Isaiah 53.4-12; Mark 10.35-45
Two ambitious disciples … do they whisper? side-eyes? …, We want you to do whatever we ask of you!
What is it you want me to do for you? replies Jesus.
When you claim your kingdom, give us the seats of power … we want to sit at either side of you … we’re all for your glory, but we want some of that glory to come our way.
You’re nuts! says Jesus - well, at least that’s my translation.
Jesus goes on: You have no idea what you’re babbling about …
The other disciples get wind of it, and they’re angry.
They’re not ashamed … they’re not distressed, disappointed, sorrowful, apologetic … no, they’re angry … that’s the clue.
They’re angry at being out-maneuvered by James and John!
Angry because James and John beat them to the punch!
Jesus says to all of them, You’re clueless … you ask for what I don’t have … for something I can’t give … you ask for what the Devil offered me, and I refused … and now you ask me for it.
If you want to be great, learn to be a servant.
If you want to be first, learn to be last.
Good advice for those who want to share in the journey of Jesus … but in the wrong hands, this kind of advice turns deadly.
Deadly for women - told by powerful preachers and belligerent husbands - knuckle under, don’t raise your voice, make your man happy, and you’ll be happy … if your man goes off the rails, it’s your fault … your role in life is to have babies, as many babies as you can … your role in life is found in the home, the kitchen, the bedroom.
Deadly for millions enslaved by colonial powers … God has made you to serve us …
Deadly for the poor … you are poor by God’s design … after all, even Jesus said, ‘You’ll always have the poor.’
The words of Jesus must never be separated from Jesus himself …
His words are always HIS words … embedded in his life, his love, his dedication, his sacrifice. These are not just words, but a way of life.
A way of life that liberates … grows larger every day … welcomes and never sends away … blesses the meek, the lowly, the lonely, and the sad … cautions the rich and the powerful … crosses boundaries, looks beyond race and religion … blesses the children … takes up a cross and does the hard, hard, work of love.
Jesus is painfully aware of ambition and power … he was tempted by it in the wilderness …
Now, he sees his own disciples reaching for it …
Ambition unchecked and immature power drive the suffering in our world … war and rumors of war, as the Bible says … and worst of all, the church is a part of it … guns blessed with holy water, bombs anointed with prayer … the Bible quoted, or shall I say misquoted, and Jesus presented as John Wayne with an AR-15.
And what about so called “natural disasters” … insurance companies call them “acts of God.”
But are they? Entirely?
Floods and famine, storms and earthquakes - the failure to plan, invest in infrastructure, take the needed precautions … corporations strive for profit and stock value … legislators stand in the way of social development and environmental safety … fracking in Oklahoma and earthquakes as never before … global warming and hurricanes devastate Florida … the ice caps are melting, the deserts are growing …
Acts of God?
Not entirely.
Ambition unchecked and immature power!
Deadly forces in the human heart, in corporations, cities, states, nations.
The Bible is a survey course on ambition and power without moral balance … Adam and Eve want the fruit … Cain kills Able … folks build a Tower to heaven … kings and queens rise and fall … mad King Herod wantonly kills … Pilate condemns … the rich and the powerful conspire to kill Jesus.
Jesus has ambition: it’s the kingdom of God … Jesus has power: to free a soul from fear.
Ambition and power are part of the human story … not inherently evil, but dangerous … if unmanaged and poorly handled.
How we manage ambition and power, Jesus makes clear: … strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
… those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit them
if they gain the whole world
but forfeit their life?
Or what will they give in return for their life?
Jesus says of himself: … the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
An early Christian poem: though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited …
Jesus doesn’t reach for a throne … he wades into the Jordan River …
John the Baptist protests: you ought to baptize me, but Jesus says, No, not at all! My baptism is the mark of my humanity … I am with you …
Isaiah says of the Messiah: he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases … he was wounded for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities … and by his bruises we are healed.
Jesus is committed to us …
Why?
Why not whales or chimpanzees? or dogs and cats? The ox and the butterfly?
Jesus is for them, too … Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? asks Jesus. Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
The little story of Jonah … God saves the city of Nineveh … but Jonah is bummed … Nineveh is the enemy … Jonah doesn’t want Nineveh saved - Jonah wants Nineveh destroyed.
God asks Jonah: Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city … more than a hundred and twenty thousand souls … and also many animals?
Jesus is devoted to us, because we’re pivotal for the life of the earth …
our decisions,
the values we embrace,
the candidates for whom we vote,
the schools we want,
the books we read,
the people we honor …
Determines the future of the earth …
the destiny of all its creatures …
the dogs and the cats, the whales and the chimpanzees … the butterflies and the ox - they all depend upon us … they wait for us …
in their own way, they pray for us …
God hears the voices of the animals.
Job 12.7: … ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
You ask: What can I do?
I can’t tell you what to do … no preacher, no prophet, no soothsayer, no palm reader or tarot card, ouija board or the latest influencer … only the Holy Spirit … through the words of Jesus …
We learn something from everything … but Jesus must be the center …
His words must live and move and have their being in our souls … Jesus, take my life, and let it, consecrated to thee …
Amen and Amen!
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