To Serve Or Be Served

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.