Serve

This is my sermon text for October 21, 2018. The text for my message was from the Gospel of St. Mark. I added to the lectionary reading using Mark 10:32-45. + pBRC

May God’s Grace through the Good News of Jesus Christ be at the center of your lives forever.  AMEN.

People become selfish when they think something is scarce.

It is the whole concept upon which our financial markets are organized. If you think there is a limited number of something, whatever it is, you want to be sure that you get yours. And, you may try to get someone else’s as well.

Think of the way people act when they are Christmas shopping and a store has a ‘limited number’ of whatever that year’s popular toy or game is. Remember Tickle Me Elmo? Cabbage Patch Kids? It is the reason why Beanie Babies became popular.

Scarcity, whether real or perceived, causes people to abandon their feelings of generosity and altruism and focus on self-interest and self-preservation. It isn’t limited to getting you kids or grandkids what they want for Christmas.

What are the grocery stores like when the weather forecast calls for a winter storm that will last several days? Bread and milk! I’ve got to get bread and milk. Snow shovels are moved to the front of store, if you’ve got them.

If you think something is going to run out, you want to stock up and be sure you have your share.

And that is why James and John ask Jesus for a favor.

They think their time is running out.

Jesus has just made his third Passion prediction. (Jesus said,) “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.” (Mark 10.33-34)

The disciples never seem to notice the ‘after three days’ part. I understand, because hearing your leader say he will be arrested, condemned, beaten and killed will tend to grab your attention.

But having heard this for the third time, James and John decide that maybe what Jesus is saying to them is the truth. Despite of the miracles they have seen him do, maybe he is going to his death. They know they are headed to Jerusalem and will be there soon. When we return to Mark’s Gospel after Reformation Sunday and All Saints’ Sunday, they will be in Jerusalem for the first and final time.

So they know that they are running out of time to have access to Jesus and his abilities and his power. So they ask a favor. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. … Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” (Mark 10.35, 37)

They don’t know how this will end, but they believe that the end is coming, and they want to get their share of whatever rewards there may be. In fact, they want the first and best share of the rewards. They want the places of honor.

They have no idea of what they are asking. They still haven’t understood what Jesus’ ministry is all about. They still don’t understand what Jesus’ is trying to do and trying to teach. That’s fine. We still don’t get it either.

The Son of God, the Word made Flesh, the Creative Spark of the Cosmos left the divine places and became a person; the power of the universe in the body of a man. And in that incarnation, he paid no attention to who he was. He was only focused on what he came to do. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10.45)

I’m going to make two quick asides. Whenever the word ‘many’ appears in the New Testament, think ‘all.’ The word refers to a large inclusive group; it refers to all.

The word ransom in verse 45 is another example of a poor translation. It is the noun form of a verb translated, correctly, as to redeem or to release. To choose the word ransom means to purchase the release, and by using a word that brings the baggage of capture and being held against one’s will, ransom colors what Christ came to do. But it could also be translated as ‘to give his life to release all,’ or ‘to give his life to liberate all,’ or ‘to give his life to restore all.’ Ransom leads us to think God had to buy us back from the forces of evil, restore or liberate brings us back into the type of relationship that God always intended.

Part of that restored relationship is that all will be treated well. That liberation is for all. There is more than enough liberation or freedom or restoration to go around. The freedom given by Christ’s death AND resurrection is more than abundant for everyone. So we don’t need to seek our share, or to try to get the first piece. There is no additional or special forgiveness at Christ’s immediate right or left.

Unfortunately, that is in the kingdom that is to come, and not here in the world as it is now. Here, not everything is distributed equally or equitably. Here there is hoarding and there are shortages. Here there are rulers and servants. Here there are the first and there are those who are last.

Jesus’ mission is to show us what a life lived in love looks like and to call us to live in and through that love. Jesus wanted to show us that there was enough love, enough liberation or freedom or restoration for everyone. But when our resources fail to reach everyone in a just manner, we are to follow Christ’s example and to serve those who are in need.

The goal of God is that everyone will have enough. Enough food, enough love, enough forgiveness, enough of whatever it is that we NEED. God wants everyone to receive their daily bread. But when that doesn’t work out because we WANT to have more to be sure we have enough, others will go without. Others will be excluded. To protect us and ours, and what we have, others will not have enough and will be disregarded. And those are the people to whom Christ calls us to serve, and the places Christ calls us to go to.

The Cross to which Christ is going liberates us from the distance we have placed between God and ourselves. The Empty Tomb from which Christ will arise frees us to remove the distance we have placed between ourselves and others.

The life and ministry of Jesus Christ restores the right relationships between God and God’s people and between all of God’s people, if only we weren’t worried about scarcity, getting our share and being selfish.