On the Road Again with Jesus (Mark 10:32 - 45)

      The disciples and Jesus are on the road again, and Jesus tries a third time to explain things to them. “See,” he says, “We're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man – that's me – is gonna be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and all the other religious hangers-on, and they're gonna condemn him, and then hand him over to the Gentiles.  They're gonna torture him, spit on him, and kill him.  But after three days, he will rise again.”

      There was silence for a few minutes, and then James and John come up and say “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  Say what? Their beloved teacher, master and friend has just told them he’s going to die a horrible death, tortured, mocked and killed.  And by Gentiles, no less – Gentiles, who keep pigs for pity's sake, and eat anything they wanted, and worship God only knows what.

      And what do they say?  Do they commiserate with Jesus?  Do they weep and wail and gnash their teeth?  Do they get mad and vow to get the scribes and chief priests before they get Jesus?  No. They say “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  It's kind of like a beloved grandmother, who tells us she has bad news.  She went to the doctor, and he told her she's only got six months to live, a year, tops, and we come back with “Grandma . . . can we have your bone-china tea set?”

      Jesus calmly replies with “What is it you want me to do for you?” And immediately, I'm struck by the unevenness of the exchange, the opposite responses of the disciples and Jesus.  They greet Jesus' announcement of his death with the height of insensitivity, and Jesus responds patiently and selflessly: “What is it you want me to do for you?”

      James and John sail obliviously on. They ask for the moon, the kingdom, the stars.  “Grant us to sit,” they say, “one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."  And immediately it becomes clear what their problem is, where they're coming from.  Jesus says he's gonna die, and be raised on the third day, and they want a piece of the action, a piece of heaven on earth. They hear resurrection, and think “glory,” think “triumphant Christ, reigning on earth.” They just don't get it.

      Mark’s gospel was written during troubled times in Palestine.  About 65 AD, rebellion broke out among the Jews against the Roman occupation. Five years of guerilla warfare ended in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was finally taken, and Solomon's temple destroyed, and with it Jewish dreams of independence. Now, every time the Israelites were threatened with extinction, every time they are defeated or exiled, Messianic expectations run wild. They were looking for a savior, a leader, a general who could crush the Roman army, and remove the Emperor's boot-heel from their necks.  The Jewish Messiah was expected to lead the Jews to a glorious victory for the Lord and the people of the Lord.

      So James and John accurately mirror the beliefs during Mark's times. They assume that he'll be resurrected on the third day and go on to kick a little Roman rear on the fourth.  They thought they understood perfectly well who he was . . . he was the Messiah, and he was there to lead them to victory. We want to be at your right and left hands, in your Glory.

      And when Jesus said  “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They must have thought  “No sweat – we can lord it over the Romans with the best of 'em.  We can easily take what Jesus has to take.”  And so they answered  “We are able.”

      Now, Jesus knew perfectly well that they still didn't get it, they still had no idea what they were getting into.  And so it was with a certain amount of irony that he answered them “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.”

      But the irony was mixed with sadness, because though James and John didn't realize it, Jesus was predicting their deaths.  James and John were looking for their reward here on earth, in the here and now. They told Jesus “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And when he came back to them gently, asking what he could do for them, they went for the gold, asking to be Christ's lieutenants in his imminent reign. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

      They remind me of that uniquely American brand of religion that plays across the airwaves night and day, bouncing off satellites around the globe. Those big-haired, one-eight-hundred-number pushing Christians sell a little piece of the kingdom right here, right now, coming to you in your living rooms. Their sets are golden and their chandeliers sparkling, and they preach a prosperity doctrine – Can't pay the bills?  Trust in Jesus. Cancer got hold of you?  Trust in the Lord. Whatever you give will be returned to you ten-fold.  Like James and John, they want it right here, right now. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

      And Jesus comes to them as he comes to us: “Are you willing to be baptized as I am, to drink from the cup I drink?” And I wonder how many of us are willing to go where Jesus went, or do what Jesus did?

      Well.  When the others hear what James and John have done, that they'd tried to make a side-deal with the master, they get just a little ticked off. Why should those two get first shot at the goodies? And so they started jockeying for position on the glory train. And Jesus can see that things are beginning to get out of hand, so he calls them to him..  “Listen,”  he says. “You know that among the gentiles their great men lord it over the rest of them.” And I can imagine the disciples nodding their heads . . . yes, yes . . . they know the ways of the nations, all right.  “Well, among you we can't have any of that. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” And I can imagine the disciples standing there, like poled oxen, because this was not at all what they had expected. Servants of each other?  Slaves of all? What kind of message is that?

      And then, finally, Jesus spells it out . . . “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” And finally it becomes clear what Jesus had been saying all along, what it really means to go where Jesus goes, to walk where Jesus walks. They all want a piece of the Messianic pie, and they’re not going to get it. What's more, they’re being asked to be servant of one another, a far cry from sitting on the right hand of the Messiah in his glory. This was shaping up to be no fun whatsoever.

      They have a good idea of what it means to be servants – servants have little power and no business of their own, much less any share of the glory. They get little pay for their work, and are constantly, endlessly at the beck and call of their master. Did Jesus really mean that the disciples should be servants of everyone? Even of the hated Romans? What kind of way was that for a Messiah to behave?

      I suspect this notion of being servants is as shocking to us as it was to the disciples. Even though we’ve heard it all our Christian lives, that we are to serve one another, I wonder if we've ever really given thought to what Jesus meant? We have this image of household servants, Jeeves the butler saying “Madam, your hot toddy is ready . . . would madam like it in the sitting room or the drawing room?” Or . . . better . . . we go to a hotel, and overworked maids clean our rooms for us while we are gone, make our beds, and clean our toilets. But is this really all that Jesus means? Is this what he means by being servants of each other?

      As is often the case, the key is in the context. Remember what's happened: James and John have asked for positions of leadership, positions of power in the reign of Christ. The other ten get jealous of James and John, angry at them for jumping the gun, for trying to usurp the others in power and authority. But, instead of a rebuke, Jesus comes back with an illustration – “Among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.” He gives the disciples – and us – a picture of worldly leadership.

      And it's a picture that pretty much holds today, isn't it? In our own country, with our own elected leaders, there's a lot of talk about “public service,” about serving the people. But when they get into office, it seems to be more about staying in office, about holding on to that power. But Jesus said that the ways of leadership of his followers was not to be that of the world. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.” Jesus was talking about what leadership should look like for his followers. And you might call that “servant-leadership.”

      And so the question becomes “What is this servant leadership?” What does a servant-leader look like? Well . . . actually, a servant-leader should look like . . . Jesus. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized as I am baptized?” Like other areas of our life, the model is to be Jesus. We are to be Christian, Christlike.  But like the shoe commercial – be like Mike –  preachers often say “Be like Jesus.” Then we say “Amen.” and sing the doxology and then we're outta here, off to beat the Baptists to the cafeteria. But how do we do that?  What were the characteristics of Jesus' servant leadership?

      The answer, of course, lies in his life. On the one hand, he gave the needs of others priority in his life . . . he healed the sick and fed the hungry. “What is it that you want me to do for you,” he asked. On the other hand, he wasn't bound to do whatever anyone asked of him. He wasn’t at the whims of everyone else. Jesus was just as much a servant driving the moneychangers out of the temple as he was feeding the five thousand.  So what we have here is a new model of leadership. Jesus' ministry and his self-giving death give both leadership and servant-hood a new definition.

      Now, you might be sitting out there thinking “Well that's just great. We've just been told one more time by some preacher how hard it is to be a Christian, what all we have to do to follow Christ.” And it seems nigh on to impossible or at least awfully hard. How discouraging is that? And you would be right – it is nigh on impossible to get it right, especially for imperfect human beings like us modern-day disciples. Many times, we don't get it any more than the original twelve.

      All of a sudden, we can see that the servants – that's us – are in need of a little service themselves, are in need of a little grace in their lives. And in the last line of our passage, we get it . . .  “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  And so the final remark of Jesus points to the final act of his leadership, his ultimate act of service.  The proof of God's amazing love is this: While we were sinners Christ died for us. We don't have to be perfect in obedience, in our servant-hood, because Christ was perfect in himself perfect for us.

            And God's saving grace, through God's Son Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, acts to save us imperfect human beings. It acts to redeem us disciples who, like those original twelve so long ago, have a hard time being servants.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.