35James 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." 36And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" 37And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." 38But 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?" 39They 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; 40but 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."41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So 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. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
The cross. It is the central symbol for Christians. We place it before us in worship as a reminder of what we believe, of Christ’s presence here. It is a reminder of death.
In the this passage from Mark, we hear the conversation that follows Jesus' third prediction of his death.
The disciples seem to follow each of these predictions with a conversation about glory. The last time it was an argument about who is the greatest. This time James and John just ask if Jesus will make them the greatest, give them the places of honor at his right and his left.
There are many churches these days that don’t have a cross in their worship space or if they do it is not prominent. It seems that people don’t want to be reminded of death. There is a frequent claim that worship should make us feel good. Being reminded of death doesn’t make us feel good.
To be the greatest is something that we strive for, just like James and John. We say we want to give glory to God, but also want God to give us glory.
Preachers who claim that God wants to bless us are popular, because we want God to bless us. We want God to give us wealth and success and power. Wouldn’t it feel good to know that God gave us all of those things because we are so good?
I heard a sermon once on thanksgiving where the preacher told us about the Christians in another country. And how they had so little and they were persecuted by the people of other religions. They weren’t given the freedom to gather for worship, and they had to do so in secret, and because they were persecuted, they were also poor. The point of the sermon seemed to be that God has blessed us with freedom and with wealth and success, so we should be thankful…I can’t be the only one who wondered why this preacher believed God didn’t bless the Christians in another nation.
We plant our nation’s flag in our worship space and seldom question what impression that leaves to outsiders and visitors about our priorities and what we believe about God’s blessings. Does God bless America and not the other nations of the world?
“You do not know what you are asking.” He says to them. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.” Confidently they answer, “We are able.”
Politicians invoke the name of Jesus to win the Christian vote. Attaching God’s name to all sorts of agendas. It confuses many Christians, and even more non-Christians. If God wants everything the politicians say, then God cannot possibly be for everyone.
James and John cannot have the places to the right and left of Jesus in his glory. Because his glory looks nothing like they imagine. To his right and his left are two thieves. Two sinners. Two people with no glory; with lives that those in authority say have no value. So life is taken away from them in all humiliation. In death they find themselves in paradise with a king.
We can be baptized with the baptism with which Christ is baptized. It is a baptism into death.
We come out on the other side of death soaking wet, gasping for air, clinging to life and to the God who gave it to us. We open our eyes and there before us in the center of the kingdom is not a castle, not a palace, a king in jewels, or a man in a business suit. But instead a man stripped bare, beaten, and hung to die.
He carried the world on his slumped shoulders in the form of a cross. He suffered, he took on everything and gave everything for a world in need. He is our king, our lord, our high priest, our savior.
To look upon this sight and imagine ourselves a part of his kingdom is not easy. It does not fit with what we are told we should desire. We come from a nation that with enough might to influence all other nations, with enough wealth to get whatever we want, with enough glory to believe that God is on our side and against anyone who challenges us. This cross is not attractive; it does not make us feel good. It does not make our nation powerful, or our families wealthy.
It is ugly enough that we want to turn away. But we hear his words “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be a 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.”
Why do we make our crosses shiny and ornate? To show that it is the true place of glory. But maybe it is confusing to put such honor on an instrument of death. Maybe it takes away the reminder we all need of the servant king who died there.
We need to be reminded of death because it is the greatest blessing we are ever given. It is a death that leads to resurrection; to new life. Not a life of worldly glory, but a life in the kingdom of God, where sinners receive the places to the right and the left hand of a king, servants become great and the first is the slave of all.
We need to be reminded of death because Christ’s death is for us, for sinners, for we who do not know what we ask for.
In our world of seeking glory, success, honor, wealth, and power, we need a reminder that none of these will survive in the kingdom of God. Death will swallow them whole, but it will not swallow us because the one who calls us to serve, first served us, first died and first was resurrected. We are able to drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized with the baptism with which he was baptized. We are able to die and rise with him to a kingdom where all of the glory is his, but the kingdom is open to all.
