Matthew 20:20-28
I’ve been blessed with good role models.
Family … church and school.
My father died when I was 22, but he left me some good memories.
My mother, a troubled person, nonetheless gave me a sense of humor and a passion for reading.
I had a favorite uncle who was always kind … and a favorite aunt who always made me feel ten feet tall.
After my father died, I grew close to Donna’s parents – they were great!
I remember good pastors … men (and it was only men, then) who preached with conviction and content … and a 3rd grade Sunday School teacher named Bert … I think his brother was named Ernie.
Going to a Christian high school, I had some terrific teachers who modeled a life of faith and learning … and those models were reinforced at Calvin College.
Don Wilson, an anthropology professor, opened my eyes to other cultures, and the cultural mistakes made too often by the church.
Roger Rice, a sociology professor, made it possible for me to shed my prejudice.
Wallace Bratt, a Bible professor, welded together faith and science.
Then on to seminary – professors who modeled intelligence and faith.
Lester Kuyper, my Hebrew professor – we called him the student – he’d bounce into the classroom all a-smile, to tell us all about his latest discovery … I’ll never forget one occasion: as he had on hundreds of similar mornings, he was reading and studying the Hebrew Bible, when he solved a 20-year old translation problem.
My own wife: to her I owe a debt of gratitude – she has modeled for me everything good and kind … a wife of endurance and forgiveness … a mother of much love and devotion.
All along my way, God has provided a wealth of role models … ordinary people who lived ordinary lives with faith, hope and love.
I’ve have never lived this life on my own … but have been surrounded by a cloud of witnesses pointing the way to Jesus.
And even now my own children demonstrate wisdom and courage, faithfulness and kindness … I have learned the joy of listening to my children – their take on things, the books they read and the views they hold.
A cloud of witnesses on every side …
God be praised for everyone of them …
We all have our own role models, don’t we?
Women and men who influenced us, told us good stories; fired our imagination; believed in us – pastors, teachers, youth directors, Sunday School teachers, choir directors, college professors, counselors, and the list goes on.
But most of all … at the center of our stories … Jesus!
In His light, we see light.
He is the image of the invisible God … He is the head of the body … He’s the vine and we are the branches … He’s the Alpha and the Omega … He’s the Bread of Heaven and the Living water.
Karl Barth says: “Everything that deserves to be called knowledge in the Christian sense lives from the knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Dogmatics in Outline, p. 67).
Through Jesus and His story, we learn our story.
Let’s take a look at a delightful story from Matthew 20:20-28 – read text here …
Mom goes to bat for her boys … and boys they were – likely in their late teens, early twenties at the most – their Mom goes to bat for them.
Ever done that for one of your children?
Go the soccer coach and suggest that your daughter should have made first string?
Go to the teacher and defend your son’s behavior?
Go to a neighbor whose son beat up your boy?
Or that catty little girl down the street who lied about your daughter?
It’s called a parent’s heart – there’s nothing more devoted or more determined … nothing more ferocious if a child has been harmed, or in some way slighted.
I have a parent’s heart, and you do, too.
Let something happen, or not happen, and we’re prepared to move heaven and earth for the sake of our children.
Mama went to bat for her boys!
She believed that Jesus was going to be something … and when he made it big, she wanted her boys to be there.
She asks with great politeness … she kneels before Jesus and puts her case – when the time comes, I want my two boys to be at your side.
Do ya’ think Mama came up with this all by herself?
Or did the boys prompt her?
Did James or John say, Mama, can ya’ put in a good word for us?
And what’s a Mama to do?
But things get a little dicey right now … Jesus sees ahead alright, to what’s going to be … neither fame nor fortune; He’s not going to be voted “most likely to succeed” – no, it’s a hard road He sees… the road to Calvary and the Cross.
When the other disciples hear about it, they’re furious.
They’d been trumped.
Do ya’ think they wanted to ask the same favor?
A little competition here?
A little jealousy?
“How come my name didn’t get into the bulletin?”
“Edna gets the award, but I worked just as hard as she did!”
“Why did they ask Jim to be an elder instead of me?”
We all feel these things, don’t we?
Preachers do, too.
“Rev. Hairdo down the street has the big church, but I’m just as good.”
“I could write a book, too, if I wanted.”
“I should have been asked to be the chairperson.”
“How come she gets all the notice, and no one notices me?”
This remarkable moment: two clear examples of human nature on the darker side … grasping for position, and angry when we’ve been bested by someone else.
Yes, it’s a portrait of humanity … a portrait of you and me.
Well, at least you! Ha!
Jesus uses this as a teaching moment … to say something to these good women and men who mean so much to Him … how He loves them … but they’re eyes are clouded by dreams of fame, their hearts disturbed by jealousy.
Yup, it’s not always a pretty picture.
I’m reminded of the poet, Robert Burns …
Burns is in church one Sunday
Behind a lovely young lady
Hair all done up
Beautiful bonnet of ribbons and bows
And there upon her hat,
Crawls a louse.
Burns ends his poem:
O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
The Bible mirrors our humanity …
God’s gift … to see ourselves … not always a pretty picture … but a necessary step to move on …
Read the Bible … it’s an honest piece of work.
Genesis has more dysfunctional families then Dr. Phil.
Scheming brothers …
Lustful maidens …
Boastful men …
Violence and villainy .
In the remarkable Tony Randall film, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), there’s a remarkable moment when someone says to the bad guy, “Who wants to lose?”
The bad guy says, “I do. Every time I bet on weakness, corruption, fallibility, I want to lose. But I always win.”
A bit later, he tells the “good guy:”
“I used to be just like you, a long time ago.”
“I believed in the dignity of man, decency, humanity. But I was lucky. I found out the truth early. It’s all very simple. There’s no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic, vulgar animal.”
Well, the truth be told, we’re not always a pretty picture, are we?
O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
Am I not like these disciples?
Their Mama?
Is this not my story?
Your story?
Of course it is.
O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
But if jaded characters see only the worst …
God sees something else.
Jesus sees the original design …
Jesus reveals a counter-portrait …
Alternative image …
Something better …
To those disciples who wanted to sit on top of the heap, Jesus says:
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them … not so for you!
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.
Whoever wishes to be first must be your slave.
How does that sound?
That’s a counter-portrait if I’ve ever heard one.
Runs against the grain doesn’t it?
Like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
The next story provides a counterpoint in action:
Jesus and the disciples on their way out of Jericho meet two blind men by the road … they cry for mercy, and Jesus asks, What do you want me to do for you?
His question is all the more poignant for what just happened.
James and John ask for position and privilege.
What will the two blind men ask for?
LORD, let our eyes be opened!”
Jesus is moved with compassion, says the text; He touches their eyes, and immediately they regain their sight and follow Him.
They’re blind but now they see.
James and John are blind, too … their blindness is harder to cure.
O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
To see ourselves, yes, as we often are …
And to see ourselves for something better.
To let Jesus be our model.
To spend time with Him.
To get acquainted with Him.
To let His grace make us gracious.
His mercy, merciful.
His kindness, kindly.
His love, loving.
To be like Jesus … hmmm … sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it?
But this is what God is working for in our life.
To conform us to the image of His Son … in order that He might be the firstborn within a large family … (Romans 8:29).
That folks could look at us and say, “You look just like your older brother. You sort of walk like Him, talk like Him, and carry on like Him.”
Now let’s be clear.
Jesus is no wallflower.
His passion puts Him front and center.
His goal is the glory of God.
And that means challenging the powers that be.
It means breaking all sorts of conventions and violating all sorts of laws.
Jesus never takes a backseat when it comes to setting things right.
He takes profound chances for the welfare of others.
That’s the role model Jesus sets before us.
What it could be like when human beings discover their true potential for greatness …
Not the greatness of the world – but the greatness of God’s kingdom.
Who are your role models?
I’m grateful for those who have modeled the Christian life.
I’m grateful most of all for Jesus my LORD.
Amen!
