Exactly two weeks before he would be assassinated, martyred for his work for racial and economic justice, and calls for peace, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., educated at a United Methodist school, preached his last sermon. Entitled “The Drum Major Instinct” it was based on the passage that we just heard from Mark. And what King said was that there is a natural tendency in most people, and maybe all people, to want to be out front. And in being the one out front it also give us the glory, people applaud us directly, even if it’s meant for the whole band, but we are separated from them as well, leading the way. And yet that’s the opposite of what Jesus has called us to in the life of discipleship, and we see that in the audacious request, or perhaps we might even say brazen request, that James and John make to Jesus. And yet we shouldn’t be all that surprised, because as we have encountered several times already as we have made our way through Mark, the disciples continue to not get or understand what Jesus is telling them and teaching them about discipleship.
As I’ve said before, Mark likes to group stories and themes together, to sort of serve as a framework of emphasis. And so two weeks we heard Jesus’ first passion prediction, which was then immediately followed by a teaching by Jesus about discipleship. And why was that teaching necessary? Because Peter rebukes Jesus for the passion prediction. And so Jesus tells them ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” That’s chapter 8, and as a reminder that happens after Jesus heals a blind man. Then in chapter 9, along with the story of the transfiguration, which we will come back to in two weeks, Jesus gives his second passion prediction, and this time we are told specifically that the disciples don’t understand what he is saying and they are afraid to ask him to explain it. And then to show us how much they don’t understand, they begin arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest, and in overhearing this Jesus tells them “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Now the truth is that there is a hierarchy within the disciples, that there are three who seem to be in positions of prominence, or at least preference, and those three are Peter, James and John, although it’s not clear what part they play in the argument about greatness or if there is jealousy amongst the other disciples for their position. But, we have two passion predictions, two examples of the disciples not getting it, and then correction and teaching from Jesus about discipleship. So surely they must be starting to understand right?
And we do get some information that would lead us to believe
that because what we are told is that as they are making their way to
Jerusalem, and Jesus’ final week begins in chapter 11, is that they are “following”
Jesus. I mean that’s what they are supposed to be doing right? Those who want
to be followers will follow me. And so it seems that maybe they are getting it.
And then Jesus gives his third and final passion prediction, which is also the
most detailed of them, and then we immediately see once again that they don’t
get it. And so James and John come forward to Jesus, that is they are no longer
following, and they say to him “teacher” which seems a little ironic if they
don’t get the teachings, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Now
in and of itself, that’s a little troubling question, and seems more like
something that a little kid would say to his parents, and although Jesus has
just told them that the Kingdom of God belongs to the children, I don’t think
that’s what he means. And so Jesus sort of bats their statement aside and asks
“what is it that you want me to do for you?”
Now the question that Jesus asks them is an interesting one,
because as I said, this section of passion predictions and teachings begins
with the healing of a blind man, and it also ends with the healing of a blind
man, which is also the last healing story in Mark. As they are going through Jericho,
a blind man, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, which is redundant as bar
literally means son of, but he hears that Jesus is in town and he begins to cry
out to Jesus for mercy, but the crowd orders him to be quiet. It’s that whole
talking versus not talking thing again. It also happens to be the response the
disciples give to parents who want to bring their children to Jesus, but they
rebuke them and try and send them away. In both cases, Jesus calls them near, and
he says to Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” exactly the same
question that Jesus asks James and John, but in this case he gets a very
different answer, and the man tells him he wants to see again, and Jesus says
“your faith has made you well.” And then we are told the man regains his sight,
and what does he do? He begins to follow Jesus. The healing of these blind men,
who can’t see, but who understand Jesus and his message and who he is, stands
in contrast to the disciples who can see, but are blind to Jesus and his
message. They see but do not understand, and so that becomes clear to their
answer to Jesus that they want Jesus to “Grant us to sit, one at your right
hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
And so for us sitting at the right or the left doesn’t
really have the impact that it would have at the time, but this is a demand for
power. The best example is that in the Nicene Creed we say that Jesus ascended
into heaven and sits where? At the right hand of God the father. That is a
position of power, and so would be the person sitting on the other side. This
was most especially seen at a roman dining table in which the two most
important people would sit on either side of the person hosting, or the most
important person there. It showed prominence and authority, power and prestige.
And we are told that the other disciples get angry with James and John for
making this request. But, it’s not clear that they are angry because they would
be so audacious, or are they angry because they didn’t think to ask it first?
And it’s quite clear that they are like the gentiles that Jesus talks about,
although it would probably be better to hear that as him talking about the ways
of the world. That they recognize people of prominence and power and allow them
to rule it over those who aren’t. And we see the disciples give that
preference, because, although I had never caught this until working on this
message, when the people try and bring their children to Jesus, people of no
importance they believe, the disciples try and stop them. When blind Bartimaeus
tries to approach Jesus, a man of no importance they believe, the crowds try
and stop him. But who is able to approach Jesus with ease? The rich man, a man
of importance, who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. He has free
access to Jesus, who tells him to sell everything and then come follow, and he
goes away sad because he has many possessions. The rich man is important, the
children and the blind men are not. They do not have power or glory and cannot
offer it or bring anyone else into it, and so the disciples try and keep them
away. They understand how the world works, and they want to be a part of it.
They want their slice of the pie and participate in the glory that they believe
that Jesus is going to get. This is the what’s in it for me question, and it’s
one many if not all of us have a tendency to ask because we have that drum
major instinct in us.
When we looked at the deadly sins I said that the church
father John Chrysostom said that while many people thought that lust was the
sin clergy were most guilty of, he that it was instead greed, and while I can’t
speak about 4th century clergy, I countered that today I thinks it’s the sin of
envy. We pay attention to what appointments people get, and the size of the
church, and the special assignments that others get, and who is traveling with
the bishop, and honestly, we want a piece of the pie just like James and John.
I have been told that I cannot wear a purple clerical shirt, because that’s
reserved only for bishops, remembering that purple was the color of power and
royalty in the ancient world, which is why we use it as a liturgical color
representing Christ in the church. And it’s why we talk about crowd sizes, and
twitter followers, and number of books sold, and box office returns, and on and
on and on, even if we have to lie, cheat and steal in order to get those things
or make them seem better than they are. We want the power and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen. And we want to serve God, but we want to do so in an
advisory capacity. It’s why being a true follower of Christ is so hard, because
it requires us to surrender all and to seek different things.
Because Jesus doesn’t say that there won’t be glory. He
doesn’t say that there won’t be people who are first. He doesn’t say that there
is no power or authority to be had. But, what he does say is that the way to
these things, the way to the Kingdom of God, is not through the ways of the
world, but by being God’s servant in the world. And so he says to James and
John, “are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with?” and they immediately respond, “we are able.”
Now as important as the question of ability is, that is not what Jesus is
asking. The Greek word for ability here is that of power or authority. So, for
example, a judge has the power and the authority to sentence someone convicted
of a crime. They have been given that ability. You and I don’t have that
ability. We don’t have that power. And so it’s not just that James and John are
asking for power and authority, they already think they have it. They are trying
to usurp that of what belongs to God. Again, it’s like the rich man who comes
to Jesus who thinks that by following all the laws since childhood that he can
gain salvation, that is he has the power and the authority to do that, rather
than God being the only one. And this becomes very clear when the man goes away
sad and Jesus says that it’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a
needle than it is for the rich to get into the Kingdom. To this the disciples
ask, “who then can be saved?” and Jesus says, “For mortals it is impossible,
but not for God. For God, all things are possible.” (10:27)
The power and the glory and the authority belong to God. And
so Jesus says he cannot grant their request. And then ironically enough, it is
actually the Romans who are the ones who put someone on Jesus’ right and left
as he is hanging on the cross, and they are crucified with him, although it is
not either James or John because they have fled into the darkness of the night.
Because the cup that he drinks, and the baptism that he takes, is that of
suffering and death. And as I said when we looked at the beginning of Mark this
is set up right at the beginning because John, who baptizes Jesus, first goes
to his own death. It is John’s understanding of servanthood that leads him to
his actions, and the understanding that he himself was come to serve and
prepare for the messiah. He understands that to gain his life, he must be
prepared to lose it. And so Jesus tells all the disciples, that the Son of Man,
which is how Jesus refers to himself in Mark, came not to be served, but to
serve. And so if Jesus is to serve, then how much more are we to serve?
And so if we want to receive glory, we have to serve. If we
want to become first, we have to serve. If we want be disciples, we have to
serve. If we want to love, we have to serve. If we want to receive the kingdom,
we have to serve. If we want to be the good soil, we have to serve. If we want
to answer the call to follow, we have to serve. And in that service we receive
those things, not because that’s what we are seeking, but because we reap the
harvest that we sow. And yet we also have to understand that that service
begins in dying to ourselves in the water of baptism and being reborn in
Christ. To take the cup, which does not lead to death itself, but to
servanthood. And what Jesus is telling the disciples, what he is telling us, is
that it’s really easy to get distracted and move away from that, to focus on
the things of the world, or the things that are most immediate to us.
There was a Sunday morning at another church when a man
showed up on, and asked to speak with me, about 10 minutes before worship,
which of course is the best time to talk to the pastor. I told him I didn’t
have the time to do it, but could talk with him after worship, and assuming
that he was there to ask for assistance. And I’ll be honest I was a little
offput to say the least about being interrupted in that way. But I was wrong. I
made judgments and assumptions that turned out not to be true, and to make the
point even clearer for me, what was I talking about that day? Being of service
to others. God has a sick sense of humor sometimes.
And so you’ve been hearing me say that I believe that Mark is setting the disciples up as foils of what discipleship doesn’t look like, of how we fail in discipleship, and he can do so because we know what happens to them. that they will indeed drink from the cup that Jesus drinks, and be baptized into his baptism. And there is nothing wrong with asking for the cup to be removed from us, because Jesus does the same, but then follows it with the statement that not his will, but God’s will be done. Which is where that whole following thing comes into play. And yet, like the disciples, we too will fail. We will listen to the drum major instinct, we will seek glory or power or fame or whatever it might be, and when that happens, we should hear the story of the disciples and find hope. Because if they have problems then we know we too will have problems, but Jesus doesn’t rebuke James and John, he just cautions them, again, what is required, what the cost of discipleship looks like. And that is to follow Christ in servant leadership, that to be great we must be servant to all, to be first, we must become slave to all, because if Christ himself serves then what else can we do but do the same. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.
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