Thinking (Mark 10:35-45)

 

Thinking (Mark 10:35-45)

 

Understanding Jesus requires a change of thinking.

A Catholic Priest and a Rabbi were chatting one day when the conversation turned to a discussion of job descriptions and promotion

"What do you have to look forward to in way of a promotion in your job?" asked the Rabbi.

 

"Well, I'm next in line for the Monsignor's job." replied the Priest.

 

"Yes, and then what?" asked the Rabbi.

 

"Well, next I can become Bishop." said the Priest.

 

"Yes, and then?" asked the Rabbi.

 

"If I work real hard and do a good job as Bishop, it's possible for me to become an Archbishop." said the Priest.

 

"O.K., then what?" asked the Rabbi.

 

The Priest, beginning to get a bit exasperated replied, "With some luck and real hard work, maybe I can become a Cardinal."

 

"And then?" asked the Rabbi.

 

The Priest is really starting to get mad now and replies, "With lots and lots of luck and some real difficult work and if I'm in the right places at the right times and play my political games just right, maybe, just maybe, I can get elected Pope."

 

"Yes, and then what?" asked the Rabbi.

 

"Good grief!" shouted the Priest. "What do you expect me to become, GOD?"

 

"Well," said the Rabbi, "One of our boys made it!"

 

James and John were Jesus’ very first disciples. Along with Peter, they were part of Jesus’ inner circle. It’s surprising, then, that these men don’t seem to understand Jesus. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is near. They think Jesus will overthrow the Romans. They don’t understand that the Kingdom of God is beyond borders, politics, and palaces.

 

I don’t suppose I would see Jesus for who He is either, because understanding Jesus requires a change of thinking. When Jesus told his apostles that he was going to be rejected by the religious authorities and killed, Peter rebuked Jesus. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus confronted Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! You’re not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” (Mk 8:31-33) Peter wasn’t thinking the way God thinks.

 

When life doesn’t go the way I want, I feel upset. Instead of fuming in frustration, I need to stop and ask myself, “How is God involved?” “What might be God’s will in this disappointment?” I have to change my thinking and let go of what I want, to embrace what is happening, even if I don’t like it.

 

Being open to what God is doing in the world requires a change in thinking. It requires believing that God is active in our world and we each have our part to play.

 

Often, we wonder why God allows suffering. Suffering happens because Sin has corrupted God’s good creation. In this sin-corrupted world we suffer sickness, hunger, war and tragedy. But God is at work redeeming. The Bible ends with a vision of the New Jerusalem coming down to earth. God will dwell with God’s people, where there will be no more dying, crying or pain. Jesus told John, See! I am making all things new! God’s response to the corruption of his good creation is new creation.

 

According to statistica.com, an average of 18,300 books are published each year on the topic of religion. Religious book sales rose 7.8% last year, totaling near $820 million. It’s clear that people have an interest in religious thinking. So why, with such an abundance of religious knowledge available to us, are we not faring better? Why the social network nastiness, violence and war? Our patterns of thinking are shaped by the old order of things, not the new order that God is bringing.

 

James and John ask Jesus to do for them whatever they ask. Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” They answer, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.”

 

Can you hear the old ways of thinking? James and John are thinking about sharing the glory of King Jesus enthroned at Jerusalem. It’s good the be the king, and they want a piece of His glory. They want powerful positions in Jesus’ new government.

 

The other apostles are angered by this. Jesus needed to help them change their thinking. The Romans are tyrants. They lord it over their people. The Greek word translated as “lord it over” is only used 4 times in the New Testament. In Acts 19, there’s a story of some Jews performing an exorcism in Jesus’ name. The demon possessed man beat them into submission. The exorcists ran out of the house naked and bleeding. The phrase “beat them into submission” is the same Greek word that is translated as “lord it over.” That’s how abusive Roman authorities could be. Followers of Jesus should not behave in that way. We should lead by humbly serving others. If James and John want to be great in the kingdom of Christ Jesus, then they should make themselves slaves. Whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all.

 

Francis of Assisi is a celebrated saint. He was the son of a wealthy merchant. In a dilapidated chapel, Francis had a vision of Christ. Jesus told him, “Go and repair my church which, as you can see, has fallen into ruin.”

 

Francis took clothing from his father’s shop, sold it, and gave the money to fund repairs. His father had him arrested and demanded that Francis renounce his religious aspirations or renounce his inheritance. Francis stripped off his clothing, symbolically renouncing any claim he might have to his father’s wealth, and walked out of the courtroom. Without a penny to his name, he lived as a beggar, begged for gifts of stone to rebuild the dilapidated chapel. Over time, Francis personally rebuilt several churches around the Italian countryside. When he finished repairing church buildings, he began building up the poor. Dedicated to poverty, chastity and obedience, Francis of Assisi helped change the world. His Jesuit order is a force for good around the globe.

 

The Church in America is in decline, dilapidated like those forsaken chapels Francis of Assisi encountered. According to the United Church of Christ’s Center for Analytics, Research, and Data, 1-2% of churches close their doors each year. That’s 75-100 congregations a week, gone. Who will repair Christ’s Church in America? The good news is that about 2600 vital new churches open yearly. Brave disciples are answering the call to go and make disciples.  

 

James and John wanted to sit in glory with Jesus when he took authority as the king of the Jews.

 

But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” They said to him, “We are able.” (Mk 10:38-39)

 

Jesus told them it wasn’t for him to decide who gets to sit at his left and right. God will decide. The gospel tells us about the coronation of Jesus.

 

The soldiers put a purple cloak on him and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on him. They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him.

When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Mk 15:17-20)

 

They nailed Jesus to the cross and placed a sign above his head that read King of the Jews. To his right and to his left were two thieves.

 

The gospel subverts our expectations. James and John dreamed of a fine palace and places of authority. No one expected the throne to be the cross. No one envisioned a crown of thorns set upon their messiah. And no one would think that the two most favored positions in the Kingdom of God would go to outlaws. Instead of cheers, Jesus suffered mockery and jeers as he suffered and died. What does it mean? How can a dying messiah help anyone? And why are criminals at the favored places at King Jesus’ sad coronation?

 

The cross looks like utter defeat. God turned it into victory. Sin was conquered through the death of our Savior. What we could not do for ourselves, God did for us. We struggle with old ways of thinking because we are products of the old corrupted world and its sinful ways. But everyone who dies with Christ in baptism, dies to the power of Sin over their lives. Through Christ’s victory over the grave, we rise into a new life empowered by the Spirit. We are given the mind of Christ. Christ will change our way of thinking. The two outlaws are symbolic of God’s love for the least of us. God loves even the worst of us. We all sin and fall short. In His great love for us, God acted to deliver us into the Kingdom of His Son.

 

Jesus assured James and John that they would suffer for the sake of the gospel. They would be baptized into His death. James was beheaded in Jerusalem under the orders of Herod Antipas. Tradition has it that John was boiled in a vat of oil but survived his torture. The Romans imprisoned John on the island of Patmos off the coast of Turkey in the Mediterranean.

 

We are here today worshipping Jesus because people like James and John, Francis of Assisi, Corrie Ten Boom, and Theresa of Calcutta. They sacrificed worldly ambitions and comforts for the sake of bringing hope and healing to the world through faith in Christ. The future belongs to such as these.

 

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Transforming the world starts with a change in thinking.