Let’s start our time together this morning by getting a little honest …
Who do you relate to best in this story? James? John? The other disciples. Or … Jesus?
How many of you thought “James” or “John”? None of you, of course! Well … not so quickly, my friends. Personally, I think we’re more like James and John than we care to admit … even to ourselves, Certainly not to others, amen?
James and John are shrewd, crafty fellows. Notice the beauty of their request … their attempt to manipulate Jesus. You can tell that they’ve been thinking and discussing their desire in this matter for some time:
“Hey, John, when Jesus becomes the messiah … the king … let’s ask him for some really important positions?”
“Like what, John?”
“Oh … I don’t know. I read Donald Trump’s book, ‘The Art of the Deal.’ Let’s start high … ask for something really big … and then work our way down.”
“Yeah … let’s start out by asking him for the top two positions and start from there.”
“Wait a minute, James! I just had a brilliant idea! Let’s trick him into agreeing to give us what we want BEFORE we ask him what we want.”
“Okay, John, you lost me. You’re suggesting that we somehow get Jesus to grant us our request BEFORE we tell him what we want? I think you’ve had a little too much of that wine there.”
“No … no! I’m stone cold serious. Look, just follow my lead, okay? We have to hurry before Peter beats us to it!”
“Ah … Jesus … Rabbi … Sir? Sorry to bother you … but can James and I talk to you for a moment … privately? We … James and I … well … we were wondering … just wondering, mind you … if, well … you would promise us something? It’s not something that you have to do right now. We’re just asking you for a little favor in the future.”
Don’t you just hate when someone does that to you? Asks you to do them a favor BEFORE they tell you what the favor is? In James’ and John’s case, it could have been anything … so much gold that they could swim in it like Scrooge McDuck … their names on everybody’s lips singing their praises … hundreds of women swooning at their feet … a huge palace filled with gold and women. Perhaps become a king or an emperor as great and as powerful as Tiberias. And Jesus would have to do it because He already agreed to grant them whatever request they were about to make.
In reality, what James and John are asking for is, in fact, a major big deal … in their minds … and in the minds of all the other disciples … but we’ll get to them in a couple of minutes. And, lest we are too quick to judge James and John … and remember, we’re being “HONEST” with ourselves this morning … who wouldn’t want to sit in places of honor and authority at Jesus’ right hand or left hand if Jesus made you the offer, am I right? I would … sitting on the right hand or left hand of Jesus … basking in glory. Imagine your shock and surprise … great surprise, I’m sure … when you get to Heaven and you see ME sitting up there next to Jesus … the look on your face? I’m sure that it would be priceless. “Whoa! Is that Pastor G. sitting up there on the right hand of Jesus? I had no idea. I would have shown him a little more respect when he and I were on earth!”
Since we’re being honest this morning, I am one hundred percent sure that that is NEVER going to happen. And … as Jesus will point out … I wouldn’t want the responsibility that comes with it, would you? I’m sure that James and John were not thinking about sitting at Jesus’ right and left hand in Heaven, were they? But they certainly were thinking about sitting on His right hand and left hand here on earth, amen? And let’s say that Jesus DID grant them their request and promised that one of them would sit on His right hand and the other on His left? I can picture them arguing over which one was going to sit on Jesus’ right hand and which one would sit on His left … seeing that left hand position is slightly lower than the right hand position. Or, if Jesus came right out and named which one would sit on His right hand and which one would sit on His left hand, the one who was selected to sit on Jesus’ left hand might resent the one who got to sit on Jesus’ right hand. You see … the problem with most of us humans is that we’re never satisfied … we always want more and we are usually jealous and resentful of those who do have more.
I am sure that we all want a good life, am I right? And most of us are willing to work for it. To be fair, I believe that James and John felt like they had been working hard and were willing to keep working hard for what they felt in the end they had earned. But here’s the trap to that kind of thinking … one that Jesus wants to help them avoid. It’s the trap of entitlement and reward.
As I said, most of us want a good life and we’re willing to work hard for it … but when we work hard, we expect to be rewarded for it, don’t we? And when we are rewarded for our hard work, we tend to want to take credit for what we have achieved or earned. “Hey … I got here by myself … by my hard work. The fame and wealth and power that I have, I achieved by them by my own two hands … by my own skill and cunning and hard work.” For many people, the thought that God had anything to do with their advancement or their achievement is non-existent … doesn’t even enter their thoughts or have any part in the equation of their success. God, if He had anything to do with it, isn’t even in picture … so why give Him any credit, amen?
This reminds me of the grace that the father said at the beginning of the movie “Shenandoah”:
“Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn‘t be here and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel … but we thank You, Lord, just the same for the food we’re about to eat, amen.”
Most people tend to take all the credit. On the other hand, however, like James and John … we’re not going to turn it down if God hands it to us either. And … like James and John … we don’t see any harm in asking God to give us everything that we feel that we have earned or deserved … like hat raise or that promotion, right? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, amen?
On the other hand, when we do get that raise or that promotion, how many of us thank God and give Him the credit? We expect God to acknowledge our efforts and reward us for what we’ve done. In other words, if we give God any credit it’s because God is giving us credit … recognizing and rewarding us for what we’ve done. “Say … ah, Jesus? You know how we gave up everything to follow you, right? We’ve been wandering from one end of the region to another … even followed you into Samaria and other dangerous pagan lands … helping you out with your ministry. We’ve been through some pretty hard times together … ought to worth something, don’t you think? How about a little favor in return, eh? A little recognition for all that we’ve done for you and for your ministry. Give us what we ask for … it’s not much. Down the road, when you are the ‘King of the Jews,’ how about you let us sit at your right hand and your left after we’ve helped you kick out all the Romans and rule Israel, huh? John and I don’t care which … left … right … that’s pretty generous and selfless of us, don’t you think?”
At the heart of their request is their dream of power. Great power. Personal power. And why not? We’re talking Jesus here, amen? Jesus … who has great power and who is supposed to really love us, right? At least that’s what He keeps telling us.
I think that all of us … if we’re being truly honest … can identify with James and John … though we may not want to admit it to ourselves, let alone publicly. Why? Because … at the heart of James and John’s request is the sin of idolatry. Their request reveals their heart’s desire … to be honored and worshiped and respected … rather than honor or worship or respect Jesus … or, at least, be honored and worshiped or respected along side Jesus … literally on Jesus’ right and left.
On the one hand, we think of idolatry as worshiping stone or wooden statues, figurines, or pictures … worshiping imaginary gods and goddess. And that’s true. If you are bowing down to idols … stone or wood or clay or metal figurines or statues … bowing down to imaginary gods and goddess … then, yes … you are definitely practicing idolatry … no doubt about it. But, more generally, and more commonly in our day and age, idolatry is turning good things into ultimate things. Let me repeat that. Idolatry is turning good things into ultimate things.
Idolatry is worshiping something … anything … besides God. We replace God with things or stuff … like James and John … that we really want … and when our idolatry goes unchecked, we can become … like James and John … so presumptuous that we even manage to work up the courage to ask God to help us acquire those things that God knows we’re going to worship. Think about that for a moment. We ask God to give us the things that God knows we’re going to worship.
Let’s pause here for a moment. This is where we are … or can be … most like James and John. We may not use James and John’s approach … “give us whatever we ask” … but we do ask, don’t we? Perhaps a little more humbly than James and John … but still from the same heart’s desire:
“God … I promise that I’ll do anything for you if You just get me an ‘A’ on this test.”
“God … I know I haven’t been to church in a while, but please … I need that raise … I’ve worked hard for it … I deserve it.”
“God … I have been sacrificing everything for You … I’ve been at church every week … read my Bible every day … only listen to Christian music … only watch wholesome programs … I’m asking for a clean bill of health when I get the test results from the doctor.”
Maybe James and John are too direct for you? What about the other disciples? Look at verse 41: “When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.” Why? Because they were jealous, right? Jealous of what? Jealous because they didn’t think of it first? Or because James and John jumped the line … so to speak … and beat them to the punch? Or maybe they … the other disciples … felt that they deserved it more because they were more humble and were hoping that Jesus would see how hard working and how humble they were that He would give it to them without them having to come right out and ask for it … even though they were thinking and hoping for the same thing James and John were … to be recognized and rewarded for all their hard work and sacrifice … and here goes James and John cutting the line … taking Jesus aside and rashly, boldly, openly asking Jesus for highly prized positions of authority at Jesus’ right and left hand.
We learn from Matthew’s account of the story that James and John even tried to use their mom to sway and influence Jesus. How low can you go, right? Especially for two grown men! The reaction of the other ten disciples reveals their hearts. They were angry … perhaps because James and John thought of a clever way of tricking or trying to manipulate Jesus and they didn’t think of it and they were worried that James and John’s ruse might work. Maybe they were angry because they were too scared or too “humble” to come right out and ask Jesus for positions of power on Jesus’ right hand and left hand like James and John did. I think their greatest fear was that James and John’s tactic would work and that they would get the highly coveted positions of power at Jesus’ right hand and left hand. And if they did … well, it just wouldn’t be fair if Jesus just up and gave James and John what they asked for. I mean, if Jesus granted their request, the other disciples would not only be mad at James and John but Jesus too for giving in to James and John’s obvious manipulation.
And think about this! Jesus said that all twelve of them would rule with Him and get thrones and that sounded pretty wonderful … is pretty wonderful … but when James and John put in their bid for the second and third highest thrones … well, somehow the other thrones don’t seem as … well … important or as desirable … even though, each throne of itself … be it the second or third or fifth or night or twelfth would be a pretty high honor. I don’t know about you, but getting a throne at all … be it the second, third, or twelfth would be pretty awesome for me … seeing how I don’t have a prayer of ever getting a throne at all. And for me, that’s okay. Just being in Heaven worshiping God would be all the reward that I would need, amen?
So … which are you? Direct … like James and John? Coming right out and asking or telling God what YOU want Him to do or not do? Or are you like the other ten disciples … taking the more indirect, humble route to get what you want? You know … out do others in your religious service … make greater sacrifices … be more obedient … while secretly … deep down … you’re hoping and praying like crazy that God is taking notice and will make all your wishes and hopes come true?
Whether we’re like James and John … whether we’re more like the ten other disciples … or whether we are a combination of both … bold and rash sometimes … meek and humble at other times … the root desire is the same … wouldn’t it be great if God would do whatever we asked Him to do? Like Jesus’ disciples, it is amazing how self-seeking we can truly be.
So … how does Jesus respond? Does He say: “Because you are so selfish, I am going to teach you a lesson by giving you nothing?” Does He say: “Because you are so ungrateful, you can no longer be my disciple.” Does He say that He is so angry that He condemns them to hell?
No … not at all.
Instead, He makes reference to His impending crucifixion. “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38). These are veiled references to His impending death. The disciples couldn’t have understood what He was talking about at the time, but we understand today, don’t we? In essence, Jesus was trying to tell them that He wasn’t going to be a king … at least not the kind of king that they were expecting. “I’m not going to be wealthy … I’m not planning on being popular. I am not who you think I am. I am going to give up my life on a Roman cross to pay for your sins and for the sins of the world. The reason I came … my purpose … is not to be served but to serve … and to give my life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
Another image comes to mind for me. When James and John asked for positions of power at Jesus’ right hand and left hand, He asks them if they can drink the cup that He will drink and be baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with … the cup was the cup of God’s wrath and His throne was going to be a rough wooden cross … and on His right hand and on His left hand were not James and John … who swore that they would indeed drink the cup that Jesus would drink and be baptized with the baptism that Jesus would be baptized with. Instead, to the right and to the left of Jesus’ cross were two common, unknown criminals … also hanging on crosses.
Repeat verse 45 with me: “For even the Son of Man … came not to be served … but to serve … and to give His life … as a ransom for many.”
Think about it for a moment. Jesus’ closest friends were ambitious, power-hungry “yes’ men who were trying to use Jesus to get what they really wanted. And how did Jesus respond? “Okay, James and John … you’re right. You gave up a lot to follow me. You’ve put in three years of blood, sweat, and tears. You’ve sacrificed so much. I’ll make sure that you get prominent positions in my future administration.”
You really can’t blame James and John … or the other ten disciples. That’s how things work in the world … then and now. That’s not, however, how things work in God’s vision of the world that He created. What Jesus basically said to James and John was: “I don’t want your service … I want to serve you. I didn’t come here for you to serve me … I came to serve you.” Remember verse 45? We just recited it. “For the Son of Man came” … to what? “… not to be served but to” … what? “… serve.” He came to serve, not to be served.
When our selfishness comes into contact with Jesus’ selflessness … as it did with James and John … we, like the disciples, are changed. Jesus explained to James and John that when we come to God saying, “Gimme, gimme, gimme,” God says:
“I love you MORE than that. Those things that you want … I made them. I can arrange that if we need to … if it’s the right thing to do … but you need more … so much more. You need salvation. You need rescue. You need someone to die for your sins. You need someone to die for your selfishness and your idolatry. So here’s the deal. I’m not going to give you those petty things. I’m going to give you something far more valuable than things or positions of power. I’m going to give you my very life.”
Do you, my friends, get that? Do you see how much God loves you? “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus explains to them. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38).
When James and John’s selfishness comes into contact with Jesus’ selflessness, they are changed. When they glibly say to Jesus that they are willing to drink from the same cup, Jesus predicts that, indeed, they will. “The cup that I drink you will drink; and the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized” (Mark 10:39).
And, in fact, they do. In Acts 12, we learn that King Herod “laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword” (v. 1-2). John, his brother, died in exile on the Island of Patmos.
For the past three years, Jesus has been teaching and showing His disciples that following Him was about service and putting others before yourself. And the good news for James and John … and us … is that Jesus still loved them … even when they were being selfish. He gave His life on the cross for selfish people like James and John … for people like you and me. He deliberately gave up His life for selfish people like us on the cross so that we might be reconciled to God. Doesn’t that just hit you right in the heart? Your selfish heart? Doesn’t the breadth, the height, the width, and the depth of God’s love make you want to love Him with all your heart … with all your mind … with all your strength … with all your soul? I mean … that kind of love … the love of God for us … is overwhelming. “Give us anything we ask,” James and John demand … but who could ask for anything more than what Jesus came to show us and give us? The love of God … forgiveness for our sins … reconciliation with God … and the promise of eternal life.
When our selfishness comes into contact with Jesus’ selflessness, we are changed. Our hearts are changed and we become like Christ … sacrificially serving others whatever the cost to ourselves. “You know that among the gentiles 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; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).
Our world is ruled by selfish people … people who lord their authority over others … who use their power and their authority to meet their selfish needs or achieve their selfish ends … usually for greater and greater wealth … greater and greater power. Imagine a world where people use their power and their authority to serve like Jesus … to sacrificially meet the needs of those whom God has given them to serve? Given the way that the world is now, I’d say that that is almost impossible to imagine, amen? In order for the world to change, however, we have to change. It starts with us. It starts with churches like ours.
The dream of God’s Kingdom is simply amazing … a community where people are soaked in God’s love … active in living and serving others … and the most common way in which we see that is in the way that we and the churches respond to the needs of our neighbors and our community during times of disaster. We definitely saw this in the way that people responded to victims of the flood. So many lives were changed for the worse … but within the catastrophe we saw the sacrificial love of God at work. What a beautiful vision. What a loving God. What an honor to be able to be God’s hands and feet as we reach out served the world around us, amen?
May Jesus change our lives today and through us change the lives of those around us. Let us pray:
Dear God:
We confess that we are outright selfish people, who want what You can give us more than we want You. We thank You for loving us enough to give us more … to give us Your very life, offered on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins. Please win our hearts today and make us like Christ that we may seek, not to be served, but to serve and to give our lives for Your Kingdom. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who went to the cross for our sake … and would all who want to serve rather than be served make it so by saying … AMEN!
