Realigning
Ourselves
Keith
McFarren
October
20, 2024
Mark
10:35-45
    Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, the Archbishop
of Chicago, remembered that many years ago, when he was installed as an
archbishop in the Catholic Church, his mother told him, “When you walk down the
aisle at your installation service, try not to look too pleased with
yourself.”  
    That same thought came to mind last Sunday
morning when Karen and I went to First United Methodist Church in South Bend to
meet our new Bishop, Bishop Tracy Malone and listen to her preach.  In my mind, she had every right to be pleased
with herself.  Among many of her
accomplishments, including many roles of leadership, she is a black woman who was
elected to the position of Bishop in the United Methodist Church…and at the
same time, she is the first woman of any color to hold the office of Bishop in
the Indiana Conference.  That, is quite a
resume.
    But as I watched how she handled herself
during her introduction and during the worship service and during her sermon
and even as we spoke to her after the service, I could tell she was a woman whose
life wasn’t focused on her prestige, or her power or all her
accomplishments.  
    The world around us is prone to counting
success by who we know and what we have and all that we have accomplished.  After being around our new Bishop for a
while, and listening to her preach about loving all people and caring for all
people, and asking what we as a church are doing to take care of the
marginalized, those who find themselves on the outside looking in, I believe that
she is a woman whose life is focused not on stuff or pride or power, but on
making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; Bishop
Malone is a woman of grace, a woman of compassion and a woman of humility…a
woman that I believe we could all model ourselves after.
    All this concern for others stands in
great contrast to James and John, the two guys in our scripture reading this
morning, whom, I would hope, none of us sitting here this morning would want to
admit we have anything in common with these two guys who openly admit that they
strive to live the type of life that seeks power and notoriety.      
    They were on their way to Jerusalem when
all of this happened.  Just prior to James
and John asking for a special favor, Jesus told his disciples what was waiting
for him when they got there.  Jesus told
them that when they got to Jerusalem, he would be betrayed to the religious
leaders and put on trial and he would be sentenced to die.  And the people would mock him and spit on him
and flog him and kill him…but after three days he would rise again.
    But unfortunately, the disciples didn’t
hear what he was saying…or maybe we should say they heard only what they wanted
to hear.  They believed that Jesus was
the Messiah, but they thought the Messiah would be a revolutionary hero and
like Superman or Batman he would overcome everything that came at him and
everything would be fine and dandy when Jesus used his super powers to overcome
the evil Roman government.
    So, it sounds strange that after Jesus
talks about being spit on and tried and flogged and killed, that James and John
would come to him and say, “We’ve been following you for a long time and we’ve
gone out of our way to do what you want us to do…so we want you to do us a big
favor. Give us the best seats in the house.
Give us seats two and three when your kingdom comes into power.”
    It used to be that when you traveled on
the Toll Road, you would have to stop and pay a toll every so often.  Toss your change into a hopper or pay the
person if you didn’t have the correct change.

    Nowadays you can purchase a transponder, called
an EZ-pass or I-Pass (?).  This allows
you to zip through the toll booths without having to stop to pay your
toll.  Instead of paying cash, and
getting receipts, a prepaid microchip is placed on your windshield that
contains your name and address and car type etc.
    The data on your microchip pass is read by
an electronic scanner as your car passes through the toll gate and you are sent
a monthly statement showing the total amount for all your fees.  It’s a lot like a debit card, only a lot quicker
and a whole lot easier.
    That’s what we’re looking for isn’t
it?  The easy way out. The quick
way.  Everybody wants the easy way to get
to the front of the line.  Everybody
wants a quick way to glory.  Everybody
wants a fast track to success…including James and John, who want front row
seats, seats two and three, in the Kingdom of God.
    Put yourself in their shoes for a minute
and see if you can identify with their pride and their self-centeredness.  Afterall, these guys gave up everything to
follow this unknown guy named Jesus.  They
were in on the ground floor.  They
followed Jesus when nobody knew him.
They followed Jesus before he started performing his miracles…and now
that he was popular, James and John were feeling pretty good about themselves
because they were his best friends and they knew Jesus better than everyone
else.  So, with all his popularity, we
can understand why the two of them came to Jesus with their request.  They wanted to be there when all the good
stuff started happening…when their best buddy eventually took power.
   But notice that they did all this on the
sly.  Maybe they did all when the other
disciples were out picking berries or collecting firewood or looking for a good
place to spend the night.  Whatever was
going on, we’re told that when the other disciples found out that James and
John were kissing up to Jesus for the best seats in the house, they weren’t
very happy about it, which leads us to believe that it’s an ugly, pressure
packed moment for James and John and the other disciples.
    Except Jesus doesn’t take it that way.  He has other ideas about getting into the
Kingdom of God.  Jesus, if you will
remember, once said that he and his kingdom were like a narrow gate.  “Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).  
    There’s no quick, easy way into the
Kingdom of God.  There is no shortcut.  There are no favors.  It doesn’t matter who you know, where you
come from or how much you have.  There is
no EZ-Pass to God’s Kingdom.  
    It’s about giving ourselves to Jesus.  It’s about having the heart and mind of Jesus
and being willing to die within ourselves so that we might become more like him…and
in doing so we find both eternal life here on earth and eternal life in heaven.
    James and John said they were willing to
face any trial for Jesus.  And we’ve got
to give them a lot of credit.  Both
did…and both suffered.  James died as a
martyr (Acts 12:2) and John was forced to live a life in exile on the island of
Patmos because he refused to stop preaching the Good News of the Gospel
(Revelation 1:9).
    We may not face persecution for our faith
like the early Christians did, but even with the freedom we have today very few
of us have the courage to stand up and share God’s word with others.  Which should cause us to wonder…if we
hesitate to share our faith with others during easy times, how will we do
during the difficult times?
   All of which reminds me of the song we’ve
sang many times here on Sunday.  “Are ye
able,” said the Master, “to be crucified with me?” “Yea,” the sturdy dreamers
answered, “to the death we follow thee.”
Lord, we are able.  Our spirits
are thine.  Remold them, make us,
like thee, divine (Are Ye Able, UMH #530).  Do you pay attention to the songs that we
sing?  Do the words have any
meaning?  Do you pay attention to the
words and then try to apply them to the way you live your life?  
    James and John aren’t the only ones who
want to put themselves up on a pedestal with Jesus.  It has become a cultural blindness for many
people.  That’s because we’re surrounded by
a world that tells us to dream big and reach for the stars…and do whatever it
takes to reach to reach your goals.  
    In and of itself, it’s not a bad thing to
do, but it also leads to finding or creating shortcuts that often end up
causing harm to ourselves or to others.
That, is why Paul was often so big in stressing humility in all of the
New Testament letters that he wrote because he knew of the damage self – contained
pride and ambition could do.
    When the other disciples found out how
James and John went behind their backs to trying to get into Jesus’ good graces
and things were about to get out of control, Jesus took charge of the situation
and used it as a teaching experience with a lesson on what it means to be a
real leader.
    He says that we can look around the world
we live in and see all kinds of power and authority and there are many, many
different ways of showing it.  But that’s
not how we function in God’s kingdom.
That’s not the model God’s children are to follow.  Take a good look at me and the way I live my
life, Jesus says, and you will see the way to ultimately show and to use your power
and authority…and you will find your way through the narrow gate.
    Jesus’ purpose here on earth can’t be
expressed by the passive voice of “being served.”  His purpose here on earth can only be
expressed by the active voice “to serve.”
For the Christian, for the person who professes to follow the ways of
Jesus, our greatest achievement in life is to get ourselves out of the passive
voice and into the active voice…to go from “being served” to “serving others.”  
    “That,” George Buttrick writes, “is the great
divide which some people never cross.”
“We all begin in the passive voice.
We are acted upon before we act.
We are loved before we love.  We
are served [in countless ways] before we serve.
Yet life’s most significant graduation day comes only when we graduate
into the active voice; [when we go from being served to serving others].  And so few of us ever do.”
    “The aim of the ‘great one’s’ the ones
Jesus repudiated, was to keep themselves in the passive voice, to be waited
upon, forever on the receiving end, and never on the giving end.  That is the surest way to miss life and life’s
largest possibilities.  Only when we go
from the passive voice to the active voice do we touch life’s highest glory and
receive life’s greatest joy” [Only when we go from the passive voice to the
active voice do we enter into the kingdom of God through the narrow gate and
find our due reward] (George Buttrick, editor, The Interpreter’s Bible, The
Gospel of Mark, Vol. VII, Nashville, TN; Abingdon Cokesbury Press, 1951, 817).  
    We do it by setting ourselves aside.  We do it by serving.  Not serving so that we can climb a ladder to
reach a specific goal or to place ourselves high upon a pedestal.  We serve to serve others…the exact way Jesus
served us…even if it’s to the point of giving our lives away.
    Serving others isn’t meant to be some type
of strategy.  It isn’t used as a means of
getting to the top.  It isn’t used as a
means of achieving a personal goal.
Serving others is a way of being…it’s a way of living.  Serving others is a part of our everyday
life.
    We realign ourselves as individuals.  We realign ourselves as a church.  We realign ourselves toward service with one
another; we realign ourselves toward service with our community and we realign
ourselves toward service with the world around us.          
    This is a partnership with one another;
it’s a partnership as a church, and it’s a partnership with God.  It is a service that will be sustainable
because we do it together.
   James and John wanted the highest position
in God’s kingdom.  But Jesus, and Bishop
Malone in her sermon last Sunday, said that true greatness comes not in pride
and power and authority, but in serving others with grace and compassion and
humility.  
    Businesses, organizations, institutions
and people all over the world measure greatness and success by personal
achievement.  But in the Kingdom of God,
service to others is the only way to get ahead.
The desire to be on top will never help us…the desire to be on top will
only hinder us.  Rather than seeking ways
to have your needs met, look instead, for ways that you can meet the needs of
others.