I was recently gifted the trust of the pulpit at First Christian Church in Perry, Oklahoma. This is a mildly edited version of my words base on Mark 10:35-45. Scripture then sermon to follow.
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.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘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?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then 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; 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.’
When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘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. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’
Siblings in faith, it is good to gather for worship, study, and fellowship. Today’s text reminds disciples that to follow Jesus means not to be served but to serve. That seems like an easy thing to do, especially when tragedy or crisis comes. Around these parts we call it the Oklahoma standard. It’s a response to something, an event that is out of the ordinary. But what about ordinary time?
I’m grateful for your congregation’s witness of the good news of God and the way you serve one another, Perry, this county, and beyond your borders. You set an example, and so does your pastor, Joshua, about what servant leadership means for your community of faith. Thank you for giving Joshua’s time and gifts to our neighbors in Tampa Bay through the work and service of the Red Cross.
The Week of Compassion staff continues to respond in Florida, Georgia, S. Carolina, and western North Carolina with checks to help disciples with immediate basic needs and insurance deductibles. They are working with partners like Church World Service with funding for clean-up buckets. Because Week of Compassion is there, Oklahoma Disciples are there just like we were in Sulphur and Morris earlier this year.
This is one characteristic of our little frontier movement: gather people, organize, respond, and bless them to return to life, even if they call the Holy by a different name, practice another religious tradition, have no religion, or are not interested in religion. That’s what it means to share the good news of God from our doorsteps into the world. Presence can transform cloudy moments and create a chance of good news.
Thank you for gifting me the trust of the pulpit today. If you are visiting today, come back and get involved in this congregation’s practice and proclamation of the good news of God as they follow Jesus taking steps with great care and great tact.
As we worship let us be a witness of the good news of God, and remember:
that the Lord’s mercies never cease;
that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning;
and the Lord’s faithfulness extends beyond our ability to see in a mirror dimly and recognize the image of God in others and our own face.
A creative writing professor encouraged our class to tell a story with the necessary words, the fewer, the better, in such a way that enables the reader or hearer to wonder, ponder, and imagine without needing lots of granular details. Trust the reader or hearer to do the work with you. Their mind may wander off, but a compelling story encourages imagination and questions. Maybe that’s why Mark is my favorite gospel. This short story about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth has nuance, intrigue, and suspense. The author states the thesis in the opening line, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And, like some sermons you might have heard in your lifetime, Mark has two endings: the original, which I prefer, and the P.S. or addendum of Mark 16:9-20.
This morning, I will do my best to be like Mark, brief, and stick to my original ending.
Scholars agree that Mark is the first of the gospels in written form, but it is not the first book in the New Testament as we have it. In his book Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written, Dr. Marcus Borg reminds us that the first written accounts about Jesus and his effect on people were the letters of Paul. Those letters begin to appear about 50 years into the common era. Dr. Borg’s ordering of the documents of the New Testament starts with 1 Thessalonians and ends with 2 Peter. The gospels didn’t begin to appear until around 70 CE. There must have been enough questions about Jesus’ backstory that people needed a prequel, and they got four. All have similar plot lines and the same basic ending, but we meet different characters along the way, and we are confronted with other contexts and theological and political perspectives about this peasant from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth.
Mainline scholars, including folks like Dr. Borg, help us think about how the Gospel of Mark outlines Jesus’ life in three movements:
- Galilee, where most of Jesus’ public ministry happens
- Journey from Galilee to Jerusalem for Passover
- Jerusalem and Jesus’ final week, including his confrontation with authorities, execution, and the discovery of the empty tomb.
Borg, Marcus J. Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written. Harper One (New York) 2012. p 149-50.
Enter the story today near the end of the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus talks about what may or will probably happen to him when they arrive in Jerusalem. That means the 12 and other disciples of Jesus will have some choices. The journey began with Jesus healing a blind man. It took two attempts. Next week, as Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem, he pauses to heal another blind person. This time, it only takes once.
I think this is a subtle message of this journey to Jerusalem or my journey with Jesus; maybe yours, too. I won’t often or always get it right the first time. This isn’t the first time the disciples have argued about who is the greatest among them. Jesus was disappointed then, just as he is now, when James and John ask about seats of honor at his right and left. This is the second time Jesus has reminded the disciples about being last and first. In his words from the text today, “. . . whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mic drop!
They got served.
With this new knowledge, who is ready to drink from that cup or receive that baptism?
I can imagine the silence. If we were in post-production of a movie this is where we would insert the sound of crickets.
Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?
Servant. Slave. Served. Serve. Ransom. Those are weighty words. Those are loaded words that bring up images from the past and present. Some definitions from Merriam-Webster may help.
Servant (def): one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “servant,” accessed October 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/servant.
What images come to mind? You might think of Downton Abbey, another historical time, or the super wealthy as having servants.
You might think of “public servants.” I think of the poll workers and the lady who helped me register my car at the Tag Agency. I think of the security guards at the Capitol, the subway booth attendant, first responders, and the local law enforcement officer reminding me to slow down by flashing their lights rather than pulling me over.
I think of words like Butler or Steward.
Slave (def): noun/verb
– someone captured, sold, or born into chattel slavery.
⁃ someone (such as a factory worker or domestic laborer) who is coerced often under threat of violence to work for little or no pay.
– someone or something that is completely subservient to a dominating person or influence.
– to work very hard for long hours or under difficult conditions.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “slave,” accessed October 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave.
Images flash before my mind’s eye from biblical stories, the American Civil War, and the Holocaust.
But also coal miners. As the family story tells it, my mother’s parents met picking cotton for a quarter a bag a day.
I think of workers picking fruit and vegetables that some say are “taking American jobs,” but the last time I went to an employment agency or checked Indeed or Linkedin, those were not on the openings list.
I look at my phone or clothing and realize that people, many of whom are probably children, in other parts of the world work for little pay so I can have this technology, these clothes, and other stuff as cheaply as possible while corporations make a significant profit. I rationalize that they have a better job than what might be available in their country.
Served (verb) of serve.
Serve (def): intransitive or transitive verb
- to do military service
- to be of use
- to help persons to food, to wait at table or set out portions of food or drink
- to act as server at (mass or other religious service)
- to work through (a term of service)
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “serve,” accessed October 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/serve.
We thank veterans for “their service.”
I hear the cabin steward on the cruise ship remind me, “I’m at your service.”
I think of the Lion’s Club, Rotary, The Shriners, Welcome Wagon, The Moose Lodge, or service-oriented social clubs that help people from diverse backgrounds mingle and work for the good in their community.
We’ve probably all heard it at one time: “Hello. I’ll be your server.”
Deacon and elders serve this congregation.
Paying rent, a mortgage, or a loan is working through a term of service.
The Greek word lytron is translated as “ransom,” comes from the root lou which means:
“something to loosen with.”
Strong’s Number 3089 Greek Dictionary (Lexicon-Concordance) http://lexiconcordance.com/greek//3089.html
Ransom in our language means:
(noun/verb)
- a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity.
- to free from captivity or punishment by paying a price
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “ransom,” accessed October 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ransom.
There are so many NCIS, CSI, FBI, and lawyer shows to consume that you might think of “making bail or posting a bond.”
Have you ever watched one of those pawn shop reality shows or been in a Pawn Shop? The items there with a loan against them have helped someone get from one paycheck to the next. The things you can buy could not be recovered by their owners or were sold outright.
When I was a student at TCU, after four parking tickets, it seemed like the campus police would tow your car anytime they wanted, even when you were parked legally, but just outside the line or a bumper width in a no-parking zone. I was gone five minutes. FYI, don’t refer to the ticket or parking boot as a ransom. That doesn’t go over well.
Ransom. I think of the Disciples congregation here in Oklahoma, which received a donation from an estate and used it to buy the medical debt of strangers and forgive it for many.
Bob Dylan was on to something when he sang:
You’re still gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re going to have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re going to have to serve somebody.
Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming. “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Columbia Records, 1979.
The first time I heard the term “servant leadership” was in June 1981, when I was elected to the Coastal Plains Area Youth Council at church camp. My mentors then and still today, set this example for a life of ministry and faith.
Servant leadership prioritizes the growth and well-being of people and communities over oneself and emphasizes putting others’ needs first. This approach encourages team members to produce high-quality work, which ultimately contributes to the company’s overall success.
Career Guide, indeed.com.
Robert K. Greenleaf, an early promoter of this leadership philosophy, notes that a servant leader should focus on,
Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
Greenleaf, Robert (2007). The Servant as Leader. Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. pp. 79–85.
I think that’s the invitation in today’s text. Join Jesus in becoming servant leaders. That’s hard in our culture. It’s probably always been a challenging invitation to accept. Practicing the faith of Jesus sharpens one’s focus on the humanity of being served and serving in the here and now. But, it is hard. It is messy. We make mistakes. When it challenges the acceptable order, it can be life-threatening. Maybe that’s why Christian tradition made Jesus the object of faith, himself the very mystery of the gospel, rather than an example of faith. James, John, and the other ten didn’t grasp that they had heard or witnessed what “serving” meant the first or second time. They focused on worldly power and glory. Empires and kingdoms.
Disciples, remember that God’s grace, forgiveness, and peace are not abstract concepts. God’s grace, forgiveness, and peace are present in this world through your faith and actions as followers of Jesus. Your individual and collective efforts as a congregation have the power to transform the world around you, even if it is just for a moment, and a moment might be, can be enough.
It’s your work and service in this community.
It’s the way you serve your neighbors.
It’s the way you serve one another.
Sometimes, you can sense it.
Sometimes, you can see it.
Usually, you don’t know how kindness, a supportive word, or an action, small or large, can alter the trajectory of a person’s day, week, or life. You may have been a ransom. And it may take a while to know how that moment affected you.
Hello. I’ll be your server. I wonder if you will bump into Jesus in the week ahead?
May God continue to bless you with ministry to do and gospel to be.