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Lording
It Over Them First
Reading: Isaiah 53:4-12 There were two brothers, sons of Zebedee. They were partners with their father in his fishing operation on the Sea of Galilee. James and John were also sometimes called, by Jesus, Boanerges, Sons of Thunder. One day Jesus the Rabbi walked by as they were mending their nets, and said, “Follow me,” and they left their father, everything they owned, and followed Jesus. They began to travel with Jesus up and down the length of Israel. "Whoever wishes to become great among you, must be your servant/slave, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all." That's how Jesus responded when James and John asked Jesus to grant them whatever they asked of him. They asked "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." (Mark 10:35-45) This exchange highlights the politics of Jesus and the politics in the time and place around Jesus: Jesus did everything he could, including dying, to bring everyone to join in God's unending, complete love for all, especially the lowest of the low. The brothers Zebedee thought they knew plenty. They had seen Herod the Great build the seaport Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean. They had witnessed throughout Galilee and Judea the rapid Romanizing of the kingdom of Herod Antipas, Herod's son. On a deserted stretch on the West shore of the Sea of Galilee where they’d often fished, they’d seen Herod’s laborers build an entirely new city, called Tiberius in honor of the newly installed emperor. Herod Antipas had also expanded the town of Sepphoris, near Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Galilee had never seen any construction of this size or pretentious-ness. The rural Jewish backwater area of Galilee had only small family farms and villages. The peasant farmers grew a number of crops with which they supported themselves. In order to support his massive rural development programs, Herod declared that the small farms would be bound together, families displaced, and large farming co-ops would produce a select few crops for export. They thus filled Herod’s and Tiberius’ coffers, and making the peasants even poorer, and depleted the land by forcing over-production. In this context of unheard-of change and increasing poverty, John and James asked for preferential treatment in the kingdom to come. "We are able," they replied brashly when Jesus asked them if they could manage his cup and baptism. They could quote the words he taught. They had witnessed his miracles. They had heard the sound of his voice, seen the light of his eyes, seen his face do whatever his face did when he saw human suffering. They knew his touch. If they were at all perceptive, they knew his personality, the way he processed ideas, his sense of himself as a Jew. What we know of Jesus doesn't come close to what James and John knew. Yet they didn't begin to know enough. They had no idea what joining Jesus would do to them. They didn’t get it, the kingdom’s rewards weren’t in the by and by, they came right now, bringing God’s ways to earth. In the literature and stories of the Jews in decades prior to Jesus' birth appeared many prophecies, many figures of the expected messiah. One was a warrior/king with sword issuing from his mouth who would restore the grand days of Israel. Another looked-for messiah was a judge enforcing God's law on all the Jews who had wandered from true faith in God. Another was a just king/"prince of peace" who would rule with equity all the peoples of the world, drawing all to worship the true God in Jerusalem. The most unlikely messiah, anticipated by the smallest minority, comes forward in the lesson from Isaiah today. This Messiah is all the covenant people together serving as messiah for the world. Jesus didn't match any of the projections about messiah. Jesus overturned and subverted the expectations God's people had. For Jesus, greatness is willing slavery with fellow disciples. Slavery to the world's lost and despised people. (The word in the Greek for servant and slave is the same--the context suggesting which work meaning to choose.) For Jesus, faith means drinking the cup of sacrifice. Disciples must together submit (like servants) to humiliation. For Jesus, the people who worship God must give up to God the option for exaltation. Disciples can't count on being celebrated and respected. When Jesus said to the disciples, “You know that among the Foreigners [a better translation than Gentiles here], those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” Jesus possibly refers to King Herod’s forced labor efforts in the new towns the disciples passed through. The grand cities springing up during Jesus’ public ministry in the sleepy little Jewish regions were built on the backs of, and by the taxes on the peasant poor. When they heard Jesus compare John and James’ desire for greatness to the oppressors of the very people Jesus healed, taught and cared for daily, the disciples knew the differences. How different the Jesus way is from the rulers’ norm. How different now is the Jesus way from the church's norm. We church people often set ourselves apart, making worship our only activity. We allow our city to build grand arenas while our public school funding supports fewer and fewer schools that meet state standards. We install lotteries to take up the slack in an outdated system of state funding, again siphoning scarce dollars from the poorest in our communities, seduced by the lure of great treasures that will never be theirs. Our exalted church rulers jet set around the globe, conspiring about power and exclusion/inclusion politics while the displaced folk all around us suffer. Jesus did everything he could to make his followers set ourselves within our communities as servants of all. Jesus wanted no inclusion/exclusion questions--he welcomed all who came to him. All were 'in', and shared alike in God's love. Jesus told how God takes particular pleasure from folk who "make church" by being close to those others pass by. (The word for 'church' in the Greek, ekklesia, means "being called out together.") Jesus made few promises. The promise in the gospel today is this: "You who follow me will drink the cup I drink, shared alike by all.” You and I are all too familiar with, and probably tired of, the politics of today: Cater to everyone with power, with suasion, and everyone who is undecided. The politics of Jesus means deciding to be willing slaves for the whole culture, nourishing justice in all our relationships. Bennett Sims says in his book Servanthood: "Jesus never coerces. Instead it is his concise insistence by word and deed that greatness lies in giving--superiority is embodied in serving." Bishop Daniel Corrigan years ago suggested adding one more to the four dismissals at the end of the Eucharist: "Get up, get out, and get lost in the world." We serve by caring: caring for the one who gropes not for answers but for working solutions; for the one who needs fair wages, respect for his family, and a safe neighborhood. We serve by persuading: tell your next door neighbor that you know about a place at Second and Adams where she can get loved until she can discover how to love herself; let her 'in' to the servant community called out to be 'church.' We serve by insisting on God’s justice in our community. Stand up for God’s good news of equality and love across our city and county. That's how servanthood can work for us. It's what Jesus intends. Copyright 2003 Calvary Episcopal Church First
Reading: Isaiah 53:4-12 Gospel:
Mark
10:35-45 |
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