There are many things in life that we cannot fully grasp until we experience them for ourselves. We may approach the prospect of marriage, or parenting, or a new job with confidence and starry eyes, armed with how-to books and advice from family and friends. We may feel confident in our preparation and abilities, and even then will still be caught by the unexpected. No matter how well someone explains it to us, no matter how strongly we declare “I am able!”, there will be aspects of this work that come as a surprise, flying in the face of our expectations and preparation.
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.
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| Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash |
This request comes despite many, many conversations about the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom, where the first are last and the last are first. It comes despite the three times (including just before this passage!) Jesus has pointed out that he is moving toward Jerusalem, to the cross, and suffering, and death. In spite of all this, James and John are selfishly, anxiously focused on being the first to make reservations for what lies ahead. A heavenly retirement plan, if you will.
They most certainly do not know what they are asking. When Jesus asks if they are really prepared to drink the cup he will drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which he will be baptized, they insist that they are able. I wonder, however, if James and John are picturing a cup and baptism of power, glory, and might, rather than the cup of suffering and baptism of death that Jesus sees in his future.
Perhaps the problem is that they haven’t been paying attention. Maybe James and John are caught up in their visions of a Messiah who looks like military might and conquest, and can’t seem to assimilate these contrasting images Jesus presents. Or 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.
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 of this servanthood, they need 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 and outcasts of all kinds.
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 Jesus 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 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. We are not able, but God is able.
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