Sermon

Sunday 20th October 2024

A Sermon given by The Reverend Dr Jeffrey Lake Mark 10:35-45

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognise as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Today’s Gospel reading, and particularly James and John’s requests remind me of popular discourse about belief in God which very often can focus on some blessing granted or withheld. I have in mind, and I’m sure you’ll have heard similar, of someone who reports that fearing for themselves or a loved one they prayed to God for deliverance. For some, such an incident proves to be pivotal in their experience of faith be that as a result of prayers answered or indeed not.

Whilst we may experience decisive incidents of this nature, the life of prayer – by that I mean day to day efforts at communion with the divine is much more like a relationship than it is a transaction. As we mature in the faith we come to recognise that we can easily use prayer for the assertion of immediate personal desires – I recall a fellow ordinand that I trained for ministry with who lamented this tendency in what he referred to, rather scathingly, as the prayer of the parking space. It is helpful I think when we put aside immediate desires recognising that these are rather unreliable guides, indeed often distractions from, God’s intended purposes and blessings in our lives. The scripture makes clear that God does not promise to take away all our hardships in this world but he does promise to be with us in all our trials. Through his loving presence in our lives, we may find everything we need, strength, wisdom, courage and love.

It's a great blessing in life if we can learn to want that which we need in life but that can be very difficult for us to recognise and so it was for James and John. Despite Jesus’ anticipation of his suffering and death on three occasions already, they can’t see beyond what they continue to imagine as a triumphant victory with themselves sitting in positions of honour and power at King Jesus’ right and left.

In reply Jesus asks if they can drink the same cup of suffering and death he must drink? Can they be baptised with the same baptism Jesus is to endure? Important to recognise here that Mark’s audience would likely understand baptism in the same way that Paul did when he wrote to the Romans of being baptized into Christ Jesus’ death. Still not getting it though, James and John insist that they can. Commentaries sometimes suggest that Jesus must have been an exasperating exchange but I imagine a sadness as Jesus foresees his disciples will indeed share in his baptism. By the time that Mark’s Gospel is written, James had been killed by Herod Agrippa I in 44 C.E. for his role as a leader in the Jerusalem church. The fate of John is uncertain.

James and John imagined something along the lines of being with Jesus in glory like Moses and Elijah were at the Transfiguration but in Mark, the only ones to be at Jesus’ left and right will be the bandits crucified with him when he is “enthroned” as “The King of the Jews. Jesus explains that positions of honour are not his to give and predictably when the other disciples hear of it a dispute follows reminiscent of their arguing over which of them is the greatest. Jesus explains that the dominion of God is different from those of the world. Referring to those who are regarded as rulers in the pagan world of the Roman Empire he says that they “lord it over” their subjects. They exercise authority as tyrants, in contrast to the restorative authority where the first are required to make themselves last, the servant of all. He goes further to perhaps land the significance saying that to be first is to be a slave of all. Slaves were at the bottom of the social ladder, and there was no honour or reward in working for others as a slave. In the letter to the Philippians we read that Jesus took the form of a slave and was obedient to the point of death on the cross thereby providing the ransom that frees us who were slaves of this world and captive to death.

All glory be to him now and to the ages of ages.

Amen.