Mark 10:35-45. Serve; not be served! 18/10/09
(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."
Here today we have another example of just how out of touch Jesus and the Scriptures are with life in this world. Is it any wonder that people today have trouble coming to terms with the Christian message, and why so many are seeking to change God’s Word to suite peoples thinking. The thought of being a slave to anyone is abhorrent to our human thinking; and we are encouraged to be ambitious and to aim high in life; and if we don’t we will get nowhere and achieve nothing. We are to set our sights high and go and fulfil our dreams. To have any other view is just not on; and God had just better fit into that thinking.
Time and time again however, we find that our Lord turns upside down the thinking of this world. He reminds us that the ways of this world are not his ways: they are not what is good for us, and only lead us into trouble. Our ways are out of step with God’s ways.
Yes, how often even in the church and in our own lives, doesn’t our thinking follow that of James and John. ‘Lord we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘Look we are your followers; and we even want to be your right hand men and women: we want to be right there alongside of you, ruling over your kingdom: your church. Yes, we want to be recognised; we want to wield power on your behalf: we want a part of it all.’
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But then again others of us would say,’ I am not one of those; I will leave those positions to those who think they are a bit of alright; but who really are only wanting to push their own barrows. If they want the limelight, they can have it: it is not for me. They can do what they like; but just don’t expect me to help. Meanwhile we will just sit in the background and criticize: we’ll knock the tall poppies into shape: we’ll sit back smug in our own little world.’
That also sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yes, ‘Lord we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ We want the world to revolve around ourselves and what we want. On top of that, we like James and John think that we can live up to what is involved in one way or another. Yet we also have no real idea as to what we are asking. James and John thought they could ‘drink the cup’ that Jesus was to drink and ‘be baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized with.’ Little did they know that he was referring to his suffering and death on the cross; and that they themselves would in due course undergo great suffering and martyrdom. Thankfully, God had not prepared them to die on the crosses on either side of Jesus like the two criminals. Thankfully, Jesus did not have the same attitudes and ambitions that we have.
Can you imagine for a minute if Jesus would have approached his life with our attitudes. ‘Look Father God, this idea you thought up of sending me into that sinful world to suffer and die on the cross is just not on. I as your Son am prince of this kingdom of yours, so I want a say in this matter. In fact I want to sit up here next to you and help you rule over this kingdom. So I’m not going down there mixing with those riff-raff; getting dirty and suffering in that pigsty they have made for themselves.’
‘And what, me, go and be punished for their sin: dying on a cross, and being totally forsaken by you, so that they can then be fellow princes with me, without them having to do a thing to earn it; come on that is just over the top. No way! Let them get what is coming to them; after all it is their own fault. Let them get what is coming to them; since they are the ones who want to be equal with you. They are the ones who don’t want to be obedient to you, or know your will. Look, I’ll sit up here with you and share your glory.’
Yes, thank God, that that was not his attitude. Thank the Lord that he was not like us. Mark makes it quite clear in this reading, that, ‘Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for all.’ Jesus himself made this quite clear, many, many times. His life, teachings, miracles and death, none of it was for his own ambitious glory. It was all for our benefit and in obedience to, and for the glory of, his Father.
Jesus came and lived here on earth, not to do his own will and thing, but the will of his Father. As an obedient servant, he allowed himself to be killed, for the benefit and well-being of all mankind and not for himself. Even when Jesus performed miracles, Mark tells us that he told the people not to tell anyone, because they were not done for his own glory. All of his miracles and everything else he did, was for our benefit and because of God’s love for us. He even suffered the total forsaking of his Father in his death on the cross, so that we can be freed to be children of God: brothers and sisters of Christ.
So here, Jesus turns upside down our whole way of thinking as to what is good and beneficial. In fact he says those who seek after greatness will only find it in being the servant of others. It is not found in positions of power and authority, but in those who are given in service to others. For Jesus and his followers, the way of greatness is the cross and suffering, not glory. He points out that the one who will be first in life will the one who is a slave for others: The one who serves, does so out of obedience to one higher than themselves and does it for their benefit and for the good of others.
Here a genuine slave is one who serves not to gain a thing for themselves, but for the praise and glory of his master. Even the wielding of power and authority for God is not to bring attention on ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all action, thinking, praise and glory. He is the person to whom it all belongs, for he has totally given his life in obedience to his Father and for our benefit. Now life is found nowhere else and in no-one else, but in him who gave his life so that we may gain life.
When our focus is truly on Jesus and what he did for us on the cross we are left in no doubt as to our own unworthiness and sinfulness: and it puts us back on our knees and humbles any thoughts of greatness that may be there in our lives. There we realize with the utmost of gratitude and servitude, that he is the only one who truly is Lord of all: and that we are now his servants, for him to do with as he pleases. There to him we now look for our guidance as to how he would have us live and act as people who have been bought back with the greatest cost of all: the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There we realize that our way too is the way of the cross: the way of service to others.
So yes, thanks be to God, that his Son, not only told us of the way of the cross, but above all went the way of the cross for us. That Jesus Christ came to serve his Father in total humility and obedience; so that we might be freed by his blood: so that we can now share with him in heavenly glory. Let us therefore humbly place ourselves before him, and allow him to do with us what he wills: ‘not my will but thy will be done.’ Here let us also remember that he leads us to follow his way of suffering servant-hood, and goes before us to guide and help us to do so, and gives us the assurance that it is not in vain. Through whatever he has in mind for us, may all thanks and praise go to him who is truly great: to the one who was the servant of all; our Lord Jesus Christ. To him alone be all praise and honour, now and always. AMEN.
Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish
(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."
Here today we have another example of just how out of touch Jesus and the Scriptures are with life in this world. Is it any wonder that people today have trouble coming to terms with the Christian message, and why so many are seeking to change God’s Word to suite peoples thinking. The thought of being a slave to anyone is abhorrent to our human thinking; and we are encouraged to be ambitious and to aim high in life; and if we don’t we will get nowhere and achieve nothing. We are to set our sights high and go and fulfil our dreams. To have any other view is just not on; and God had just better fit into that thinking.
Time and time again however, we find that our Lord turns upside down the thinking of this world. He reminds us that the ways of this world are not his ways: they are not what is good for us, and only lead us into trouble. Our ways are out of step with God’s ways.
Yes, how often even in the church and in our own lives, doesn’t our thinking follow that of James and John. ‘Lord we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘Look we are your followers; and we even want to be your right hand men and women: we want to be right there alongside of you, ruling over your kingdom: your church. Yes, we want to be recognised; we want to wield power on your behalf: we want a part of it all.’
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But then again others of us would say,’ I am not one of those; I will leave those positions to those who think they are a bit of alright; but who really are only wanting to push their own barrows. If they want the limelight, they can have it: it is not for me. They can do what they like; but just don’t expect me to help. Meanwhile we will just sit in the background and criticize: we’ll knock the tall poppies into shape: we’ll sit back smug in our own little world.’
That also sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yes, ‘Lord we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ We want the world to revolve around ourselves and what we want. On top of that, we like James and John think that we can live up to what is involved in one way or another. Yet we also have no real idea as to what we are asking. James and John thought they could ‘drink the cup’ that Jesus was to drink and ‘be baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized with.’ Little did they know that he was referring to his suffering and death on the cross; and that they themselves would in due course undergo great suffering and martyrdom. Thankfully, God had not prepared them to die on the crosses on either side of Jesus like the two criminals. Thankfully, Jesus did not have the same attitudes and ambitions that we have.
Can you imagine for a minute if Jesus would have approached his life with our attitudes. ‘Look Father God, this idea you thought up of sending me into that sinful world to suffer and die on the cross is just not on. I as your Son am prince of this kingdom of yours, so I want a say in this matter. In fact I want to sit up here next to you and help you rule over this kingdom. So I’m not going down there mixing with those riff-raff; getting dirty and suffering in that pigsty they have made for themselves.’
‘And what, me, go and be punished for their sin: dying on a cross, and being totally forsaken by you, so that they can then be fellow princes with me, without them having to do a thing to earn it; come on that is just over the top. No way! Let them get what is coming to them; after all it is their own fault. Let them get what is coming to them; since they are the ones who want to be equal with you. They are the ones who don’t want to be obedient to you, or know your will. Look, I’ll sit up here with you and share your glory.’
Yes, thank God, that that was not his attitude. Thank the Lord that he was not like us. Mark makes it quite clear in this reading, that, ‘Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for all.’ Jesus himself made this quite clear, many, many times. His life, teachings, miracles and death, none of it was for his own ambitious glory. It was all for our benefit and in obedience to, and for the glory of, his Father.
Jesus came and lived here on earth, not to do his own will and thing, but the will of his Father. As an obedient servant, he allowed himself to be killed, for the benefit and well-being of all mankind and not for himself. Even when Jesus performed miracles, Mark tells us that he told the people not to tell anyone, because they were not done for his own glory. All of his miracles and everything else he did, was for our benefit and because of God’s love for us. He even suffered the total forsaking of his Father in his death on the cross, so that we can be freed to be children of God: brothers and sisters of Christ.
So here, Jesus turns upside down our whole way of thinking as to what is good and beneficial. In fact he says those who seek after greatness will only find it in being the servant of others. It is not found in positions of power and authority, but in those who are given in service to others. For Jesus and his followers, the way of greatness is the cross and suffering, not glory. He points out that the one who will be first in life will the one who is a slave for others: The one who serves, does so out of obedience to one higher than themselves and does it for their benefit and for the good of others.
Here a genuine slave is one who serves not to gain a thing for themselves, but for the praise and glory of his master. Even the wielding of power and authority for God is not to bring attention on ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all action, thinking, praise and glory. He is the person to whom it all belongs, for he has totally given his life in obedience to his Father and for our benefit. Now life is found nowhere else and in no-one else, but in him who gave his life so that we may gain life.
When our focus is truly on Jesus and what he did for us on the cross we are left in no doubt as to our own unworthiness and sinfulness: and it puts us back on our knees and humbles any thoughts of greatness that may be there in our lives. There we realize with the utmost of gratitude and servitude, that he is the only one who truly is Lord of all: and that we are now his servants, for him to do with as he pleases. There to him we now look for our guidance as to how he would have us live and act as people who have been bought back with the greatest cost of all: the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There we realize that our way too is the way of the cross: the way of service to others.
So yes, thanks be to God, that his Son, not only told us of the way of the cross, but above all went the way of the cross for us. That Jesus Christ came to serve his Father in total humility and obedience; so that we might be freed by his blood: so that we can now share with him in heavenly glory. Let us therefore humbly place ourselves before him, and allow him to do with us what he wills: ‘not my will but thy will be done.’ Here let us also remember that he leads us to follow his way of suffering servant-hood, and goes before us to guide and help us to do so, and gives us the assurance that it is not in vain. Through whatever he has in mind for us, may all thanks and praise go to him who is truly great: to the one who was the servant of all; our Lord Jesus Christ. To him alone be all praise and honour, now and always. AMEN.
Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish
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