Sunday
10/21/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “to be first, you must be slave of all”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10
Gospel Lesson: Mark
10:35-45
Welcome again everyone, on this our Twenty-Second Sunday
after Pentecost. Twenty-Two Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on the day of
Pentecost, nearly two-thousand years ago, and the Christian Church was born.
So, have you ever known someone that just didn’t get it? I
mean you told them, you explained it, and then repeated it over and over again.
Then they did the same exact thing wrong. You told them over and over. You told
this person or persons what they needed to know and what they were supposed to
do, but they just didn’t get it. Have any of you here ever known someone that
just didn’t get it? It can drive you crazy sometimes can’t it?
This morning, in our scripture reading from the gospel of
Mark we have an argument over who should get the most favor and love from Jesus
(Mk. 10:35-40, NRSV). Specifically, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, want
to sit at Jesus’ right hand and left hand. Essentially they want the two top
spots next to Jesus. If Jesus was a general for example, James and John wanted
to be his two top colonels.
Well
many of us know what happens when a couple of people want to take over an
office or a place of work. It creates conflict and jealousy. In fact, the other
ten disciples in the gospel of Mark reading became very angry with James and
John over the fact that they were trying to jockey for positions of power with
Jesus (Mk. 10:41-45, NRSV). This, as I said, creates jealousy and conflict.
This passage from the gospel of Mark for this morning has
some connections to Luke 9:46-48, which says referencing the disciples:
“An argument arose among
them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner
thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them,
“Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest” (Lk. 9:46-48, NRSV).
Sometimes
people just don’t get it.
In
the gospel of Mark it says in 9:33-36:
“Then they came to Capernaum; and
when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the
way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who
was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever
wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a
little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,” (Mk. 9:33-36, NRSV).
So we have
another example of Jesus correcting the disciples, as they just are not getting
that to be great it isn’t about being Jesus’ “top disciple”.
In the gospel of Matthew 18:1-4, it says:
“At that time the
disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell
you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven”
(Mt. 18:1-4, NRSV).
In the gospel of Luke 22:24-30 we have yet even another
example of the disciples questioning who is the greatest. I didn’t read this scripture
because there are too many examples of this.
We
could even put this argument right here in this church if we really wanted to.
Who among us here this morning is truly the greatest? I know that I am not.
Sometimes people that we know just don’t get it. We tell
them, we show them, but they just don’t get it.
For example, take this story as an example of this. This
story is called “Now that’s what I call stupid”.
Here
is what is says, as this young woman tells the story:
“In
my junior year of high school, this guy asked me on a date. He rented a Redbox
movie and made a pizza. We were watching the movie and the oven beeped so the
pizza was done. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “This is the worst
part.” I then watched this boy open the oven and pull the pizza out with his
bare hands, rack and all, screaming at the top of his lungs. We never had a
second date” (https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2018/06/funny-stories/).
I think that this boy just didn’t get
it. Also, when you take the pizza out of the oven, use oven mitts or a pot
holder. How can you do that once and then keep doing that. He just doesn’t get
it!
Here is another example, as this is a
story taken from Reader’s Digest. This story is about a little girl that just
doesn’t get it. Here is the story:
“A little girl climbed up onto her
grandfather’s lap and asked, “Did God make me?” Yes,” the grandpa replied. “Did
he make you, too?” “Yes.” “Well,” the girl said, looking at his wrinkles and
thinning hair, “he sure is doing a better job nowadays!” (https://www.rd.com/joke/practice-makes-perfect/).
Maybe, just maybe, this little girl
didn’t get it. How many times have we not gotten it, or how many times have
your kids not gotten it? Well, as we see this morning in our gospel of Mark
reading this is anything but a new problem.
Let’s look once again at what the
gospel of Mark reading says this morning. It says:
“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,
“Grant 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 grant, but it is for
those for whom it has been prepared”
(Mk. 10:35-40, NRSV).
Jesus
is telling James and John here, you don’t know what you are asking for. Jesus
is saying, don’t you get it? They’re going to arrest me, try me, and crucify me,
as Jesus said all throughout the gospels. Jesus is asking, how come you both are
fighting over who will be at my left hand and at my right hand? Instead, follow
me and learn from me.
Not
only this, then the other ten disciples as I said, grew angry with James and
John that they tried to gain favor and power with Jesus. The gospel goes on to
say to this effect:
“When the
ten 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; but 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” (Mk.
10:41-45, NRSV).
So Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the
second person of the Holy Trinity says if you want to be great in God’s eyes
then you must become a servant or a slave of all. This isn’t a race or a
competition. Jesus is basically saying that you gain nothing more in heaven
being at my right hand or my left hand. You may gain more here on earth, but
the only thing that is eternal is God and eternity with God. Jesus is telling
us focus on me, be humble, serve and love others, stop trying to earn grace and
salvation, when it is a free gift through the cross.
So is it ok to achieve and get ahead
in life? Sure it is, but none of that in an of itself will save you, only
faith, faith like a child, and being humble like Christ will get you closer to
God.
Well, I couldn’t resist telling one
more funny story about people who just don’t get it. This is also taken from
Reader’s Digest, and is called “Gone Fishing”. Here is how it goes:
“My 3-year-old granddaughter, Sydney, told my husband,
Ted, and me that she was going fishing with her dad. Ted asked if she was going
to use worms. “No,” she said. “I’m going to use a fishing pole.” (https://www.rd.com/joke/gone-fishing/).
I think that this granddaughter just
didn’t get it! So how do we please God, how do finish the race of faith and
life in first place? We do this by serving and loving. We become great by
becoming less, and when we do this we become more like Jesus. Amen.
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