Sermons for the Month
Living Life Upside Down
DATE: October 22nd, 2006-
SERVICE: 20th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Mark 10:35-45“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
Sometimes I think that Jesus chose the disciples with us in mind. He looked 2000 years into the future and thought, "It would be helpful if those people at Faith Lutheran Church in Fairlawn, Ohio could see themselves in the extreme." So, he selected particular people - like James and John - who would be mirrors of our behavior. After all, who among us has not longed to say, "Jesus, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you." We may shake our heads in amazement that these two disciples would be so bold, but in our heart of hearts we too have thought something close to those very words. Or, we have prayed it. As one commentator observed, "Is the emphasis of our prayers adoration and praise? Is it thanksgiving and confession? For most of us, prayer consists primarily of asking, 'Lord give me this and Lord give me that.' Our prayers are not so different from the requests of James and John." (1) OK, OK, you might be thinking, we'll admit that there are times when we can be like them. But at least we are not as dense as they seemed to be. As we've been reading through the Gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings the message has been clear. So far Jesus has predicted his impending death three times. After the first time Peter rebuked him, only to be rebuked in return, and the disciples were told that they must take up the cross and follow. After the second prediction they argued about who among them was the greatest and were taught that whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Then we come to the third prediction which is just before today's Gospel lesson. It is so clear. "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." (Mark 10:33-34) It seems as if those words are still hanging in the air when James and John ask for the highest places of honor in Jesus' kingdom. They are imaging Jesus as a king sitting at a table with his chief advisors at his right and left hands. They failed to hear Jesus. As far as they are concerned the journey to Jerusalem is a march of glory that will end with the city being restored to the Jews and Jesus assuming the Messianic throne. Are they ever dense! But, wait a minute; just as we want Jesus to do whatever we ask, we also struggle with hearing what we want to hear from Jesus, rather than listening to his words about cross-bearing. That's especially true since the "rules" for the Kingdom of God seem upside down when compared to what we view as normal. James and John certainly received a dose of reality when Jesus ask them, in essence, if they could bear to go through the terrible experience which he would face, being submerged in hatred, pain and death. As followers of Jesus we do not face such realities, but we are asked to live by different "upside down" rules. One writer summed it up in this way: " God won't honor the people who made the most money, but the people who gave the most of themselves. God doesn't admire takers, but givers. " God won't honor the people who wielded power, but people who loved their neighbors and helped those in need. " God won't reward the people with great talent, but people with great hearts.(2) And that's just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to becoming great by serving, or taking up the cross, or losing ones life, all of which Jesus asks us to do. The way that "translates" into reality for each one of us is different. Given the culture in which we live this concept is naturally a struggle for us; it's so counter-cultural and goes against the grain of human tendency. If we are brave, we could approach it by asking, "In what way do I most want to win, or to be viewed as great? And, what must I do to make that happen?" If you can look at that question honestly, then you may have found what Jesus is asking you to release so that you are free to respond to God's call in your life. Or, we could use an idea that Michael Sayre is presenting in the Sunday morning adult class. People want to be right, feel safe and look good, and make choices to make that happen, reacting in ways that will support those needs. To surrender looking good, being right and feeling safe is scary, but perhaps that's what Jesus had in mind when he talked about denying ourselves and losing our lives for his sake. I think that's what Kenneth L. Carder was getting at when he wrote, "Giving our lives…involves making ourselves available to others in response to the One who laid down his life for us. It is offering our total being - our hope and our despair, our doubts and our faith, our fear and our courage, our ambitions and our humility." (3) As we do so we respond in faith, trust God's overwhelming love for us, and live as transformed people who are a transforming force in the world. The alternative, I guess, is to continue a sometimes happy, but often futile, existence that looks the same as the way other people are living. Bishop William Willimon tells the story of someone who is a 100 percent atheist, an atheist in the same way that you or I are Christians or Lutherans. The person who became acquainted with her thought, when he first met her, now here is someone who lives her whole life, every minute, every day, without even a thought, not even a hint of God. He figured that she must be strange, different. But here's what he found out. "There's not a darn bit of difference between her and me. She isn't somebody strange; she is like your average, everyday commonsense American. Like me, she never wonders, 'What does God want me to do now?' Like me, she doesn't lose sleep expecting God to come down and so something about the world (and especially not through her). She just goes about her life, deciding on the basis of what's in her own best interest, what's practical what's possible. (And I would add what looks good, feels safe and make one right.) That 'godless' woman could pass for you or me anything." (4) And that's the problem, isn't it? As followers of Jesus we should not "pass for" those who are not believers. We may struggle, as John and James did, with being servants, with surrender, with summoning up faith and trust, but that's how Jesus calls us to live. We are freed to respond so that our lives have transforming power, not just for our sakde, but for the sake of many.
(1) Sermonwriter, Proper 24B (October 22), Mark 10:35-45, pg. 4, www.sermonwriter.com AMEN
(2) Same as above, pg. 9
(3) "The Call to Downward Mobility" by Kenneth L Carder, Christian Century, Oct. 8, 1997, p. 869, www.religion-online.org
(4) "On Being a Survivor" by William Willimon, Christian Century, Feb. 19, 1986, p.167, www.religion-online.org
Quotes:
. "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." (Mark 10:33-34) I think that's what Kenneth L. Carder was getting at when he wrote, "Giving our lives…involves making ourselves available to others in response to the One who laid down his life for us. It is offering our total being - our hope and our despair, our doubts and our faith, our fear and our courage, our ambitions and our humility." (3) "There's not a darn bit of difference between her and me. She isn't somebody strange; she is like your average, everyday commonsense American. Like me, she never wonders, 'What does God want me to do now?' Like me, she doesn't lose sleep expecting God to come down and so something about the world (and especially not through her). She just goes about her life, deciding on the basis of what's in her own best interest, what's practical what's possible. (And I would add what looks good, feels safe and make one right.) That 'godless' woman could pass for you or me anything." (4)