19th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 24
Mark 10:35-45
"Your Eyes, God’s Eyes"
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
36 And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"
37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
39 And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
43 But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
45 For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Clarence was always very particular, even as a fledging only just out of the nest. He happened to have been born with an especially large and beautifully radiant white bib, which he probably wouldn’t have noticed if the large snowy owl, who kept a weather-eye on all the young birds, hadn’t remarked to Clarence’s mother, "Oh my! What a bootiful bib! You’ll have some trouble keeping that clean with a young chick like that! But he’ll sooon get intooo mischief, so it won’t be white for long."
From that day, Clarence had vowed never to get into mischief, and to make sure his "bootiful" bib stayed as white and as special as it was from the very first minute. He wanted to be the only tree creeper who stayed as pure white as the owl himself. Consequently he was an exceptional good little bird - and was often taunted by his brothers and sisters for being so self-righteous.
It was quite difficult for Clarence, since unlike owls, tree creepers instinctively creep round trees, whether they want to or not. Owls merely perch on convenient branches, turning their necks at extremely odd angles in order to survey all the world around them. Therefore their snowy white feathers generally remain clean. But tree creepers are much closer to the bark of trees, hanging on with their tiny claws and pecking madly with their tiny beaks, which means that their white bibs are often very close to rough and dirty tree barks.
Clarence was so determined to keep his bib white and bootiful, that he decided never to creep around the trunks of the trees. Instead, he would flutter gently up to the branches and perch just like the snowy owls. But try as he would, again and again Clarence found himself clinging to the tree trunks and gently creeping round, pecking at the bark just like all his brothers and sisters. He didn’t know why he acted in this way, and he didn’t want to act in such a way, but he simply couldn’t help himself.
Clarence became a very unhappy tree creeper. He wanted so much to do what he thought was right, but he couldn’t. He became very dejected and sad, and after a while, hardly went out at all.
When the snowy owl next came to visit, poor little Clarence tried to hide away, he was so ashamed of himself. But the owl spotted him and hooted. Clarence cringed. He knew exactly what the owl would say. But to his surprise he heard the owl admiring his radiant white breast.
"It can’t be," muttered Clarence to his mother. "I must be filthy after all that creeping around trees. My white bib is surely grey and grimy by now."
But his mother just laughed. "You’re a tree creeper, silly! No-one can change that! And you can’t go against your own nature! But the trees won’t make you dirty - they protect you and enable you to feed and keep strong. And the healthier you are, the whiter your bib will remain. That’s the way God made you - and he made you into a beautiful tree creeper. So I think it’s now time to put all those silly ideas behind you, and thank God for the way you are."
So Clarence did just that. He gave up trying to change himself and instead, put himself into God’s hands. And he soon discovered that not only did he always have a bootiful white bib, but also he was the happiest tree creeper that ever lived. 1
Clarence saw the world through his eyes, he wanted to have the world’s best white bib. He wanted to be proud of himself and the sacrifice he could make to keep his bib white.
But inside of Clarence was God’s nature, and that nature saw that Clarence would be a creeper, getting close to the trunks of trees, getting himself dirty, but when he did that he became healthy and his bib became even whiter.
James and John in our gospel lesson where a lot like Clarence. they wanted something for themselves, they wanted power, they wanted honor, they wanted to be set apart. They wanted to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus. They wanted to be in power when Jesus came into his glory.
So, Jesus asks them if they can drink the cup which he has to drink. He says: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
And they answer they are, they say: "We are able."
And then Jesus says: "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
But did James and John know what they were getting themselves into. Jesus is foreshadowing his death on the cross and predicting that these two, James and John will die for their faith.
James was, in fact, martyred by Herod Agrippa -- "killed with the sword" rather than crucified (Acts 12:2) We don’t know for sure what happened to John.
James and John saw God’s kingdom through human eyes. They saw that Jesus did have power, authority, and greatness and they wanted to be apart of it. They wanted glory.
But Jesus says his kingdom his different that what is seen through human eyes. He says: but whoever would be great among you must be your servant,44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Jesus turns the disciples eyes from the eyes of the world to the eyes of God. Jesus sees things differently in his kingdom. He sees service, helping others, sacrifice rather than power, might and glory.
Jesus sees his kingdom as one of the cross, not glory, but servant hood. Jesus sees his kingdom through God’s eyes and those eyes see people in God’s kingdom helping, sacrificing, serving others.
James and John saw God’s kingdom through the eyes of human beings and they saw power, majesty, glory and wealth.
Jesus sees the kingdom of God with different eyes. He sees sacrifice, giving, commitment and servant hood.
There is a story that was told by Soren Kierkegaard as he says:
Once upon a time there was a fire in a small town. The fire brigade rushed to the scene, but the fireman were unable to get through to the burning building. The problem was the crowd of people who had gathered not to watch but to help put out the fire. They all knew the fire chief well - their children had climbed over his fire engines during excursions to the fire station, and the friendliness of the fire chief was legendary. So when a fire broke out the people rushed out to help their beloved fire chief.
Unfortunately the townsfolk were seeking to extinguish this raging inferno with water pistols! They’d all stand there, from time to time squirting their pistol into the fire while making casual conversation.
The fire chief couldn’t contain himself. He started screaming at the townsfolk. "What do you think you’re doing? What on earth do you think you’re going to achieve with those water pistols?!"
The people realized the urgency of the situation. How they wanted to help the fire chief. So they started squirting more. "Come on" they encouraged each other, "We can all do better, can’t we?" Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt.
Exasperated the fire chief yells again. "Get out of here. Your achieving nothing except hindering us from doing what needs to be done. We need fireman who are ready to give everything they’ve got to put out this fire, people willing even to lay their lives on the line. This is not the place for token contributions"
Jesus says the kingdom of God is not squirt, squirt, squirt, but it is those who are willing to lay down their lives of another. Jesus says the kingdom of God is not squirt, squirt, squirt, but it is those who are willing to make sacrifices for others, to give for another. Jesus says the kingdom of God is not squirt, squirt, squirt, but it is rather seeing the world through God’s eyes, not humans.
How do you see God’s kingdom? Are you looking at this world through human eyes, or God’s eyes? Do you see the world as Clarence did and want to play it safe? Do you see the world as those people with the squirt guns only giving a partial commitment to God? Do you squirt, squirt squirt, or do you come with a hose and whole lot of water?
With whose eyes do you see the kingdom of God?
In the following story, with whose eyes did boys see the world?
In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything that God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God’s perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish and stilled by his piercing query.
"I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way people react to this child."
He then told the following story about his son Shaya.
Shaya attends Chush throughout the week and regular Torah school on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to Torah school as his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in progress and as Shaya and his father made their way towards the ballfield, Shaya said, "Do you think you could get me into the game?"
Shaya’s father knew his son was not at all athletic, and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya’s father understood that if his son was chosen in, it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.
Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked, "Do you think my Shaya could get into the game?"
The boy looked around for guidance from his team-mates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs and the game is already in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."
Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field, a position that exists only in softball. There were no protests from the opposing team, which would now be hitting with an extra man in the outfield.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded and the potential winning runs on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shaya was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible, for Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so that Shaya should at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shaya.
As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far and wide beyond the first baseman’s reach. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first! Shaya, run to first!" Never in his life had Shaya run to first.
He scampered down the baseline wide eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the rightfielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head, as everyone yelled, "Shaya, run to second! Shaya, run to second."
Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base and shouted "Shaya, run to third!"
As Shaya rounded third, the
boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya, run home! Shaya, run home!"
Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father who now had tears rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of perfection. They showed that it is not only those who are talented that should be recognized, but also those who have less talent. They too are human beings, they too have feelings and emotions, they too are people, they too want to feel important."2
Can you see the world in the same way?
Amen
1 Revd. Janice Scott http://www.sermons-stories.org/
2 from http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/
