Pentecost 22, 2024
Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I spent a lot of time this week trying to think of a modern example that would be similar to what James and John are doing in today’s gospel reading. At some point, it occurred to me, coming up with a contemporary example is pointless.
We all know what James and John are doing. We’ve all done what James and John are doing! We do it all the time. We corner someone and ask for a favor, without first telling what the favor will be. “Hey, I wonder if you could give me hand with something.” Or children say, “Hey, Mom, I need your help with something.” Then, once we’ve got the person’s agreement to help us, we have the upper hand. “You said you would help me!” Yes, but you didn’t say that the “help” was to give you all the cookies! James and John are using their friendship with Jesus to get what they want. And if you’re anything like me, you have to admit, this is often how our prayer life looks: using our friendship with Jesus to get what we want . . . but that’s a story for another time.
Of course, there’s another side to what James and John are doing. They’re also playing a political game against their fellow disciples. By banding together and asking Jesus for the choice spots at his right and left, they’re trying to create a common-interest caucus, where all the good seats are locked up because they bring their political might to bear. It’s like a Sons of Zebedee political action committee, ZEB-PAC, and they’re lobbying for their own personal interests and advantage. This coalition of the James and the John has outmaneuvered the other disciples by being the first to ask for the key positions in the new government they think Jesus is setting up.
Meanwhile, the other disciples are now angry because they have been blind-sided by ZEB-PAC, since they either never thought of asking, or because they were too polite to try to demand a place of privilege. Whatever the reason, the other disciples are now mad at the Sons of Zebedee for moving in and taking all the good spots.
It’s easy to laugh at all this, and I think maybe we’re supposed to get some amusement at their expense. But at the same time, the tragic side of it all is certainly prominent. Because once again, the disciples don’t get it. Just a few verses before today’s reading, Jesus has told his disciples for a third time that he must be handed over to the authorities, and will be beaten, mocked, spit on, killed, and rise to new life.
He JUST said it! Like five seconds ago. And the next paragraph begins: then James and John came to Jesus and said . . . This is the third time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus tries to tell his disciples how the story is going to end, and it’s the third time the disciples completely misunderstand.
The first time Jesus tells them that he must be handed over to the authorities and be killed, Peter takes him aside and says “This cannot happen to you!” And do you remember what Jesus says? Jesus calls him Satan! Apparently Peter had the wrong answer. And then, in the next chapter, Jesus again tells the disciples that he will be betrayed and killed and rise again. And the disciples did not understand and were afraid to ask him, so they begin to argue about who is the greatest among them. Obviously, the disciples had the wrong idea.
And then, in the next chapter, Jesus tells the disciples a third time that he will be betrayed and killed and rise again three days later. And James and John start asking to be given good positions on his royal court. The disciples are not getting the picture here. They’re simply unable to understand that Jesus is not talking about taking over the earthly government. They can’t get it out of their heads that Jesus is supposed to overthrow the oppressive earthly rulers and set up the new system.
But in all three of these cases, where Jesus talks of his own death at the hands of the authorities, when the disciples get it wrong, Jesus points to something. The first time, when Peter tells Jesus to stop talking like a crazy man, and Jesus calls him Satan, Jesus points to the cross. The way forward, for Jesus, and anyone who wants to follow him, is to take up their cross and follow him.
The second time Jesus predicts his death, and the disciples argue about who is the greatest among them, Jesus points to a child. The way forward, for Jesus, and anyone who wants to follow him, is to become least among others, to be willing to be as a child.
And, today, the third time Jesus predicts his death, and the disciples start trying to call in favors for political power, Jesus points to baptism and the cup of suffering he must drink. He says to James and John, "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?" They reply, "We are able!” Wow. Talk about clueless, huh? It’s like they’re little kids with plastic helmets and light sabers reporting to the Army recruiting office. “Sons of Zebedee, armed and ready for duty, Sir!” I think if you and I were in Jesus’ position, we couldn’t help but laugh at these two.
But Jesus can see the gravity of the situation. Their ignorance and eagerness is to be pitied, not mocked. Jesus says to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.”
In some ways, these words can be interpreted as recognition of the persecution of the early church. Many of the disciples died in horrific ways. They did suffer death; they were handed over to the authorities to be mocked and beaten; there is a literal sense in which the words of Jesus were true for them. They drank the cup, and were baptized in the baptism, if we think of those words as metaphors for all that Jesus was to suffer.
Here in Massillon, you and I are not likely to be persecuted or killed for our faith. But there is another sense in which the disciples were baptized and drank the cup, and we share with them in that same baptism and cup. At Baptisms in the Episcopal Church, usually the priest sprinkles water on the baby’s head and we hope she doesn’t scream too loudly. Other churches, like most Baptist churches, have a huge hot tub behind the altar, and practice what is called “full immersion,” which is just what it sounds like.
As we profess in the Nicene Creed each week, there is one baptism. But there are many ways to get the deed done. And our method of sprinkling drops gets a bit disconnected from the full immersion in running water that the early church used. It’s still baptism in our little font, but we miss the powerful imagery of being drowned and brought back to life. We are baptized into the death of Jesus, as Paul says, and we rise to new life, just as Jesus does. You and I are baptized with the same baptism of Jesus, the same baptism of all the saints, the same baptism of James and John. Are you able to be baptized with the same baptism that Jesus is baptized with? Crazy as it seems, the answer is yes. You and I stand at the recruiting office with our own plastic helmets and light sabers saying, “Reporting for duty, Sir!”
And what of the cup? Are we able to drink of the cup? Here again, I think we might get distracted by the subtlety of our current method. We think of gulping down a cup of suffering. Grabbing the goblet with both hands, holding our breath, and forcing the stuff down in a show of devotion to Jesus.
But that is not how it goes for us. Instead, you and I come week by week, month by month, year by year, to this altar. We take little sips, drops in fact, of the cup that Jesus offers to us. Over a lifetime, we drink this cup of suffering, because it is also the cup of life, the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. One small sip at a time, over the course of a lifetime, we do indeed drink the cup. And we find it to be the source of life, the way forward. Like the disciples, we do not understand what Jesus is telling us about his mission of salvation, but we can look to the things he is pointing at.
The cross. The child-like life of service. And the baptism and cup.
And eventually, if we look where Jesus is pointing, we find him pointing at himself. The way of salvation, whether or not we are ready, whether or not we feel worthy, and whether or not we understand. You are baptized with the baptism of Jesus, and we do indeed drink from the cup of salvation. We are the disciples of Jesus. We are the friends of Jesus. We are his siblings, all of us sitting at his right and left, as we gather around the table with him, along with the saints of every time and every place.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment