A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 22, 2015.
Are You Sure About This?
Mark 10:32-45
(Other Readings Appointed: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:1-10)
Even if you weren’t too sure about naming all twelve of Jesus’ Disciples, many who have read the Gospels can be pretty certain that they could at least name three: Peter, James, and John. The reason for this is that these three names are often mentioned together at some of the momentous moments in Jesus’ ministry. These three men can perhaps be seen as Jesus’ “inner circle”—His closest confidantes and advisors, and quite possibly, His support system when times got tough.
As we listened to today’s Gospel, we hear two of these three close followers of Jesus named. Peter doesn’t play a part in this particular event, yet, if you had a sense of “de ja vu”, you probably had an idea that we’ve heard something like this before. A few Sundays ago, we heard Jesus announce His Passion and declare what His work as the Messiah was to be fulfilled through. At that moment, it was Peter who pulled Jesus aside, rebuked Him for saying such things, and it was Peter who ended up being rebuked because he just didn’t get the point about why it was that Jesus came and how all of these things had to be.
And now we come to today’s event. Jesus again predicts His Passion to His Disciples for a third time. He repeats these facts again to the Twelve to impress upon them the certainty that they will happen and to teach them all that this is what it means to be the Messiah and that it is through these things—rejection, cross, death, and finally resurrection—that the Messiah will be revealed to all.
It is then, after Jesus makes this third prediction of His Passion, that James and John come to Jesus. Unlike Peter, the sons of Zebedee come to Jesus not to rebuke or chastise Jesus for what He said. Perhaps they did finally get the point of what Jesus was trying to get across. Perhaps they understood that this was the way that things were to be, that they accepted it, and they just had to wait for it all to go down so that the glory and triumph of the Messiah would be revealed to all.
So, James and John come to Jesus, looking to Him to grant them a favor. One can assume that they feel that since they and Jesus are so close, that Jesus would be willing to grant them whatever they ask of Him. And Jesus seems to somewhat agree with their assumption, willing to hear their request: “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your glory.”
Just as it was with Peter, it must have been the same now with James and John, that Jesus probably looked at these two with a loving, pained expression, possibly shaking His head again at these two dedicated followers, discovering that once again that they still don’t get it. James and John were looking for places of honor and glory when the kingdom that Jesus had been proclaiming finally came. They probably remembered that vision they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration and were thinking that they could have the spots that Moses and Elijah had. They thought that since they were so close to Jesus, why not take the shot and call dibs on the best seats in the coming kingdom.
So, Jesus has to disabuse James and John of the notion that they believed was their conception of what the coming kingdom of God was all about and what it was to look like. “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Still confident in themselves and in what they had requested, James and John say to Jesus, “Yes, we’re able to do that.” And Jesus once more recognizes how much they still don’t understand.
Jesus lets James and John know that the seats they want aren’t available because they’re already taken and reserved for others. This is so because, when the kingdom is revealed, the Messiah’s seat of glory and power is not a throne, but a cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem. And there will be seats on either side of Him there on that hill, where two others condemned to die will join Him—one who will mock him, and the other who will be remembered by Jesus as His kingdom comes in glory, received into the bliss of paradise.
What is interesting is that Jesus, in responding to James and John’s request, actually doesn’t totally dismiss it either. Yes, Jesus does tell James and John that the “seats” they want cannot be theirs. Yet, Jesus does tell them that they will share in something else with Him: “The cup that I will drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” What Jesus is telling James and John is not about having a nice drink together or a quick dunk in a pool. No, Jesus hear points them back to what He said earlier. Remember all that stuff about rejection, mockery, condemnation, and death? That’s the cup and baptism that I’m talking about, and yes, that too will be yours as well.
If we put ourselves into James and John’s position, how many of us would be asking, “Am I really sure about this? I mean, really, is that what I signed up for when I answered the call to follow Jesus. Maybe it would have just have been better to have stayed on dad’s boat three years ago and just kept on fishing.
Yes, James and John heard correctly and understood. What Jesus has to say about what He must undergo as the Messiah in suffering, death, and resurrection is what He declares will be the fate of all those who follow Him. To follow Jesus means to walk on the road of suffering and servanthood; walking in the very same steps as Jesus did. His cup of suffering is ours. The baptism of His death is ours. The humility of His servanthood is ours. The giving over of His life for others is ours. Is this what we signed up for when we answered the call to follow Jesus? Are we really sure that this is what we want for ourselves and our lives?
It is hard words like these that we have heard from Jesus today which make some wonder if following Jesus is really what we or anyone would ever want to do. Words like suffering, death, rejection, humility, servanthood don’t often resonate with many when one is looking for a path to follow. And yet, it is these things which pave the road that leads to the glory of the Messiah. As Jesus turns His face towards Jerusalem to meet His destiny, He knows why He must undergo all these things—so that He might “give His life as a ransom for many”. Yes, this may not be the path that many would choose to go. Yet Jesus chose it so that He might be our Savior and set us free from all that held us captive to the powers of sin, death, and hell.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it well in his famous statement: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Compared to power, glory, honor, prestige, and fame, death just doesn’t seem to be all that appealing of an option. All of this is unappealing, unless one is talking about life in and with Jesus Christ. As He goes to His imminent Passion and death, Jesus here blazes a trail towards true glory—a glory that ends, yes at a cross and in death, but that leads to opening up eternal life and salvation to all those who embrace His cross and resurrection by faith. It is the glory of His cross and empty tomb which Jesus then shares with those who answer the call to share in His life—sharing in His humility, serving others in love as we have been served by Him, dying to self and sin, buried in the grave of Baptism, and raised to a new life in Him that is lived day by day now and will be lived in eternally in the full glory of God’s kingdom.
So, are we really sure about this? Do we want to or will we live out the call that our Lord Jesus has given to us to take up our crosses, follow Him, and die and rise with Him? Let us all pray that our answer will be yes. And even though it seems a fearful thing, and a way of life that seems burdensome, let us take comfort in this truth: as we follow our Lord Jesus, we do not walk alone for He walks with us. He shares our burden in this journey and assures us that we are not walking in a new way, but on the path that He has already trod, leading us to the place of His honor that we might dwell with Him and all of His faithful ones in glory everlasting. Yes, we are sure that this is what we want. Let us follow the Lord and share in His life and receive from Him the reward of eternal life and glory with Him. Thanks be to Christ! Amen!
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