I want to set the stage before we examine the scripture: Jesus had been traveling, preaching, and teaching for three years with these twelve disciples. Everything he had done was in preparation for them continuing his ministry – and time and time again, it was evident that they were “not getting” it. I am sure that he was frustrated and disappointed and very tired of their incomprehension. If the disciples were going to start practicing His teachings, it ought to be now. But it wasn’t happening.
Five days before Jesus’ crucifixion, four days before his betrayal and trial, one day before the clearing of the temple, and a few hours before his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the disciples were bickering and jockeying to be ‘the elite’ of the disciples.
It is significant to note that this is the THIRD time Jesus has foretold the coming events: his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Moments before the most significant events in their lives, the disciples are a bickering, petty, bad-tempered quarrelsome lot. We just heard that James and John were asking Jesus to name them the ‘most important’ among the disciples. Interestingly, in a similar passage in Matthew 20, their mother was the one who asked Jesus to elevate her sons. What prompted them (or her) to think that they were any more special than any of the other disciples was not indicated in the scripture, but they felt special. You notice that they didn’t ask Jesus for a favor, or ask him to consider their request. What made their inflated egos believe that they could DEMAND anything of Jesus?
Brothers James and John ask Jesus for a big favor. In their minds, they thought they should hold a special place, having privileges that the other disciples didn’t have. They saw this request as elevating themselves into a position of power and control over the others. They wanted the ‘good’ seats, the ones right beside Jesus when he finally was king of the Kingdom of God. They wanted prestige and power. The other ten disciples were no better. They became angry at James and John because they also wished to sit at the ‘high’ seats. They also wanted prestige and power. And they didn’t want the other disciples to have any.
All twelve disciples miss the point about the kingship of Jesus. Although he had told them repeatedly of his impending execution and resurrection, they did not get it.
They were asking for three things. They wanted the glory and honor that came from being elevated to a throne. They wanted to be close to Jesus in the kingdom. They also wanted to have positions of great authority in the coming kingdom.
Humans tend to exercise pride and self-promotion. The attributes associated with pride are revealed at a very early age. Children don’t have to be taught to be selfish; this is their nature. Left unchecked, our pride and selfish desires continue to become more apparent as we mature, often in unhealthy ways. Many problems today and the majority of past conflicts result from pride and the desire to possess power, prominence, and prestige.
In the world, you are a leader if you have power, a title, some delegated authority, you can tell people what to do. From God’s point of view, leadership is something entirely different. Jesus clearly states:
“Whoever would be great, must become a servant. Whoever desires to be first, must become the slave of all.” (Matthew 20:26)
If you want to be a leader, be a servant. If you’re going to be Number 1, become a slave. At least three times, we have heard this warning in the Gospel of Mark. But did the disciples, and do we really “get it”?
God’s view of leadership is servanthood. The way to become a leader is first to become a servant.
In our current society, it is not what you know; it’s who you know, and if you know the right person at the right time, they lift you to an elevated position. But Jesus said that might be the way the world does it, but not in His kingdom.
Do you want to be a leader? Great!
Be a servant.
Do you want to be #1?
Become a slave.
In the church, we haven’t heard and heeded his words. We have popes and cardinals, we have archbishops, we have bishops, priests, deacons, Senior Wardens, and Junior Wardens - we have denominational muckety-muck. We have presidents, vice-presidents. We have celebrities, superstars, radio preachers, TV preachers, Christian celebrities, and Christian superstars. Everybody has a title, and everybody has a position; everybody has a place. And in the church, almost as much as in the world, there is a kind of pecking order. And you’d better know your place, and you’d better keep in your place.
But in Jesus’ world, service was His passion; service was His life. Jesus freely served those who would break His heart. Jesus performed the greatest service of all when He went to Calvary to die on the cross for sinners who hated Him and wanted nothing to do with Him.
How did Jesus arrive at such a holy place? It wasn’t because He was God! He was there because He took the position of a slave. He was there because He willingly chose the lowest place of all, and God elevated Him to the highest place of all.
A servant has an honest heart, without guile or deception - a person where what you see is what you get. When they say something, you don’t have to think to yourself, “Gee, I wonder what he meant by that.” An honest heart means truth, integrity, wholeness, no trickery, no deceit, no game playing.
Honesty is hard to come by, even for Christians. It’s like the man called to testify in a court case. The bailiff said, “Raise your right hand.” The judge said, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” The man looked up at the judge and said, “Well, which one do you want?” There is the truth, there is the whole truth, and there is nothing but the truth. You can tell a servant because he has an honest heart – truth is truth!
A servant has a humble heart. Humility is that virtue which, when you think you are humble, you have lost humility. Humility is a non-threatening attitude; you are approachable. You interact with others without getting angry, hostile, or defensive. Humility is a deep sensitivity to the needs of others.
A servant has a generous heart, not arguing about who’s the greatest – being willing to acknowledge that someone else has something or a position they may have wanted. They do not worry about Who is #1? Who is on top? Who’s the greatest.
What is the mark of greatness according to Jesus? It’s not arguing about who’s the greatest. How do you find a great person?
The great person is likely the one who is on his knees playing with the children in the nursery - behind the scenes and out of the limelight, where you don’t get praise and applause and gifts - there you will find the great people of the Kingdom of God. The ones who are with the children and the young people, in the kitchen, and driving the bus—the ones that we don’t see and never hear from, the ones that don’t get the press, that’s where you find greatness.
True greatness comes from a generous heart that understands that God’s kingdom is bigger than anyone is.
A servant has a giving heart – the heart of Christianity:
For God so loved the world, that he gave.” (John 3:16)
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, had traveled with Jesus for three years, and still, they wanted to assume positions of leadership that would give them great prestige, satisfy their egos, and give them power over others. Someone so filled with themselves that they said to Jesus:
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
How’s that for confidence? They sure didn’t need any courses in self-esteem, did they? And yet, they are not very different from many of us who desire nothing more than to follow Jesus, if only He will give us what we want and not challenge us to change the way we live.
Today Jesus is inviting each of us to let go of all of those things — those desires for things we think we have to have — those things we think we most definitely deserve — and to come and walk with him. How much did the disciples miss what was truly going on around them by going off into dream worlds of their own making and scheming? How much do we miss when we are busy wondering what’s in it for me, rather than asking,
“Lord, what are you showing me right now, here, today, at this moment, in this crisis, in this opportunity?”
Instead of saying,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you,”
we still have time to say,
“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
In summary, this is the THIRD time that we have heard these warnings/instructions from Jesus about our behavior if we want to follow Him. And this is the THIRD time that the disciples didn’t understand! Is it the THIRD time we don’t understand?
Let us ask ourselves:
Are we as dense as the disciples that we “don’t get it”?
Are we as clueless as they were??
Do we understand the key to the Kingdom of God is to be a servant?
Have we learned we show our servanthood through acts of mercy and kindness – a cup of water to the thirsty, a bag of groceries to the hungry, the offering of the shirt off our backs to one who has no clothes, a visit to those who are shut-in?
Are we willing to:
• Fervently pray for one another
• Greet one another
• Love one another.
• Accept one another
• Forgive one another
• Continually build up one another in love
• Speak words of life that give grace and energize
• Serve one another.
• Use our God-given gifts.
• Restore the fallen
• Support the weak?
If we are willing, we are following the teachings of Jesus, Yet we must also acknowledge that we are human, and sometimes the desire for power and prestige, and glory overcomes our good intentions. But we must keep trying.
Let us pray:
God, I confess. I want glory.
I want to be on the winning side.
I want things to go my way,
even if that is not your way.
Christ, give me your heart,
to find delight in serving others,
not for glory, but to love them,
which is to sit closest to you,
and all the glory I need.
Amen [1]
[1] Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light
Delivered at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Columbus, OH; 17 October 2021
