Service Entrance

Anybody remember the riots that broke out some years ago when Sony’s PlayStation 3 was scheduled for release? Nearly 400 people in Boston’s Copley Place mall overwhelmed mall security. Nearly a dozen police cruisers responded to the call. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the crowd dispersed when ordered by the dozen police. But can you imagine? Some of the people had been waiting in line for three days, and all had spent the night outdoors through a stormy night with high winds and heavy rain. ((© 2006 Boston Globe 11/16) In Florida, Sheriff’s deputies shut down a Super Walmart after a crowd of shoppers camped out for a chance to buy PlayStation 3 got rowdy a full day and a half before the game machine went on sale. And saddest of all, a 21 year old man was shot while waiting in line to buy the video game system in Putnam, Conn.

Why does everyone feel it’s necessary to be first? Ok, ok, if there’s only one prize - whether it’s for President or a heart-transplant - then I can see being anxious to be the first out of the starting gate. But when the stakes are so low? Pulllleeeeze. It’s not even competition to be best, just to be first.

At least sports competition compares actual performance. But even there we don’t always know what we’re measuring. In fact, take any two people and you can always stir trouble just by tossing this simple little word into the conversation. For example, ask a Broncos fan and a Steelers fan who’s the greatest quarterback of all time and I’ll wager you they’ll debate it for hours. Ask a Texan and a Kansan who makes the best barbeque, and watch the sparks fly. Ask two musicians who is the world’s greatest pianist - or composer - or director and they’ll still be at it next month. Who do you think was our greatest president? Or let's bring it closer to home. Who makes the best strawberry jam, grows the best roses, has the best kids or the most money or the biggest house?

Why did Jesus’ disciples have to jockey among themselves to get to be in front when they’re already the elite of the elite, already in the top twelve?

Why? Ambition is built into us. Part of the image-of-God in us aspires to the best... and in our fallen state, sometimes the closest we can come to best is a pretty shabby imitation. But greatness is something we can aspire to. Greatness is something we are encouraged to care about.

Matthew reports in his gospel that Jesus said some will be called least and others “will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” [Mt 5:19] I don’t think that Jesus would have said it if he didn’t know that status was a big motivating factor - even among his followers. But what is the difference between the greatest and the least? Is it like composers or coaches or cooks? Is it a matter of opinion or taste? What’s the difference? How can we tell them apart? How do we define what greatness is?

I can tell you one thing for sure, before we even look at this particular text. And that is that Jesus turned everyone’s expectations upside down. If all we know were two facts: One, that the King of Kings was born in poverty in an out-of-the-way corner of the Roman empire, and Two, that he willingly suffered the cruelest death in the Roman’s repertoire, we know that he didn’t measure greatness the way we do. The classic text for that is also in Matthew, right before the incident that we read earlier. “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” [Mt 20:16]

Now Mark tells us that James and John came forward themselves to ask Jesus for the top spots in his administration. If that is indeed how it happened, it’s just another example of their deafness to Jesus’ true agenda. But Mark has a habit of condensing the narrative for the sake of speed, and so I’m sticking with Matthew’s account, which puts the mother of the two boys - who were, by the way, called the Sons of Thunder for their hot tempers and fierce loyalties - right in the thick of the controversy. And who could blame her, after all. She knew who had the best kids, even if Jesus was a little slow on the uptake. So what would any mother do, but go straight to the top, to make sure her kids got the recognition they deserved?

Which reminds me of a phenomenon that is all too common in our schools today... My sister reports that when she was teaching in a prosperous suburban high school in New York, she had non-stop confrontations with parents who were sure that if their children weren’t the top of their class that it was somehow the teachers’ fault. After all, their girl was destined for Harvard! Instead of advising them to play fair and work hard, they wanted to short-circuit the system. And all too many teachers tell me that it’s the same in their schools, too. What’s wrong with this picture? Can we see reflections of these attitudes in what Jesus was facing so long ago?