The Pastor's Sermon - October 21, 2012 - Pentecost+21

And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

• When we hear or read this Gospel passage, I think we are often struck by the request of James and John. It seems to go against all that we know of Jesus' teachings. To request not simply special treatment, but the highest places in the Kingdom of God... that's pretty gutsy request. There's no wonder why the other disciples were bothered and angered by this request. It seems that James and John did not understand what it means to be part of the Kingdom. It also appears that the other 10 did not either.
• The question then is: do we understand what it means to be part of the Kingdom?
• James and John requested the honour to be at Jesus' right and left “in your glory.” That would seem to be a wonderful thing and a great honour. The right and left hand seats to either side of the greatest man you know would be an honour beyond all imagining. You would also have the ear of that great man at the head of the banquet table. In this light, there would be no wonder why the other disciples were angry with the two brothers.
• Jesus goes on to tell them that sitting at his right or left is not his to give and that they would have to receive the same treatment that Jesus receives. He also says that greatness is seen in littleness and the first will become last. Jesus came to serve rather than to be served. His life would become “a ransom for many.” Jesus tells this to all the Twelve, and not just James and John. They all needed to learn the meaning of leading and they all needed to learn the meaning of following Jesus.
• To follow Jesus is to turn your whole life upside- down. Greatness becomes service and being first means being beyond last and, indeed, being a “slave of all.”
• To live the life of Jesus means to die. With that, everything is turned upside down. Imagine, if you will, standing on your head and seeing how things look. The well-rooted hang suspended and dependant on something beyond themselves to keep them rooted. Left is right and up is down. Our great cities hang from a string above the clouds. What we call strength become weakness. What we seek as life is actually death and death leads to life.
• The glory of Jesus is nothing less than what we would consider his humiliation. Did you ever consider what Jesus meant by saying “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."? Think now, whom would such a place be prepared for? Great sages of the faith? Brilliant theologians or missionaries who have given all they have? Saints whom everyone looks to for inspiration? Who knows? Maybe there's room for everyone at Jesus right hand. But those places – to the left and to the right – were prepared for those who would be there when Jesus was in his glory.
• In John's Gospel, scholars say, Jesus goes to the cross as a king processing to mount his throne and receive his crown... which Jesus does in John's Gospel. It is the same in Mark: “And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.” When Jesus came into his glory, a glory we don't wish to see and don't understand, he had the ones for whom the places were prepared at his right and left.
• This surely was not what James and John wanted or expected. Nor was it what they meant. Yet it is what happened.
• What if James and John were asking to be Jesus' good right hand and strong left hand in his mission? That might be a bit different, but since we know that the disciples didn't really 'get it', the two brothers might have seen this as a path to privilege and glory as surely as the throne. Maybe the other disciples were disturbed and wanted the same as well.
• We can doubt the understanding of the Twelve, but I don't think we can question their sincerity.
• It would take the sad vision of the death of Jesus and his mysterious and blessed resurrection to bring his friends to understanding. They would all drink of the cup he drank from and be baptized in the same bath.
• This was not an easy lesson to learn and it is no easier for us, today, so many years later. Still, the lesson is the same.
• To follow Christ is to be completely transformed or turned upside down if you will. If it takes a day, a week or our entire lives, so be it. The lesson is the same... “... 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."