Body

Year B Trinity 18/Proper 24 Mark 10:35-45

PRAY

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 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."

A simple childrens song to the tune of "frere jacque"

"He's the greatest,

he's the greatest,

Jesus Christ,

Make him your master,

Serve Him too,

He loves you."

'I tell you what I want, what I really, really want.' is the opening line of the Spice Girls first hit. Perhaps it reflects the age in which we live. Yet at least one of the Spice Girls has been in the news because she was depressed, feeling it difficult to cope with the pressures of a world she aspired to.

People, and God, have not changed over thousands of years. In today's gospel we have two brothers James and John telling Jesus what they really, really want.

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

I recently had a conversation with a mother who was trying to get her son into the top Secondary school that she could. Like any loving parent she wanted the best for her child. In Matthew 20:20ff James and John's mother is mentioned in bringing their request to Jesus. James and John, together with Peter, were the 'inner circle' of the disciples, those who were being groomed by Jesus. Perhaps she was trying to push her sons forward so they could get the best positions when Jesus came to power.

Like the episode in Chapter 9:33-37, when the disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest, we have here a prediction by Jesus of his suffering, death and resurrection. This is then followed by ambitious disciples vying for position, and Jesus showing them what true greatness is about. In Chapter 9 he uses a child as an example of greatness. Here he uses himself, the Suffering Servant as an example.

Part of discipleship involves learning that Jesus may not give us what we really, really want. Often because it is not good for us, it may not be what we really need, or it may hurt others. We need to beware that we do not fall into the tap that the disciples did, seeking worldly things, such as power, influence, status, possessions or riches.

37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."

As well as being spiritually undiscerning, this showed that the disciples still did not grasp what Jesus was telling them about. They may have been following the popular thought that the Messiah was going to overthrow the Romans and establish an independent, prosperous kingdom. James and John wanted to sit either side of Jesus. This represented positions of prestige and power. The one on the right was the second in command, the one on the left the third.

Their question revealed they had ; wrong motives, selfish ambition; and wrong expectations of what the Messiah would be, and do.

Jesus uses this request to gently redirect his disciples back to His suffering and death that he has just told them about in verses 32-34. He shows them that following him is not about grabbing power, but relinquishing it through suffering and death

38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, and drink the cup I drink.

Drinking the cup refers to a Jewish expression that meant to share someone's fate. In the OT the cup of wine was a common metaphor for God's wrath against human sin and rebellion ( Isa 51:17). Therefore, the cup Jesus had to drink refers to God's punishment of sins that Jesus bore in place of sinful mankind.

This is not to be directly linked with the suffering and death that both James and John would later suffer. Unlike Jesus they couldn't suffer and die for anyone's sins because they were not sinless. Jesus meant that they would endure tribulation and suffering for their faith. In Acts 12:2 it records that Herod Agrippa had James put to death with the sword during the persecution of the early church.

be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with. The image of baptism is parallel to that of the cup, referring to his suffering and death as a baptism (see Lk 12:50; cf. Ro 6:3-4 for the figure).

40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." This shows that everything is all part of God the Father's preordained plan. Jesus would not usurp his Father's authority by agreeing to the brothers' request.

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

The other disciples could have been indignant because they desired the positions of prestige and power for themselves. Perhaps they were jealous that they had not thought to ask this themselves. This shows their own insensitivity. They were only concerned with their own interests, even though Jesus had just told them he was going to suffer and die. Perhaps this shows how Jesus must have felt alone as he approached Jerusalem. He knew what he was going to face, yet his disciples were too busy thinking of themselves. Something we see in Jesus' betrayal by Judas.

42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Jesus overturns the value structure of the world. A master is characterized by power, ordering others about for his own benefit with little or no care for them. A servant, a word that was also used for child, is characterized by weakness, having no status or rights, being concerned about meeting someone else's needs.

True greatness is to be found in a humble acceptance of God's grace, like a child accepting a parent's care and provision for it. The life of discipleship is to be characterized by humble and loving service. James's and John's desire for position and power would be realized only if they willingly submitted to servanthood.

"To be ambitious of true honour and of the real glory and perfection of our nature is the very principle and incentive of virtue; but to be ambitious of titles, place, ceremonial respects, and civil pageantry, is as vain and little as the things are which we seek." Philip Sidney

45 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."

A key verse in Mark's Gospel. Jesus came to this world as a servant, indeed the Servant who would suffer and die for our redemption, as Isaiah clearly predicted . Isaiah 53:3; "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. "

Chapters 49-55 of Isaiah tell of a "suffering servant" who will come from Israel to bring light to all nations. Who is this suffering servant?

Jewish scholars puzzled over these passages for centuries. Isaiah presents the servant as the deliverer of all humankind. And yet it portrays him more as a tragic figure than as a hero: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. . . . He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter" (53:2,7). Some Jewish scholars guessed the prophet was describing himself or another prophet, such as Jeremiah. Still others focused their hopes on a Messiah to come. They expected a king from very humble origins, whose power would depend not on swords, but on the spirits of people committed to him. The idea of the suffering servant did not really catch on among the Jewish nation. They longed for a victorious Messiah, not a suffering one. The image of the suffering servant was forgotten, lying dormant for centuries.

Then, in a very dramatic scene early in his ministry, Jesus quoted from one of the servant passages in Isaiah (Luke 4:18-21). "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing"'

Isaiah 49-55 includes vivid scenes of the servant's sufferings, predictions that found their fulfillment in Jesus' death on the cross. Written like an eyewitness account, they were actually composed over 600 years before Christ's death.

Following Jesus' example, the New Testament writers named him as the servant, at least ten times. In one instance, Philip corrected an Ethiopian official who had wondered if the suffering servant referred to an ancient prophet (Acts 8:26-35).

According to Isaiah, the servant died for a very specific purpose: "He was pierced for our transgressions" (53:5). In the OT, the shed blood of sacrificial offerings brought forgiveness of sins. This was an act of grace in which God accepts an offering as a substitute for the punishment for sin. The blood shed in the sacrifices was sacred. It symbolized the life of the sacrificial victim. The blood of the OT sacrifice pointed forward to the blood of the Lamb of God, who obtained for his people "eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12). "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Heb 9:22).

Through his sacrifice, the suffering servant won a great victory. His death made possible a future when all that is wrong on earth will be set right. Significantly, the book of Isaiah does not end with the suffering servant image. It goes on to describe a wonderful life in a new heaven and new earth made possible by the servant's death.

Son of Man, verse 45. Jesus' most common title for himself, used 81 times in the Gospels and never used by anyone but Jesus. In Daniel 7:13-14 the Son of Man is pictured as a heavenly figure who in the end times is entrusted by God with authority, glory and sovereign power.

As God and man Jesus was entitled to receive glory, honour, praise and worship when he came to earth. He deserved to be born in a clean, luxurious palace, attended by experts in childbirth, his every whim catered for. Yet he was born in a dirty stable, perhaps with Mary tended by Joseph's relatives. He lived amongst normal people who were regarded as 'sinners', not the powerful, the intellectuals, the religious or the wealthy. He lived in the unfashionable North, not in the Southern capital of Jerusalem, the centre of the Jewish faith.

He was entitled to be exalted over everyone, instead he was raised above a crowd of people, many of them jeering, on an instrument of pain and humiliation.

We see his servant heart in the account of the washing of the disciples' feet in John 13. Washing the feet of people who had come from dung-covered roads was an unpleasant task given to the most junior slave, yet Jesus did this, and said this was an example of how his disciples should serve one another.

ransom. This is a word used in the market place. It means "the price paid for release from bondage", and was often used for the price paid to set a slave free. Jesus gave his life to release us from bondage to sin and death. He frees us from the guilt and separation from God that our sin brings. He frees us to follow his way, convinced that this is in our best interests.

for. That is, "in place of," pointing to Christ's substitutionary death.

many. Christ "gave himself as a ransom for all men" (1 Timothy 2:6). Salvation is offered to "all," but everyone will not accept it. Only the "many" (i.e., the elect) receive it. The many contrasts with the one life that was given for them.

A book titled "Battle Fatigue", Joe B. Brown, pastor of an American church, warns readers of five things that may hinder a Christian's access to God:

1) ambition to achieve fame, success or glory -- no matter what the cost to one's spiritual life: "It involves replacing God with your own ego and self-will."

2) unholy desires: "Ask yourself this question, 'What is it that I want that God doesn't want for me?"

3) memories of the past: "Is there anything in your life that you cannot let go of? Does your mind carry you back to an event and hold you captive there day after day? If you spend too much time and energy there, it can become a false god."

4) unhealthy relationships: "There are people in our lives who try to draw us away from our power source, directing us toward a path that leads away from God, not toward him. Be careful not to let unhealthy relationships become a false god."

5) business activities and recreational endeavours: "It has well been said, 'We worship our work, we work at our play and we play at our worship.' If we expend more energy making a living and entertaining ourselves than building a relationship with God, we have created a False god in our lives."

Let us thank God for sending Jesus to die in our place on the cross.

Let us seek to follow his example and show greatness by serving others.

PRAY

Suggested songs:

The Price is paid

For God so loved the world

Seek ye first