Joshua 24:14-15
14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Matthew 20:20-28
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." 22 "You don’t know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
“Somebody… Nobody”
1) Doesn’t everyone want to be somebody?
The world population as of this morning is (in billion) 6,854,489,535 and counting. That means, if it is you against the world… you are outnumbered by… a lot! In the vast sea of people… amongst the mass quantity of the human race… deep down, do you ever want to stand out? Be unique? Be… an individual. I imagine many of us do… I mean… just look at how major companies try to sell us their stuff. Buy this… and stand out from the crowd! Buy this… and get ahead! Buy this… and be… somebody!
Being… somebody! Isn’t that something we want? We want to be… somebody! It’s an odd concept… so many people in the world… and there is a desire deep down to stand out… to be noticed… to be remembered… perhaps even to make a difference. Amongst 6 billion people… we want to be one of the known!
Even if that isn’t what you desire… I would bet… that for many of us… our mothers had very high hopes of us being a somebody.
2) Didn’t your mom want you to be somebody? (Doctor… Lawyer… President)
I think a lot of Moms are just naturally like that. Maybe they want a legacy… maybe they want bragging rights, maybe we can look on the bright side and say they just really want what’s best for us. Whatever it is… isn’t there a lot of “high hopes” placed upon us? It has always been that way for me at least.
I remember, right after Alyssa and I were married… we had moved to Fargo and we were both looking for Jobs. Well, I was being picky about the kind of Job I wanted, I wanted to have a really good job that would really get Alyssa and I on my feet. And I wasn’t moving fast enough for my mom, it was driving her absolutely NUTS that her son was “unemployed.”
So she did her part… daily phone calls to remind me that I didn’t have a job. It was a good thing because I probably would have forgotten that I was unemployed without her reminding me constantly. Finally, my mom just couldn’t stand waiting anymore… she found out about a job opening that her friend Jeff had at Gabriel Metal Casting. She even used her influence with Jeff to get as much inside information about the position as she could to give me that extra edge on the competition.
Before the interview, she gave me instructions saying that the owner, Dennis, was a good man, a Christian… and that he really preferred Christian employees, so I should really play up my religion and my church involvement in the interview process.
So I went in to the interview… and got my Christian on. I told him all about my Religion/Philosophy degree… how I attended church, volunteered, and even served on church committees. However, I could sense the interview wasn’t going nearly as well as I was hoping so I really laid it on really thick… talking about my prayer life and my devotion to being led by the Holy Spirit! The owner Dennis, thanked me for my time and excused me… letting me know he would call me and let me know. I thought, “Man… what kind of extreme crazy Christian does it take to impress this guy?” Well very luckily… even though the interview really did not go very well… I got the job.
Months later, Mom’s friend Jeff and I were talking, and he told me how close I was to NOT getting the job. You see, after my interview… Jeff asked Dennis what he thought of me, and Dennis responded… “Well, I think he’s qualified and would be a heck of a worker… but he is really an extreme and crazy Christian who kinda scares me!” Well… at least my mom meant well.
3) Mom Zebedee (James and John) [Right and Left Hand]
It’s kind of like in our scripture text this morning… what can you say about James and John’s mom? Her sons are already one of Jesus’ top 12! I mean… the son of God himself… the most popular teacher of his time… and James and John were in his inner circle. You’d think this’d make a mom proud. Apparently it wasn’t enough for Mom Zebedee, and mom did what moms do… she sticks her nose right into the middle of her sons business.
Verse 20, “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." James and John were members of Jesus’ elite circle… and Mom Zebedee goes to Jesus to ask for a promotion on behalf of her sons. For her, it wasn’t just good enough to be somebody… she wanted them to be Jesus’ #1 and #2. The top of the heap… the head of the pack. The biggest SOMEBODY!
Kind of like my mom’s bad advice about the interview… Mom Zebedee didn’t know what she was talking about. Her intentions… while… sort of good… were proven to be selfish and misguided. "You don’t know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" (Essentialy… can you suffer everything that I am going to suffer? And you wanna talk about some bonehead responses) "We can," they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
And at this point… NOBODY in the story gets it… not at all. Mom Zebedee is wondering what it’s going to take for her to convince Jesus to give her sons that promotion… James and John are feeling a little foolish because they had essentially just been turned down for the promotion while at the same time they’d been given more job responsibilities… “you will drink the cup… but not necessarily sit on my right or left hand.” All the work with none of the reward!
The other 10 disciples are jealous… and angry at James and John. How dare they ask to be Jesus’ #1 and #2… after all… everyone knows that they are the most qualified to be #1.
4) Not first… but last… [BE A NOBODY]
You know, in addition to all the powers that Jesus had… I am convinced that he had a little alarm in his head that went off whenever his disciples were totally clueless. And in this story… Jesus’ alarm must’ve been going off like crazy! ‘Cause the very next thing Jesus did was call them all in for a little meeting.
Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Here, everyone in this story was thinking… how can I be a somebody? How can I separate myself from the herd? How can I really make my mark? How can I gain the position of most power in Jesus’ small band? And Jesus turns it all around on them… “If you really want to be a SOMEBODY… you have to become a NOBODY!”
That’s Jesus’ lesson for them… and Jesus’ lesson for us. Not only in his words but by his example. Imagine this… with all of Jesus’ influence… with all of Jesus’ power… he could have used that influence to become the single most powerful man in the world by worldly standards… land… political power… followers… all would be his! Instead… he humbled himself and gave his life as a servant instead. Jesus became a somebody… by working really hard to be a nobody in practice! His message… for all of us, is that we are all called to follow his example and be nobodies too!
5) Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody
It’s kind of like this old story about four people: Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody. Whenever there was an important job to be done, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. When Nobody did it, Everybody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Nobody would do it. So consequently Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place.
6) We are called to be a nobody!
Be a nobody! I know that sounds strange… but that is today’s message. As we focus on our Stewardship drive, I think this point will help bring it all together. As you may remember week 1 was about making a commitment to God, week 2 was about making a commitment to this church, week 3 was a call to give our time, talents, and finances, this week… we are called to be a nobody… the last in line… the servant of all… the first one to volunteer for hands on service… the last to seek credit for all the great things being done. As you consider your involvement in this church for the next year, I encourage you to remember today’s scripture verse and the words of Jesus… and strive to become the biggest nobody this church has ever seen!
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
