Serving and Served

On the old Honeymooners TV show from the 1950’s, Jackie Gleason, playing Ralph Cramden, once went off on a rant at his wife, Alice, played by Audrey Meadows. “I’m the king…this is my house, my castle. I’m the king, and you’re nothing.” Alice, who always had the perfect comeback, put her hand on her hips and said, “King of nothing. Big deal!”

Theologians have called Mark “the gospel of the stupid disciples,” and in our Gospel reading from Mark shows Jesus’ disciples to be as self-absorbed as the Ralph Cramden character. While it’s hard to get the flow of the narrative when it’s broken up over a number of weeks, Jesus has been preparing his disciples for the suffering and death he would suffer in Jerusalem. Remember that when Jesus began this discussion, Peter took him aside and rebuked him. And now after all that’s happened in our Gospels over the past few weeks – Jesus teaching that only those who come to the kingdom like a little child can enter the kingdom, his telling the rich young ruler that he had to sell all he had and give the proceeds to the poor before he could follow Jesus – the disciples still don’t get it. They just….don’t….get it! Jesus is pouring his heart out about his upcoming betrayal – trying for the third time to prepare his disciples for what lies ahead - and James and John are angling for glory. And when the other disciples hear about their request, they’re angry – mostly because they didn’t think of it first! What a train wreck of a conversation!

Here we have contrasts between the ways of the world and the way of the cross. At some level, James and John themselves knew that what they were asking was wrong. Remember how they led into their question: “Lord, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” They tried to trap Jesus into promising to grant what at some level they knew was an unworthy request. We may remember from our reading in Mark’s gospel from a number of weeks ago that Herod’s freely promised his daughter anything she asked, even half his kingdom – and Herod’s wife took this opportunity to ask for the head of John the Baptist. And so James and John unconsciously show that despite all their time with Jesus, they were still caught up in the same worldly thinking that had led to the death of John the Baptist and would ultimately lead to the death of Jesus.

So James and John made their request. Jesus asks them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” You would think that with all Jesus had just got done saying about his upcoming suffering and death, this question might have seemed a bit ominous, might have given them pause, but no, they glibly say, “Yeah, sure, whatever.” Jesus responded, “You will drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with my baptism, but the places at my right and my left are not mine to appoint.” And reading this story from our perspective, we might remember that, at the crucifixion, the decision of who occupied the places to Jesus’ right and left was indeed not for Jesus to make – those places were filled by the two thieves that the Romans happened to crucify next to him.

But Jesus recognizes a teachable moment when he sees one, and so he makes contrast between the ways of the world and the way of discipleship: “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.” Remember that Jesus disciples were Jews, and to have Jesus compare their behavior to that of Gentiles would have brought them up short, been seen as a rebuke – “you’re acting like Gentiles” – ouch! But Jesus goes on, “But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The ways of the world versus the way of the cross….We all know too well the truth of Jesus’ words about the ways of the world. There’s a part of all of us – me too – that wants a place of glory – be it the biggest house on our block, the corner office at work, political office, our name in lights. And the draw isn’t just visibility, it’s the ability to throw our weight around, to have our way. Maybe you’ve seen the cartoon about the CEO who chews out a manager at work….and the manager yells at his flunkie, who goes home and yells at his wife, who yells at the kid, who kicks the dog. That cartoon sums up the way of the world, what theologians such as Walter Brueggeman and Walter Wink call the world’s domination system. And it’s not just true at the individual level; for many, our national pride as Americans is tied up in being the wealthiest and the strongest militarily, in being able, not just to set policies for ourselves, but to shape and mold the course of events in the world.

And too often even in the church it’s no different. Career pastors – unless they’re easing into retirement and want to slow down – if they want to leave their current pulpit, normally seek a call from a bigger congregation than the one they’re serving, and calls to the prominent “tall steeple” churches are highly sought. And lay leaders and members of larger, more prominent congregations thrive on their congregation’s prominent identity and recognition in the community. A megachurch with praise bands and multiple choirs and a paid staff of multiple pastors and professional counselors can offer a lot more glitz and glamour and glory to pastors and members alike than a small “St John’s by the gas station” country church or a small, struggling city congregation. Unfortunately, for us, as individuals anyway, when we die, we really can’t take all that with us – or as the Latin phrase goes “sic transit gloria mundi” – so passes the glory of the world. In the end, we really are, in Alice Kramden’s phrase, the king of nothing.

Jesus offers a different path. “But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” In recent years even the term “servant leadership” has been co-opted and corrupted by motivational speakers from the corporate culture, but the way of Jesus is the way of humble service. Even in the secular world, it’s been recognized that if there’s something that you really want to get done in an organization, it may be easier if you’re not too fussy about who gets the credit, if you’re willing to let others get the glory – the question becomes, “is it more important to me that this get done, or that people know that I did it.”

In his parables, Jesus compared God’s reign to a seed, not a sledgehammer….to a seed quietly, slowly, secretly sinking roots in the ground and growing up from below, bringing new life, not to loud, heavy sledgehammer pounding from above. God’s reign comes about when one person tells another about Jesus, when one person serves another in Jesus’ name, when one person joins another and another and another in Jesus’ name to keep their block safe, when one congregation cleans up a needle park so that children can once again play safely, when one congregation joins another and another and another in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. All quiet acts, nothing that’ll get you the corner office or your name in lights, but acts that bring the love of Jesus to hurting people, acts that help to usher in the reign of God. As John Wesley of the Methodist tradition put it, “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” And what we do, we are able to do because Jesus first came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many – to serve us and give his life a ransom for us.

We may remember the story of St Francis of Assisi – and our first hymn today was an adaptation of St. Francis’ Canticle of the Sun. In his youth, Francis had led a careless life, but over time gradually came to embrace a life of service. Finally, a confrontation came between Francis and his wealthy father, when Francis renounced his father and his inheritance, and even left behind the clothes he was wearing, and founded an order devoted to a life of poverty and service, in contrast to the corruption of the church hierarchies of his day. I’ll close with his famous prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
Please join us for worship at Emanuel United Church of Christ (Fillmore St off Thompson) on Sundays at 10 a.m. www.emanuelphila.org