Our Serving Savior

 

Jesu Juva

St. Mark 10:35-45                                          

March 17, 2024

Lent 5B                                         

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Jesus and the twelve were on the road again, marching up to Jerusalem.  But there was madness on that march.  Jesus had His sights set on Calvary.  Jesus had predicted His passion on multiple occasions.  But now, with Jerusalem just up ahead on the horizon, He spelled it out for the final time:  See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.  And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.  And after three days he will rise.  Jesus was clear and direct—unambiguous.  You couldn’t ask for more clarity. 

        But to the ears of the disciples, this was madness!  Crazy talk from the Christ!  With that somber prediction hanging in the air, the Twelve should have been reflecting on the Savior’s words, letting that prediction sink in.  Their minds should have been firmly focused on betrayal and suffering, on death and resurrection, and whether they were going to get caught in the crossfire.  But, no.  There was madness on that march up to Jerusalem.  

        James and John, the sons of Zebedee, got busy throwing their weight around—shooting for success—aiming to be the number one seed and the number two seed in the brackets of divine glory.  These two brothers (“Sons of Thunder” they were nicknamed) they were busy throwing elbows and committing personal fouls.  They were angling for positions of power in the kingdom of Jesus.  When Jesus finally achieved world domination, James and John wanted the top two cabinet appointments, one on His right, the other on His left.  And as for the other ten disciples, well, to heck with them.  They can fend for themselves.   If God helps those who help themselves, then the sons of Zebedee would do whatever it took.  They were in it to win it.  Go big or go home.  In their minds it was tournament time.

        Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.  Grant one of us to sit on your right and the other on your left, in your glory.  Their crass and brazen power play is just a little shocking.  It seems to come out of nowhere.  Especially since Jesus had just openly described Himself as a dead man walking.  The brothers’ behavior is something like visiting grandma on her deathbed, but for the sole purpose of making sure that the good set of china goes to you when she passes on (God rest her soul).  At best, it’s tacky; and at worst, it’s downright greedy.  Even their opening line sounded a bit over the top:  “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”  This is madness.

        Or is it boldness?  I mean, didn’t Jesus Himself say to “ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened?”  So they made a play for it.  No guts, no glory.  They named it and claimed it, and believed that Jesus would deliver on demand.  “My will be done, Lord.  Do whatever I ask.”  Maybe deep down they thought that Jesus owed them at least this much.  After all, they left behind a successful family fishing business.  That should count for something.  These two had been keeping score, and now they were ready to cash in their chips.

        There was glory up ahead, but it wasn’t the kind of glory James and John had in mind.  “Glory” in the lexicon of Jesus meant betrayal, suffering, and death on a cross.  Jesus once described His upcoming crucifixion as His hour of glory.  It’s His crowning glory to die for the sins of the world—to defeat sin, death and the devil by an overwhelming display of weakness.  It’s His glorious ambition to lay down His life as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.  This is glory “Jesus-style.”  This is why Jesus told the brothers, “You guys don’t know what you’re asking.”

        Jesus told them that He had a cup to drink.  Not a cup of fine wine like He once made at the wedding at Cana.  Not the sweet wine of the Passover celebration.  Jesus would have to drink a bitter cup—the bitter vinegar of our sin, our rebellion against God, our misdeeds and murders.  It’s the poisoned cup of human misery and the wrath of God.  It’s the same cup concerning which Jesus would pray on the night when He was betrayed:  “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39).  But it was the Father’s will that Jesus should drink that cup to its dregs—that He should drain it of every drop.

        When the other ten disciples caught wind of the request that James and John had made, they were indignant.  They were angry—appalled at the raw ambition of those brothers.  Or, maybe they were jealous because they didn’t get to Jesus first with a similar request.  But Jesus admonished His ambitious disciples.  This is how the big shots behave, He told them.  This is how the world exercises authority—in terms of power and control, eat or be eaten, getting to the top by climbing on the backs of others.  This is the world of business.  This is the world of politics.  “But,” Jesus told them clearly, “it shall not be so among you.”

        We need to let that phrase echo in our ears—marinate in our minds.  “It shall not be so among you.”  No power plays in the kingdom of Jesus.  No lording it over others in the church.  No keeping score.  No elbow throwing.  No scrambling to the top on the backs of others.  No attempts to coerce and control and manipulate others to do your bidding.  In the kingdom of Jesus you will never be great based upon how many people you can boss around while you claw your way to the top of the pile. 

        The top of the pile is not where Jesus does His thing.  Instead, you’ll always find Jesus at the bottom of the pile, together with all the other stepped-on sinners.  When Jesus finally got fastened to the cross on Good Friday—when He finally entered His “glory”—it wasn’t James and John on His right and His left; but two evildoers.  That’s where Jesus does His thing—among the worst of the worst, shoulder to shoulder with sinners like us—numbered with the transgressors.

        For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.  There is a path to greatness for us.  That way of greatness is to be served by Jesus.  The way of greatness is to receive His gifts which He serves up right here every Lord’s Day.  Understand this:  Your God does not—does not help those who help themselves.  He does not reward naked ambition and bold ploys for power.  Your God helps those who cannot help themselves—poor, miserable sinners who daily sin much and who surely deserve nothing but punishment.

        But because you have been served by Jesus with faith and forgiveness, God forgives your iniquity, and He remembers your sin no more.  Those must be some of the most astounding words in the Bible.  The sins that trouble us the most—the deeds and thoughts of which we are most ashamed—the madness and sadness we cannot forget—God remembers them no more.  God forgives and forgets for the sake of His dear Son.  This is why we keep coming back here week after week—so that we can leave the shame and sin behind, as we are served with the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  He comes here not to be served, but to serve you.

        This is why we call the Sunday church service “The Divine Service.”  It’s about Jesus serving us.  When you get right down to it, He doesn’t need our service; but we need His.  We don’t climb up to God; He stoops down low to meet us and serve us.  He’s the one who does the baptizing.  Here He absolves us.  Here He feeds us.  Here He forgives us.  Here He comes to serve us.  And in His coming here, we have heaven on earth.

        And having been served by Jesus, you are free to serve others—to reach out to your needy neighbors just as Jesus reached down to you—to work your way down to the bottom of the pile.  That’s what greatness looks like in the kingdom of Jesus.  He gives you a baptism, and that baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation.  He also gives you a cup, and from that cup invites you to drink of His blood given and shed for you—the sweet wine of His forgiveness.  He has given His life as a ransom for you, so that you are now His own.  You are great in the kingdom of Jesus.  He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.