The Gospel isn’t meant to be gulped down on Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us. You’ve got to work at it, like a dog with a good bone! Here’s the Gospel for this coming Sunday — the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost — with food for thought about praying to be used not for our glory, but for God’s. Gnaw away!

Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost – Mark 10:35-45

Zebedee’s children James and John approached Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to grant our request.”

“What is it?” Jesus asked.

They replied, “See to it that we sit next to you, one at your right and one at your left, when you come into your glory.”

Jesus told them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I will drink or be baptized in the same baptism as I?”

“We can,” they replied. Jesus said in response, “From the cup I drink of, you will drink; the baptism I am immersed in, you will share. But as for sitting at my right or my left, that is not mine to give; it is for those to whom it has been reserved.”

The other ten, on hearing this, became indignant at James and John.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know how among the Gentiles those who exercise authority are domineering and arrogant; those ‘great ones’ know how to make their own importance felt. But it can’t be like that with you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. The Promised One has come not to be served, but to serve – to give one life in ransom for the many.”

The Backstory – What’s Going On Here?

Between last Sunday’s reading and this, we skip over an important piece — Jesus’ third prediction of his passion. He takes the twelve aside and is graphically specific about where they are going and what is to happen to him (“they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”)

It is easy to conflate this passage with the one that follows Jesus’ second passion prediction ([1]Mark 9:30-32), when Jesus confronts the disciples about arguing on the road about who is the greatest, because both passages say whomever must be first must be last and servant of all. But this passage is different.

First off, it is James and John who come forward to him with this bold request of “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Remember, James and John — along with Peter — had a special relationship with Jesus. They were the disciples present at the Transfiguration. They had seen Christ with Moses and Elijah and heard the voice of God saying “This is my Son, my beloved, listen to him.” Having seen Jesus in his glory and having heard now three times his passion predicted, including just seconds before, there is no reason to believe James and John are making a bold and open-eyed commitment to follow Christ to the cross and not being foolish and ignorant — after all they answer Jesus’ question of “are you sure” with “we are able.”

But where Jesus brings them up short is on their use of power. They believe their special relationship with and knowledge of Jesus means they can use him to acquire more power for themselves. Jesus brings the rest of the disciples around and turns that whole relationship on its head. Even though the model of the world is using power coercively to get what you want, the model of Christ is giving power away.

A few things to chew on:

*One of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s greatest sermons was preached on this text at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on February 4, 1968. It’s called “The Drum Major Instinct” about the tension between the quest for recognition and the call to serve. [2]You can click here and not only read it but listen to Dr. King give the entire speech. It’s 38 minutes long (When you’re as good a preacher as Dr. King, you can preach that long!) and absolutely worth listening to.

*James and John are trying to use their privilege or their “insider relationship” with Jesus to make themselves more important and powerful. Where in your life do you have the privilege of relationships with people of power? Where are you tempted to “lord it over” others — maybe by name-dropping or by intimating that you have special information that others don’t? What would using the power of that relationship in the servant mode of Christ look like?

Try This:

James and John approach Jesus with a question of utility: “What can you do for me?” they ask.  Petition is an important part of prayer. It’s a good thing to lay our needs and even desires in front of God. But even more important is to lay ourselves in front of God and to pray that we be used not for our glory, but for God’s.

This week, take a few minutes in prayer at the beginning of each day and seek not for God to do what you want but ask God to use you.   And trust that in that using — which may take you down paths that you might not choose yourself — you will be becoming something incredible … a servant of Christ.

The company we keep

“But as for sitting at my right or my left, that is not mine to give; it is for those to whom it has been reserved.”

James and John want to be on either side of Jesus. Jesus asks them if they know what they are asking. They swear they do. And yet Jesus says those places are already reserved.

But for who?

Later in Mark’s Gospel, we find out.

“With Jesus they crucified two robbers, one at his right and one at his left.”(Mark 15:27)

Who ended up with the positions that Jesus’ closest friends coveted? Two criminals. In the end, that’s who Jesus was with. Two criminals.

We are known by the company we keep. It’s why people in the public eye try to only be seen with people whose respectability either matches or receives their own. But Jesus – at almost every opportunity – goes the other way.

Jesus runs toward the disreputable and disrespectable.

That is the company he keeps.
That is who he aspires to be with.
That is who he aspires to know.
That is who he aspires to be like.
And he was.

We have many measures of success. Many of them, if not most of them, have to do with respectability.

And yet Jesus died a criminal. And for him, that was a measure of a life well lived.

What company do we aspire to keep?
Who do we aspire to be with?
Who do we aspire to know?
Who do we aspire to be like?

Not many of us would say “a criminal.”
Not many of us would say execution by the state is a measure of a life well lived.

Jesus did.

What does that mean for us?

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Check out the rest of Sunday’s readings

The Lectionary Page has all of the readings for this Sunday and every
Sunday – click here for this Sunday’s readings.

Collect for Sunday

Pray this throughout the week as you gnaw on this Gospel.

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among
the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout
the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.