October 22, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Isaiah 53: 10-11 + Hebrews 4: 14-16 + Mark 10:35-45
The basic trouble in the human community right now is that people wish to do as little as possible and to get as much as possible. In contrast to that condition, we proclaim verses of Mark’s Gospel today that tell about Mark, about James and John, and about the standard of greatness that Jesus proposes. These verses tell us about Mark because he does not hesitate to show us apostles as they really were, allowing us to include ourselves among those called to greatness and faith.
These verses tell us about James and John because they were children of privilege, ambitious, inconsiderate, and slow to understand. From we are told of their family, they came from comfortable surroundings with a father who had hired hands and probably some power and status. What their boldness reveals today is that they thought this might provide them with some privilege, thinking they had influence and deserved a place of honor without paying the price of admission. Yet in spite of their flaws and that not too perfect faith, they believed in Jesus.
These verses also tell us about the standard of greatness Jesus has come to propose to those who would claim him as their Lord, Leader, and Example. When he speaks of drinking from a cup, it is metaphor that means sharing in one’s life. It was a custom in that culture to share a drink from a common cup with someone who was sharing an experience of life with you. When he speaks of baptism, he is not speaking of a religious ritual, he is using the Greek word literally which means submersion. So, the proposal refers to being totally submerged into an experience, in the sense that someone might be “submerged” in debt. What he offers those of us who will be his disciples is a share in his experience of being God’s child, God’s chosen one. What he offers those of us who will be his disciples
is a complete submersion into his experience of service and sacrifice which leads to exaltation and a place at the right hand of God.
Greatness for followers of Jesus will come from sacrifice, freely embraced and totally fulfilled. It will not come from status or privilege. It is only when we are filled with the desire to put into life more than we take out, that is, to serve others,
that life for ourselves and for others can be happy and prosperous. Only then shall we “approach the throne of grace” as the Letter to the Hebrews calls it today, and only then shall we know mercy and grace, joy and peace.