“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
I might have mentioned before that I like the disciples. They are so human, so like us. Their journey with Christ is like our journey with Christ: we walk with Jesus, listening to his words, seeing him in action, trying to understand what we are seeing and hearing, and quite often not quite getting the message. And here we have James and John. Their strange request comes after Jesus has just quite explicitly told them what his life, his mission, his ministry is all about, what he will have to do to achieve it: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again” (Mk 10:33-34). And what’s the first thing that James and John think about after hearing that? Who’s getting the prime position next to Jesus. I don’t know about you, but if my best friend had just spoken words about their future painful death, how I can achieve power and prominence wouldn’t be my first thoughts or question! James and John want some of the glory. Some of Christ’s glory. And their question reveals their complete misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what he is about. For, this is our God, the servant King.
Jesus fully understood what his life and ministry meant. He had taken time to consider the path he must take – time in the wilderness – and at his baptism his choice of path, of Messiahship, had been confirmed by God: “You are my Son, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11). And Jesus fully understood that ministry, setting them out in the words he chose to read from Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry, as recorded by Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor … to proclaim release to the captives. Sight to the blind … to let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18). It was part of the words of his own mother before he was born: “he has brought down the powerful … lifted up the lowly … filled the hungry … sent the rich away empty” (Lk 1:52-3). Jesus’ whole mission was to bring the world back to God, to bring humanity back into line with God’s plans, to transform the world. “Jesus is … turning the world’s values and power-systems on their heads, setting off to give his life as a ransom for many” (1). His glory is not what his disciples expect, not what was expected of the Messiah at all. Because it is on the cross that Christ’s glory is revealed, and “the cross is not, for Jesus or for Mark, a difficult episode to be got through on the way to a happy ending. It is precisely God’s way of standing worldly power and authority on its head.” (2) Christ’s glory is seen in his emptying of himself once for all upon the cross. And there will be two on Christ’s left and on his right when Jesus comes to his glory – the two criminals crucified with him! Is this the glory James and John are seeking? Or have they yet to understand Jesus, to understand Jesus’ definition of power and glory?
This is our God, the Servant King. And this is Christ’s understanding of power: Service. Power is not something to be wielded, allowing someone to lord it over others. It is not something that draws wealth to itself and gives control over other humans. Power, true power, is found in serving others, putting others first, it is to serve, not to be served. No wonder those who held, who hold, earthly power find Jesus’ message, life and ministry so challenging, so threatening. So threatening that they killed him! No wonder the disciples didn’t really understand, even after Jesus’ careful explanations. Jesus tries to tell them: this is what will happen because I have come to restore the true balance to God’s people, to God’s creation. The balance which makes love of God and love of neighbour central to life. The balance that enables people to break swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and not wage war. The balance that recognises the worth in all people, those we love and those we hate, and those we fear. The balance that seeks peace and reconciliation rather than retaliation and revenge. It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to see, that God’s own Son should come from heaven and die to save a child like me, like you, like all human beings, everywhere (H364). And this is the baptism to which we are called: This is our God, the Servant King, who calls us now to follow him (H205). It is a baptism of service to others. A baptism of self-sacrifice, not self-serving. A baptism of fellowship with all humanity, and with Christ in his glory, the glory revealed on the cross, demonstrated through the resurrection. A baptism we are part of today. One in which, as the baptism service puts it, we will learn “to know God in public worship and private prayer, follow Jesus Christ in the life of faith, (and) serve our neighbour after the example of Christ” (3). And it sounds daunting for any such child who is brought to baptism. It sounds daunting for us. This calling to stand beside Christ and speak peace into situations of fear and hate, to speak with Christ of a power which loves all and serves all, and which challenges how the world sees power, glory and position. It is daunting if we think we speak alone. But Christ is with us, and has spoken these words already. “For the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). And this is not just something Jesus has said, it is something he did, something he was and is. He has lived it, shown us how to live as a child of God, a son or daughter of God. And has sent the Spirit to help us to live this message, to live as Christ in the world, following his example and obeying his command. This is our God, the Servant King, who calls us now to follow him in service and love. And as well as Christ’s example and the Spirit’s presence, we have each other, the whole family of Christ, of God. As we are reminded by the baptism service: “As we grow up, we will need the help and encouragement of the Christian community” to fulfil Christ’s call to us. We all need that support, help and encouragement to fulfil Christ’s call to us to follow him. We all have a duty to support each other, care for each other, love each other as Christ has loved us. So that the question we ask isn’t, as James and John asked: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It isn’t what can Christ do for us – he has done more than we can repay already. No, our question is: what can we do to serve Christ in one another and, with the power of the Spirit, love each other, all people, as he loves us, and how we can work with Christ and the Spirit to transform the world into the Kingdom of the Father? Amen.
- Wright, Tom. Mark for Everyone (New Testament for Everyone Book 3) (p. 141). SPCK. Kindle Edition.
- Wright, Tom. Mark for Everyone (New Testament for Everyone Book 3) (p. 139). SPCK. Kindle Edition.
- The Liturgy of Baptism: The Commission, The Archbishops Council (2000)