I wonder if you can think back to when
you were a child or teenager, or when your kids were children and teenagers,
and something happened that you (or they) really felt was unfair. Perhaps it
was an early bedtime, or the refusal to let them go out with friends to a
particular party, or the demand that they eat their vegetables. “It’s not
fair!” you may have shouted (or at least thought). “I can’t wait ‘til
I’m all grown up and can do whatever I want! No more stupid rules!”
When the day comes that my son uses
that particular argument, I feel very certain that I will not be able to keep a
straight face. Yes. Just wait ‘til you’re grown up and can do whatever you want
- that is, if “whatever you want” includes the never-ending cycle of cleaning,
paying bills, shopping for and preparing food, and dealing with people and
situations you’d rather not deal with. No more stupid rules indeed…
Or, as Jesus replies to his disciples,
“You do not know what you are asking.”
In today’s Gospel reading, James and
John approach Jesus with a bold, even audacious request. Or, really, two
audacious requests - first, to do for them whatever they ask of him, and
second, to grant them to sit, one at his right hand and one at his left, in his
glory.
This request comes despite multiple
conversations about the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom, where the first
are last and the last are first. It comes despite the many times Jesus has
pointed out that he is moving toward Jerusalem, to the cross, to death. In the
face of all kinds of signs declaring otherwise, James and John are selfishly
focused on being the first to make reservations for what lies ahead. A heavenly
retirement plan, if you will.
They’ve missed the point. By a mile.
They most certainly do not know what they are asking.
Perhaps the problem is that they
haven’t been paying attention. Or, I wonder, maybe they have been paying
attention, but the radical and upended nature of the kingdom of God just seems
too good to be true; too weak to really stand up to the world’s way of doing
things. There’s just no way that people on the bottom will end up in
places of honor, so we’ll stick with the top, if it’s all the same to you. Yes,
indeed, two orders of power and glory and prestige - coming right up.
You do not know what you are asking,
Jesus tells them. You want power and glory and prestige but, I assure you, this
does not mean what you think it means. In the Kingdom of God, power and glory
come not from trampling others to get to the top, but from lowering ourselves
in service to others. Power and glory come not from honoring ourselves, but
from humbling ourselves. Power and glory do not come from doing what we
want, but from listening to what God is calling us to do.
If James and John need examples, they
can look no further than to the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus emptied
himself to become like us - human, vulnerable, needy. Jesus was not concerned
with stacking up honors for himself by pleasing the right people. Instead, he
taught and preached against the established way of doing things.
He crossed
boundaries and borders, talking to women and foreigners. He healed and fed and taught and
welcomed the lowly, vulnerable, sick, and despised. He did not elevate himself
to avoid pain or suffering, but submitted even to death, so that the whole
creation might know the depth and strength of God’s love. Indeed, the
Son-of-Man came not to be served but to serve.
Domineering tyrants, trampling the
weak, seeking worldly greatness - it is not so among us. We too have been
called to a different way, a better way. Bound to Jesus’s death in the waters
of baptism, we are also bound to his resurrection. Drawn with him through
death, into life, we know what it is for the one who is great to serve the weak
and lowly - because we ourselves have been served. Served with grace, and
mercy, and forgiveness, when we are most undeserving. Served with love, and
welcome, and openness, when we are selfish and turned in on ourselves. Served
with compassion and understanding, when we make assumptions and think the worst
of one another.
With boldness and audacity we approach
the table asking to be forgiven and welcomed and given a share with the great, and we are - we are joined
together as the body of Christ, saints of all times and places, beloved
children of God who are called to serve alongside one another. Together, in one
another, we catch glimpses of the coming kingdom, where everything is
upside-down and glorious.
We do not know what we are asking. We
do not understand God’s ways. We often look at the world around us and cannot
imagine that God’s upside-down kingdom will ever be established. But God calls
us anyway, lavishes us with grace, strengthens us and gives us one another.
However imperfectly, we begin to live as if the kingdom is really coming, and
we are blessed in our serving. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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