How to become Great

Mark 10:35-45

Rev. Michael Trask

Albertville, MN

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3/29/09

So who where these fellows who wanted to sit next to Jesus in Glory? Scripture says they were James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They’re often mentioned together...they were like a team. Actually, they were in business together along with two other brothers: Peter and Andrew....they were fishermen. They were part of the trio of Peter James and John. They were his inner circle, so to speak

I think that’s why James and John didn’t think it necessary to hide their naked ambition and just come out and ask Jesus for the highest positions in his coming kingdom. They saw themselves as being on the inside track because they were among Jesus’ three closest companions.

It’s kind of like during a presidential race, those who work hardest for the nominee and support him by their words and actions are promised a cabinet position or perhaps an ambassadorship. That’s the way they were thinking. And since there were only two really plum positions, left and right, James and John thought they better make a preemptive strike to prevent that presumptuous Peter from claiming the prize.

One of the other gospels records the same account and gives the added information that their mom was involved in this quest for position and glory. I kind of see her as a pushy soccer mom, demanding that her kids, whom she believes are more talented then all the other kids, get more play time.

I’m just trying to give you an idea of how the whole situation felt, or smelled, we should say. We’ve smelled this sort of thing before and we don’t like. It’s that same old same old worldly power grab stuff. People crave respect; People crave honor; crave dignity; People crave glory and they will sometimes do almost anything to get it. Every war, every inter office struggle, every fight on the play ground, every marital difficulty and every obnoxious parent at a youth sporting event has this going on in the background. Who’s going to be king of the hill. We hate this kind of stuff; it makes us quite miserable. It is so lame when we see other people do it, but of course, perfectly justified when we do it ourselves.

Yeah, I know, We’re Minnesotans and we are so very nice and we don’t do these kinds of things. We are not like all the rabble who seek to promote themselves above others, oh no we have risen above them all. We would never do what they do and that makes us just plain better than them! Do you see what we do? What others might do outwardly, we do inwardly. Being privately conceited is just as bad as being an out an out braggart. Veiled aggression is just as bad as naked aggression; maybe even worse. At least the other disciples knew that James and John deemed themselves to be superior. If James and John were from Minnesota, they would have went around privately thinking that they were better than the rest.....and once in a while they’d get together and rip on all the other disciples to strengthen the the illusion of superiority they had created

Yeah, we do hate this stuff. We hate it when we see it in others. And it makes us feel kind of creepy and even slimy when we see it in ourselves. It’s sin in it’s rawest form taking control of how we see ourselves and how we see others. I say it is in its rawest form because it is the very self-same sin of Adam and Eve. Grabbing the fruit was a grab for power and position. Satan said “Hey, you will be God if you eat this.” And so their sin was an attempt to be God.

We were designed to be the crown of God’s creation; the stars of the world. For only humankind was given the gift of being made in the image of God. But with the advent of sin, the image was shattered as humanity fell from its lofty position. And I think that inwardly we sense what we have lost: we feel bad; we feel like we don’t matter; we feel like maybe we should matter; so we strive and grapple and fight and claw for what scraps glory might be found on the earth.

Sinners compensating for the emptiness they feel inside with more sin. Not a good plan! For once you have made it to the top, you’ll discover that you’ve hurt a lot of people on the way. You’ll notice the absence of love in your life and you will discover that you are not king of the hill, but king of your own private little hell. Hell is a place without love and so your life will be if you walk on people to achieve glory.

Jesus came to earth not only to save us from our sins, but also to show us a different way. Its quite counterintuitive actually....it’s opposite of what you would expect. Listen to Jesus, speaking to his disciples about this new and different way. “ You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” Do you see how different this approach is? If you want to be great you don’t become great by being mean to people and disregarding people or thinking ill of people. You become great by becoming a servant of people! This is the the right way to do it!

And I’m guessing you’ve experienced how right it feels before, haven’t you? Let’s say you did something charitable for somebody....let’s say you helped someone stranded on the side of the road, let’s say you changed a tire, gave a lift, gave food to someone in need or some such thing. And in that moment of charity, instead of feeling awful and slimy inside, your heart felt good didn’t it? Do you know why? Because that’s how God intended us to be! That’s just a small sample of what life could be. Imagine if you could expand this to include not just that small area of your life which you refer to as “charity” but everything that you do! Instead of occasionally doing charity, you could be a charitable person. Could you imagine how good that would feel! You would not only feel great, but, according to Jesus, you would be on your way to being great. The path to greatness is becoming a servant of all.

After he said that, Jesus said “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.” He did this as a living example for us to see. What did he do? He gave his life up for us all. And what happened to him? He now sits on the throne! He is Lord of all! The path to greatness is through service. He showed us this by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

But this is not merely an example....but it’s an example and the means for us to follow it. Did you notice that word that Jesus used: “Ransom”. His life was a RANSOM for many. Ransom money is paid to kidnappers for the safe return of those who were kidnapped. We were kidnapped. Kidnapped by sin death and the devil. We have lived with our kidnappers for a long time. Many of their illicit and hard ways we have begun to adopt as our own. (They call that the stockholm syndrome I think) We feel awful inside when we notice we are behaving like our captors. We know something’s wrong. We know that there’s got to be something better. And there is. We’ve been ransomed. Jesus, in the ultimate act of service, as Luther said “Purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and the power of the devil.” By his blood shed for us, on the cross, Jesus claimed us as his own. All that is ugly and awful about us on the inside and the outsides has been forgiven. And we have now been set free. We are Free to be what God meant us to be. Free to expand our idea of “charity” to encompass or whole approach on life. The Love of Jesus has been given to us. We now can love others. We can start down that road to being truly Great. AMEN