Mark 10:35-45
Radically Dissimilar Hearts
James Sledge October
18, 2015
Our
gospel reading this morning would probably benefit from a bit of context. It
takes place shortly after Jesus’ encounter with a rich man who works hard to
keep God’s commandments yet feels there must be something more. But Jesus’ call
to sell what he owns, give the money to the poor, and become a disciple, is too
much.
Then
Jesus and his followers hit the road again, headed to Jerusalem. The disciples
don’t come off all that well in Mark’s gospel, repeatedly misunderstanding what
Jesus teaches. But that is not to say that they are total idiots. They have
clearly begun to grasp that danger lies ahead. The gospel says that as Jesus
walks ahead of them, They were amazed, and those who followed
were afraid. To these amazed and frightened followers, Jesus explains
for a third and final time what will happen to him in just over a week.
Then
James and John come to see him. Their request seems the epitome of the
disciples’ cluelessness. James and John, along with Peter, form Jesus’ inner circle,
a privileged trio who’ve seen things the others have not. Now they take
advantage of this. They appear to realize there is something unseemly in their
request, but they make it anyway.
But
perhaps this is not merely arrogance or an attempt to turn their inside
connection into special favors. What if this is simply two terrified followers
trying to save their own skin? They’ve started to understand that this trip to
Jerusalem is not going to end well. Jesus is not going to overthrow the Romans.
In fact he keeps saying people will kill him. In some ways it’s amazing that
the disciples stay with him as he leads them toward Jerusalem and the cross.
Maybe because they’ve followed him this
far, they decide to see it through. Maybe because he keeps talking about rising
again, they hope there might be something beyond the horrible events that await.
If there really is something after Jerusalem, maybe they can be part of it. “Grant
us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
If
you are anything like me, you do some of the things you most regret when you
are afraid. There is a reason that politicians on the right and the left try to
make you afraid of someone of something: the one percent, the media, gays, immigrants,
Muslims, liberals, conservatives, religious folk, secular ones. People will do
things when frightened that they wouldn’t otherwise. At times this can unify
people against an enemy, an other to hate. But even this often leads to
regrets. Consider how this country treated Japanese Americans during World War
II. Or look at our recent willingness to permit spying on fellow citizens or use
torture to keep us safe.
Being afraid also creates real problems
for living the Christian life. It is difficult to love our neighbor when some of
those neighbors are the ones we fear. And then there’s that thing about loving
our enemy.
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I
think you can see fear at work when the other disciples learn of James and John’s
request. They get angry. “What do you mean trying to get to the front of the
line? What about us?” I wonder how far this argument might have gone if Jesus
hadn’t stepped in? Would they have duked it out to see who was first and who
was last?
But
Jesus does step in, ever the teacher, ever the mentor, seeking to help disciples,
including us, get it. They, (we?) are still caught up in the ways of the world,
the ways where those with money and power get their way, where power and wealth
are used to gain an advantage, to get ahead. But Jesus has entirely different
ideas about power and greatness.
Servant
and slave are the two images Jesus uses to picture greatness. Embracing such a
model is not a recipe for success. Donald Trump attracts large crowds in part
because is his the antithesis of this, and in a day when many people are
worried and afraid, this bluster has its appeal. Donald Trump is certainly over
the top in embracing a non-Jesus-like image of greatness, but it’s mostly a
matter of degrees. Despite the popular term, “public servant,” rare is the
politician, CEO, or power broker who thinks of himself as a slave, who puts the
needs of everyone else ahead of her own.
When James and John make their request, they
aren’t thinking or acting like servants either, and Jesus says they do not know
what they are asking. They still think that being beside Jesus is about
privilege and prestige. But in just days those at Jesus’ left hand and right will
be criminals on their own crosses. Not at all what James and John had in mind.
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“But it is not so among you.” That is what
Jesus says to his followers after describing the world’s understanding of
greatness. The disciples and the church are to model a different way, the way
of costly service to others, the way of the cross. Karl Barth, the great 20th
century theologian, put it this way. “The church exists … to set up in the
world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to the world’s own manner and
which contradicts it in a way that is full of promise.”[1]
“Radically
dissimilar to the world…” “Not so among you…” However you
phrase it, Jesus clearly expects his followers, expects the Church, to live in
ways that are different and askew from the much of the world. That’s
something that happens when we open our
doors and invite people who are hungry to join us for supper at Welcome Table. That
just doesn’t happen in many places or groups or organizations.
It
also happens when we do stewardship, at least when we get it close to right.
Asking for charitable contributions is hardly unique to churches. Countless
charities solicit me for funds; probably you as well. Charities that work to
fight disease, give communities clean water, or help abused animals, often appeal
to our compassion. Non-profits like NPR or PBS may appeal to a sense of
fairness, asking us to support programming that we enjoy. Churches sometimes
use both methods. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what I mean by
stewardship.
Christian
stewardship reorients a person’s finances and time and energy so that they take
on the “not so among you,” “radically dissimilar to the world” manner
Jesus teaches his followers. Christian stewardship is where our lives reflect
the way of Jesus, who comes not to be served but to serve. It’s not a calculation,
not an insurance policy. It is a new way of living that points the world toward
a new and better day.
I’m
not certain this sort of thinking lies behind the Stewardship Committee’s theme
of Giving from the Heart, but it
certainly fits. Our hearts and the things we love have a huge impact on how we
use our finances and time and energy. Think about the efforts and the
sacrifices people will make for the person they fall in love with, for their
children, for their careers when their hearts are devoted to these things.
Jesus
is clear about his heart’s devotion. It is to God and to neighbor. Jesus can
give as he does, give his very life, because of the depth of his devotion and love.
And he calls his followers, calls us, to discover his sort of “greatness,” where
transformed hearts turn us into servants for the sake of God’s new day.
Imagine
the possibilities if enough hearts got caught up in the same passion and
devotion that captured Jesus’ heart. Imagine the difference we could make and
the message we could send if our hearts were more devoted to God and neighbor,
to being Christ to the world. Imagine hearts not motivated by worry or anxiety
or fear, but by God’s love and grace in Christ, filling us to overflowing, and
overflowing with generosity and service to the world.
[1]
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2, quoted by Stanley Hauerwas and William
Willimon in Resident Aliens, (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1989), p. 83.
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