Give Us Power

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was Mark 10:35-45:

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?

Envy Versus Persecution

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was Matthew 10:16-31:  

John Chrysostom, who was the 4th century arch-bishop of Constantinople, in writing about rules for clergy, especially in relation to abuse of power, said that he thought that rather than lust being the chief clerical sin, as most people supposed, that it was instead greed. Now, I don’t know much about 4th century clergy, and perhaps he was right for his day, but I would argue that today, at least amongst United Methodist clergy, our chief clerical sin, when looking at the seven deadly sins, is that of envy.  And it’s been said that out of the sin of envy come many of the other sins, including lust and greed, but we clergy like to look around at what other clergy are doing and make judgments. We look at other clergy salary, sometimes whispering under out breaths, can you believe how much they make? We look at what other churches people get appointed to, and make judgments about whether they deserve it or not. We look at what committees people get appointed to, or where the conference might be sending some clergy for some training or to represent the conference, and we make judgments. But, it’s a specific type of judgment. It’s been said that with suffering we ask “why me?” but with envy we ask “why not me?” or sometimes leading to “why them?” which comes with the follow-up; I’m so much better, or more deserving, or more honorable, or whatever it might be, than they are.

Earlier in this worship series we heard the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying at the temple, and the Pharisees prayer of thanksgiving to God for not making him like the sinners there, especially like the tax collector. And so his prayer became one of self-righteousness, rather than true thanksgiving, because he felt superior to others, but only because he was spending his time looking at everyone else and comparing himself to others, rather than being focused on his prayer. Envy does the same thing to us. Envy is a sin of looking around and seeing others and making destructive comparisons either because we judge ourselves less than, or others less than. And so remembering that the seven deadly sins were compiled in monasteries, where, for the most part everyone was exactly the same, and wore the same clothing, and ate the same things, any little change that could cause envy could destroy the community that had been established. And as Joseph Epstein said, of all the deadly sins, only the sin of envy is no fun, and it is the only one that is always directed at someone else, which is not true of the others, because even lust can be directed at an inanimate object.