering servant, calls into question everything we know about human pride and glory and turns it on its head.
In just two chapters in Mark, from Jesus first prediction of his death to the end of Mark 10, the verb want is used a whopping 10 times in several uses. Jesus uses it to point out the stark contrast between what his disciples and followers want, that is what they think is best for them, to their lack of want for the work or sacrifice it takes to get it.
He says, if any want to become my followers, let them take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it. And those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will save it.
If any want to be disciples of Christ, if they want to save their lives, they have to sacrifice their life and take up their cross.
In the kingdom of God, the king's throne is a cross.
His crown was one of thorns.
There were ones who were seated on his left and right, but they were two robbers nailed to the crosses beside him.
This is the kingdom where the king does not lord it over, nor shows his greatness through tyranny, punishing those beneath him.
This is the kingdom where he takes their punishment as his own, where his ultimate glory and might is shown through suffering and servanthood.
For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom. For many, this is the kingdom of God.
Today the good news is so often spread that following Jesus is the better life.
Presenting it as theologian Lamar Williamson Jr. Puts it, as a no risk offering that we follow Jesus in order to stay out of trouble.
The good news is spread as good news for the individual.
And it is. It is good news for the individual. It's good news for you, it's good news for me.
But it's not just good news for you and for me. It is good news for the poor, for the oppressed, the orphan, the the widow, the lost and the outsider.
Today's passage directly challenges our sometimes simplistic and self centered understanding of discipleship.
Discipleship Is in fact a high risk, almost guaranteed trouble and high reward offer.
Now, I've been pretty hard on the disciples when the truth is we are the disciples.
We too love the idea of the Messiah, our Savior, who came to bring us life and life to the full.
And we struggle to reconcile that our Savior also was the suffering servant.
I think like the disciples, we have this innate, almost childish desire for not just a yes day, but a yes life.
We want to present our request to God, all our wants and all our needs, and have God give us a resounding yes.
There are so many times where I think if God just knew it just went with my plan, I think it would go really well.
And didn't Jesus even encourage bold requests when he said, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. I like that.
The problem is that the gifts of God are for all the people of God, not just you and not just me.
Don't you just have those days where you want to just do what you want?
Well, that is a life we might fantasize about. And that would be a good life for me. It would be a good life for only me.
My family would have to consistently deny their own wants and needs to meet mine.
See, I am as extroverted as they come. So if I had my yes life, it would be out at social engagements at all times. Sleep unnecessary. If I had it my way, the party would never stop.
Now I can already sense the discomfort from the introverts in the room and my husband is one of them. So you are in good company.
And we have a three and a half year old son who loves a good party. But he also still needs a midday nap and can sometimes get overwhelmed by large social gatherings.
So a life that meets all that I want is not a life that meets what my husband and my son want and need.
And if I want a bigger purpose, if I want a good marriage and a good family, it means I have to sacrifice some of what is good for me.
It is a constant negotiation of wants and needs between everyone.
Each person sacrifices to serve a larger purpose where we all give of ourselves to support each other, that we all might experience a good life together.
Our culture is so good at teaching us to always look out for number one, to protect our individual rights and our interests at all costs.
But Jesus came to subvert our culture and teach us to look out for the other, to deny ourselves.
And while we are geared to pursue wealth, power and comfort, where our success is measured by the size of our homes, our socioeconomic class, the power of our job, how much money we have in our bank account, by how put together our lives. Look, the kingdom of God finds blessing and generosity in sacrifice, in giving. Instead of taking in the kingdom of God, we gain our lives by giving them away.
This is the contrast of having our minds set on human things versus divine things, on the earthly kingdoms versus the heavenly kingdom.
When Jesus came to bring good news for us, he came to bring good news for you and me. And that is most definitely true. But he did not come to bring good news for just you and me.
He came to bring good news to all who would hear.
He came to bring that good news to the poor, the oppressed, the widow, the orphan. And for that to be true, it requires sacrifice.
If we, like the disciples, battle over who is the greatest, who would sit at the left and right of Jesus, we would be participating in every other oppressive kingdom that had come before.
We would be placing ourselves in positions of power and privilege over others.
If we, however, offer ourselves as the sacrifice, if we become the servants, picking up our cross and following Jesus that all might see and believe, then we participate in the glory of the heavenly kingdom.
We participate in an economy that is based on abundance for all, not abundance for few.
We would then be offering our five loaves and two fish, believing that out of our sacrifice, all would be fed and would be full, including ourselves.
We are faced with the same choice that the disciples are faced with.
Are we willing to follow Jesus, the Messiah and the suffering servant?
Are we willing to live our lives as he lived it, to walk the path to glory straight through the valley of suffering and death?
Are you willing to forego the pursuit of wealth, status, privilege, power, the glory we want and think we need, and instead pursue the gifts of God for all the people of God, not just us?
Are you willing to challenge earthly kingdoms and systems that oppress based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or class?
Can you surrender your own wants and needs for God's so that even though it may be hard and likely will be hard to drink the cup of suffering?
Ultimately, you can say to the Father, like Christ did in Gethsemane, not what I want, but what you want.
But how? How can I take up my cross in my everyday life and challenge these earthly kingdoms?
Well, we find places in our lives where we have put our wants and our pursuits of glory and power above others.
It starts with small acts of sacrifice and service.
I understand it's the stewardship season at Knox, and you may think then about how you might serve the church's ministries.
Could you give your time and talents to support an area of ministry in the church?
And it's hard. Sometimes it gets to the time we have to serve and you're like, I don't want to. I want to stay in bed.
Could you give your time and talents to support this, even when it's hard?
Can you pledge to support the church's ministry financially?
Or you might give your time to help a neighbor, even one you don't like very much, or volunteer at a shelter.
Or you can sacrifice and serve by practicing generosity.
You might share the resources you have, whether it's money, food or possessions, with your neighbors or those in need.
One of my favorite ways to see generosity at work and to practice in it is there's even these buy nothing groups on Facebook. Some of you might know about them and it connects you with neighbors in your geographic area. And people just offer up things that they have that they don't need anymore or just want to give away. Or you can ask for things that you do need.
And I love to see the way community can come together and just share resources with total strangers.
We can challenge earthly kingdoms by standing up for justice and truth, speaking out against injustice, racism, inequality and oppression. Even when or especially when it is unpopular or uncomfortable.
We stand firm in the kingdom of God that upends the earthly structures of power and privilege.
We can use the opportunity to vote not just for people, but for laws that seek to serve those often neglected by society, knowing that those laws are sometimes going to cost us.
These are just a few examples of ways that we can practically take up our cross and participate in the heavenly kingdom.
And the good news is just as Israel once hoped, that the suffering servant would someday be exalted, that their suffering would one day serve some larger purpose through Jesus Christ, we are offered that promise too.
We are invited to follow Jesus, denying ourselves and taking up the cross with the promise that our sacrifice and our suffering does and will serve the larger purpose of the kingdom.
It is a part of participating in and demonstrating God's justice, peace and love on earth that all might see and hear the good news of the kingdom of God, not just us.
And I'll be honest with you, it's not the path of glory that we always want, but it is also not the path of despair.
It is a path of grace and hope.
Through God's grace. We do not walk this path alone.
The same Christ who challenges us to take up our cross did it first.
He walked it before us to empathize with our suffering and give us the strength to continue on.
For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
And in the end, the road of suffering leads not to defeat, but to resurrection.
It leads us all, all of us, to the kingdom of God. That is truly good news for all.
We look forward to that day. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, amen.
