Pentecost 22B – Confirmation Sunday
October 20, 2024
Mark 10:35-45
INTRODUCTION
For the past few weeks, we have been following Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem – a journey which he knows, and we know, will culminate with suffering and death on the cross. All along this journey, Jesus has been offering some very difficult teachings, to which we have been privy over the past month or so of Sundays. Teachings like, sell everything you own and give it to the poor, and cut off your limbs if they cause you to stumble, and be prepared to leave everything, even your families, and some tough teachings on divorce. Week after week, we’ve been squirming in our seats! Week after week we have been confronted with how difficult it is to be a disciple of Christ!
This week is no exception. Directly before this passage, Jesus has predicted his suffering and death on the cross for a third time, and then we will see James and John respond by completely missing the point (for the third time), and asking Jesus if they can sit by his side in his glory. Little do they know what they are asking! And so Jesus will put them in their place, telling them that his glory looks a lot less like what the world says power is, and a lot more like serving others.
All of our readings today show us something about what discipleship looks like – like trusting in the creator of the universe, in Job, and in Romans, like living into the arch of death to life into which we were baptized. As you listen, consider what aspects of discipleship are most difficult for you. Let’s listen.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Last weekend, my husband and I saw the new movie called, The Apprentice. It is about a young Donald Trump, beginning on the day he meets Roy Cohn, the famously cut-throat lawyer willing to do whatever it takes to win, and who played a significant role in making Trump into the man he is. Cohn takes him under his wing, and teaches him the three rules of success: 1) Attack, attack, attack. 2) Admit nothing, deny everything, and 3) Never admit defeat. The rest of the movie shows the young protégé trying (and sometimes failing) to embrace and live into these guidelines, and ultimately becoming, by the end of the movie, the New York City real estate mogul we knew long before he entered politics.
Now, I know movies take artistic license and sometimes sensationalize things for effect. But from everything I have read about this film, the depiction of Roy Cohn is spot on. Cohn would do anything to win, to gain power.
I have been mulling this over ever since. Honestly, this approach sounds consistent to what I have observed among those in power or who want power, whether in business or politics or even in personal relationships: we so often default to believing that power looks like strength or forcefulness, like being right, like not backing down, like winning, and so if you want to be in power, you should do everything you can to put that image forth into the world.
Of course, this perception of power did not originate with Roy Cohn – this is also how it was in ancient Rome. The Roman Empire understood greatness in terms of brute force and tyranny. To be powerful was to sit in a seat of honor, near to someone else who was in power. So it is no surprise, I suppose, that this is what James and John ask of Jesus in our Gospel reading today. “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you,” they begin, already asserting themselves as powerful people who can demand what they want and expect to receive it. Jesus humors them. “And what is it that you want?” he asks. They answer, “Say that we can sit at your right hand and your left, in your glory.” In other words, “We know that you are powerful, and we want to be associated with you and your power in a very visual and obvious way, so that we, too, would be viewed as powerful.” Jesus tells them what this will entail – drinking of his same cup (the very same one he prays would pass from him in the Garden on the night of his betrayal), being baptized with his baptism. “Are you able?” he asks. “Yup,” they respond. “We are able,” stating again for the jury that they believe themselves to be Powerful People.
Now, I want to give these guys the benefit of the doubt here. Perhaps they want that power because they want to use it for good! They must know by now that Jesus’ way is a way of love, and they want to have the power to bring that love to more people. Right? Well even so, they have gone about it all wrong. Because that, Jesus tells them, is not what power looks like in his way of life. Sure, they can be baptized with his baptism, and drink from his cup, but it is not going to look like the power of the Romans, like the power of those who would come by that power through force and craftiness and insistence on their own way and their own rightness. That is not the way of Jesus.
Jesus sees how important it is to get this message through not only to James and John, but to all the disciples. So he calls them all together and explains: “You know that among the Gentiles (that is, the Romans), those whom they recognize as rulers lord it over them, throwing their weight around. Their rulers are tyrants! But that’s not what we’re doing here. Power and glory look different for us. Whoever wishes to become great must become a servant to the others, and whoever wishes to be the top dog among you must be slave of all. That’s what the Son of Man came to do: not to be served by a bunch of people he considers less powerful and glorious than himself. No, he came to serve others; indeed, to give his life for them.”
Oof, this is so counter to what they think of as greatness and power! And it is so different from what we often think of as greatness today. Greatness and power, we think, come from being in control, not giving up control, not being subservient. Greatness and power come from being self-sufficient, and assertive, and not having to rely on anyone other than ourselves and our wits. Power is found in those words James and John say to Jesus with such conviction: “We are able.”
But that’s not the way of Jesus. That’s not to say we can’t be capable if we are Christians – of course we can. Jesus is not calling us to be helpless, incapable doormats. He is calling us to be servants, willing to put ourselves, and our own best interests aside for the sake of the other. He is calling us to love, even if loving someone puts us in harm’s way, even if it doesn’t move us up a rung on the ladder or result in a larger paycheck or a bigger tax break. Sometimes, he is calling us to use whatever power we may have due to our position or station in life, to the benefit of those less privileged, those whose voice is not always listened to or taken seriously. In short, he is calling us to serve and to love.
Our combined children and adult choir will sing in a moment a setting of a lovely hymn called “Will You Let Me Be Your Servant.” Throughout the hymn, servanthood is defined in some less obvious ways: walking together to bear the load, weeping and laughing together, sharing joy and sorrow, speaking words of peace. The first and last verses speak to mutual servanthood: “Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you? Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.” Because that is another part of power, isn’t it – to admit that we need one another, that sometimes we need to be served, to be helped, because though we may prefer to say, “We are able!” the truth is, we are not, always. And there is great power in acknowledging that.
Today four young men who have completed their confirmation studies, will affirm their faith, and the promises made at their baptism. In preparation for this day, I spent some time talking with them about what it means to be an adult in the Church. Well, my friends, this is a part of what it means: it means selflessly giving what you have to give for the sake of the other – whether that means financial giving, or giving of time and talents, or best of all, all three, since they all serve different purposes both for our own spiritual growth and for service of the world! It means a willingness to serve, and also to be served, because being the Church means we hold each other up, so that when I am strong, I help you, and when you are strong and I need help, you are there for me. And there is real power in that. That is the sort of community of love that Jesus preached and calls us to. It is not all lollypops and sunshine, living a life of faith. It can be very hard – sometimes it leads to the cross. But always it leads to new life. That was promised to us in our baptism, when we were baptized into a death like Jesus’, we were also baptized into a resurrection, a life like his, a life that lasts well beyond our time on earth.
As Chris, Landon, Jackson, and Derek are confirmed today, I hope you will use this as an opportunity to pray for them, as they commit to this life of love and servanthood. But also use it to pray for one another. Lord knows we all need it. Pray that we would be renewed in our baptismal call to love and serve one another selflessly, considering the needs of the weak and sick and vulnerable in all that we do. And pray that we would always know that the life of faith, though difficult, never stops at the cross, but also continues into the new life promised to us in our baptism.
Let us pray… Glorious God, we can sometimes be a bit full of ourselves and our own abilities. Change our hearts, so that instead we are full of you – so full of you that we are compelled to serve others in your name, and let them serve us, so that we all might experience a glimpse of your kingdom, and the new life you offer. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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