I know now how wrong he was, but
along the way I learned that this is also the logic of bullies of all ages.
Ridicule the weak and vulnerable. Stigmatize them. Tell others not to waste
their time hanging out with losers, but instead join the bullies in their sham
fellowship of viciousness and false superiority.
Of course, it isn’t just kids on
the playground who do this. Office, family, and civil politics is filled with
this kind of behavior.
We all love to be associated with
success. Around here, I’ve learned that we live in “Champa Bay.” But notice how
we stopped talking about the amazing 100 games won by the Rays. Why? Because
they did not make it through the playoffs! By this calculus, and for most
people, the most remarkable record in baseball means exactly “zip.”
We are intrigued by successful. We
study the secrets of highly successful people. The tabloids in the supermarket
aisle talk about the successes and scandals of the rich and famous. In politics,
we love to back a winner to the point that the news covers politics in much the
same way the sport pages cover those teams.
Human beings are always trying to
move up on the scale of importance. And we are told from an early age that no
one really remembers the runners-up and that if we will only feel fulfilled if
we are successful, if we are winners. That’s who are valuable, important, and powerful.
Alas, people of faith are not
immune. If one wanted to, one could read church history like a comic book where
super-heroes (or super-reformers) do battle with super-baddies who want to hold
the church back. But this is not how God’s kingdom unfolds; in fact, God’s way in
the world is quite the opposite.
In today’s Gospel, two of Jesus’ closest
followers, James and John, thought they were backing a winner. They thought
that they were on God’s inside track, because they had been following Jesus
since way back in Galilee.
So, one day, James and John come
to Jesus with a request. I love how they approach him. They think that they so
clever when they say, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask,” as
if they could box Jesus in. It’s like they’re children going to their mother
and saying, “I want you to promise to do whatever we ask you to do before we
tell you what it is. You’ve got to promise first. You’ve got to swear you’ll do
it.” It’s a sure-fire signal that someone is up to something.
But Jesus cuts through their
baloney when he just nods his head and says “uh huh” and asks “What is it that
you want me to do for you?” Just get to the point, boys, what do you want?
With an amazing lack of shame, James
and John ask Jesus “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your
left, in your glory.”
Ah. There it is. Naked ambition. James
and John see Jesus destined for glory, and for them, that means power. They imagine
Jesus as a powerful ruler, maybe someone who is going to crack some heads and
take names, snatching power from the Roman Empire itself. They see Jesus as a
powerful warrior King, seated upon a throne of glory, with his attendants seated
beside him. James and John are asking Jesus to promise that when he becomes a
powerful king that he will remember them and give them a couple of choice
positions in his court. To them, Jesus is a winner, someone on the way up in
the world, and they want to go along for the ride and get a couple of choice positions
of power and prestige in their imagined Kingdom of God.
Even though they left family and
profession to follow Jesus, they just did not get it.
Jesus tells them, “You do not know
what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink, or be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with?” Basically, Jesus is saying that his
disciples do not have the first clue as to who he is or what his whole mission
is about. Jesus did not come to crack heads, take names, and take power. His power
was not like the power that earthly rulers used.
No, the cup he drinks is the cup
of suffering; the cup of his blood poured out for others.
The baptism with which Jesus is
baptized is his passion and death.
Basically, when Jesus talks about
his cup and his baptism he is talking about his cross. Jesus’ enthronement, his
earthly throne, will be the cross. So, of course James and John don’t really
know what they are asking for when they request to be on Jesus’ left hand and
his right hand.
Remember who in fact will be on
Jesus’ right and left at his crucifixion? Yup, two thieves. And only one of
them got what was going on. So how could James and John possibly imagine the enormity
of that being on his left and his right in glory really mean?
Jesus comes by it naturally.
Remember the song his mother Mary sang? “He will cast down the mighty from their
thrones… he will lift up the lowly and the rich will be sent empty away.”
So they (and we) are not following
a king into a castle, but we are following Jesus the Messiah and Savior to his
cross. This is not backing a winner, at least by the standards of the world, because
by that measure James and John are hanging out with a loser.
Christ is showing his disciples
that true greatness is not found in climbing to the top and exercising power
over others; but, true greatness, true leadership is found in self-emptying, and
in self-giving love. Unlike worldly rulers who lord it over others, Jesus tells
his disciples, “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of
all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give
his life a ransom for many.”
A few years ago, I read a book and
saw a TED talk given by Simon Sinek, who is one my favorite people who thinks
about leadership and groups. In his book “Leaders Eat Last,” he tells this story about Captain William
Swenson who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his
actions on September 8, 2009:
On that day, a column of
American and Afghan troops were making their way through a part
of Afghanistan to help protect a group of Afghan government
officials, who would be meeting with some local village
elders. The column came under ambush, and was surrounded on three
sides, and amongst many other things, Captain Swenson was
recognized for running into live fire to rescue the wounded and
pull out the dead. One of the people he rescued was a sergeant, and
he and a comrade were making their way to a medevac helicopter.
And what was remarkable about this
day is, by sheer coincidence, one of the medevac medics happened
to have a GoPro camera on his helmet and captured the whole scene on
camera. It shows Captain Swenson and his comrade bringing this
wounded soldier who had received a gunshot to the neck. They put him
in the helicopter, and then you see Captain Swenson bend over and
give him a kiss before he turns around to rescue more. Sinek asks the
question:
“…where do people like that come
from? What is that? That is some deep, deep emotion, when you would
want to do that. There's a love there, and I wanted to know
why…? You know, in the military, they give medals to people who are
willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. In business,
we give bonuses to people who are willing to sacrifice others so that we
may gain.”
So, Sinek asked those in military
service, "Why would you do it? Why did you do it?" They all
say the same thing: "Because they would have done it for me."
This jives with my experience of every educator, nurse, EMT, firefighter, and
cop that I have ever ministered to as a chaplain. It also jives with my
experience as a parish priest in ordinary extraordinary communities just like
this.
The challenge is that this deep
sense of trust and cooperation are feelings, not instructions. As Sinek
says, “I can't simply say to you, ‘Trust me,’ and you will. I can't simply
instruct two people to cooperate, and they will. It's not how it works. It's a
feeling.” Sinek’s observation points to what is at the core of what we are
doing here today: because at the heart of Christian leadership is servanthood.
In the Gospel today, Jesus spells out
of what the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
means for his disciples and we, his baptized people. Jesus really isn’t
interested in the ways of worldly rulers but is actually more concerned about
how his followers imitate the behavior of the world in the community of his
followers. So the sting of Jesus’ words and the shock of recognition that James
and John felt is surely also be felt by us, especially those of us in lay and
ordained leadership, and all the baptized who are called to take up their crosses
and follow Jesus.
At a time when the Church as we have always known is struggling, instead of trying to be “number one,” or falling back on rosy nostalgia, we are called to sling our towels over our shoulders and do the work of servants, following the example of the One who came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Bulletin for Sunday service found here.
Link to Sunday service found at St. John's Clearwater FL website here.
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