The Son of Man Came to Serve and Give

Mark 10:35-45 The Son of Man will be rejected, condemned, tortured and crucified and then he will rise from the dead.  This was not the first time that Jesus had spoken those words.  He knew just exactly who he was:  the Son of God and promised Messiah.  He knew just exactly what he had come to do:  to suffer and die and rise again for the salvation of the world.

We hear that story so often that I think it loses some of its impact and power on us.  And so let’s just take a moment to reflect a bit more deeply on what Jesus was saying to his disciples.

God’s own Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on our flesh to suffer and die so that we could be restored to our rightful place in God’s family.  He set his face towards Jerusalem knowing full well what would happen to him there.  He was rejected by those who should have been announcing his arrival and leading the people to their Savior.  Betrayal would come from those closest to him.  Those he should have been able to count on--abandoned him. 

The one true and living God of the universe in human flesh was spit upon, ridiculed and mocked, beaten so severely with a whipped laced with iron that most people did not survive it, and then nailed- hand and foot to a cross -where a crown of thorns was pressed upon his head, pouring blood down upon his face.  The last words he heard spoken to him were ones of contempt and mockery.

And in every moment of his passion there was nothing but love in his heart for you and me and everyone who abandoned him and misused him and mocked him.  With his dying breath he spoke words of mercy and forgiveness for every person who has ever lived.

This is what he came into the world to do.  This is what he accomplished.  This is what he promised the disciples before it every happened.  And what was their response to his words of love and sacrifice and humility?  What is our response to his sacrifice?  St. Mark writes:     

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up 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 do 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.” 

            Do you want to know the words to a prayer that never fails?  Do you want a prayer that is always answered in the affirmative?  “Thy will be done.”  That is the way that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray:  “Thy will be done.”

You will notice that the prayer of Jesus “Thy will be done” is very different indeed from the prayer of James and John which was:  “My will be done”.  And truth be told, the prayer of Jesus is very different indeed than the content of our prayers which too often is like theirs.

“Lord, here is what I want and this is when I want it.”  We may dress it up flowery language and pious sounding “god talk” but how often are our prayers like theirs?  “Lord, I want you to do whatever I say”?

That kind of prayer is the worst kind of idolatry because it fundamentally overturns who “God” is in our relationship with him.  Instead of being our Creator and our Father who give us what we need, when we need it, because he knows us and loves us, God becomes our servant who exists to serve us, giving us what we want when we want it because we demand it. 

And if you think that calling those kind of prayers “idolatry” is too hard a judgment, just look at what James and John ask for:  positions of glory and honor that elevate them above their brethren and place them next to the King.  

Jesus had just spoken of the mockery and shame and suffering and death he would suffer--and all they could think of was their own glory and honor and position.

“Pastor, my prayers aren’t like that!”  But what else are our prayers that ask for earthly ease when our Lord has plainly told us that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him and that the one who gains his life in this world will lose it in the world to come?  Like the disciples we must be reminded that future glory comes only through the cross. 

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 

            They didn’t know what they were asking—but they should have known!  Jesus never hid from them just exactly what it meant to be his disciple and he doesn’t hide it from us.  He says:

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you on account of me!  Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.  Take up your cross and follow me.  A servant is not above his master!  The first shall be last and the last first.  This is what Jesus says about our life as his people.

They didn’t know what they were asking because they didn’t understand that the path to glory--for Jesus and for them—would go through the cross.  Jesus would be rejected, suffer, die and rise again just like he promised and ascend to the glories of heaven.

And the journey to heaven would go the same way for James and John—one of them martyred and one of them exiled.  Their lives as disciples as Jesus Christ and their journey to the glories of heaven would go the way of the cross because that is the only way that journey can go—for them and for us.

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.” 

            Martyrdom and exile.  That’s the way it was for James and John and that’s the way it is for all who follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.  All of us are called by Jesus to walk the way of the cross—to live and die as martyrs and exiles.

That does not necessarily mean that all of us will bare our neck to the sword like James did or that we will be exiled far from home as was his brother John.  But it does mean that we will daily die to sin and crucify our flesh.  It does mean that we will live our lives as exiles in this world, longing for our true, eternal home.  Now, please understand…

There is a glory to come.  There is an eternity in heaven to enjoy.  There is a glad resurrection to look forward to.  God has prepared that for us and gives it as a gift of his grace.  But glory is still in the future for us and until that day comes we are to follow Christ and lay down our lives in service and sacrifice for others rather than seeking honor for ourselves. 

When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.  And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 

James and John may have been the ones who actually had enough nerve to ask Jesus for greatness and glory but all of them were thinking it.  It’s just another sad, ugly part of our fallen human flesh that we are not content to be last-- but demand to be first and yearn for glory.

But the child of God and disciple of Jesus Christ is no longer ruled by the flesh.  We are to be different than those in the world around us who care about fame and fortune and pride of place because we are different.  We have been changed forever by the humble man of the cross who did not count equality with God something to be held onto but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, dying for us—even death on a cross.  And so then…

Jesus not only forbids self-seeking and self-importance in the church, he says it even more strongly:  It shall not be so among you.  Instead, we count others better than ourselves.  We submit ourselves to one another and clothe ourselves in humility.  We are concerned for the interests of others and the strong serve the weak.  Jesus says: 

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

            In that crowd of people walking up to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover there was one who was truly great.  He was not a brilliant scientist.  He had not forged an empire by the strength of a sword.  He did not possess the wealth of Solomon. 

He would ride into Jerusalem, not on mighty steed like a great general, but on a donkey with his feet almost dragging the ground.  He would kneel down before his pride-filled disciples who could only think of themselves and wash their feet.  He would allow his enemies to say all kinds of terrible lies about him.  He would be spit upon and beaten and ridiculed and die a criminals’ death.  And yet…

In God’s judgment Jesus is the greatest man who ever lived because he became a slave to all people by bearing our sin and ugliness upon himself and dying (in our place) the death that we deserve as the ransom price to set us free from sin and death. You see dear friends in Christ…

That is what true greatness is in God’s sight.  That is what true glory is. That is why our lives together as a congregation and our lives as individual Christians are distinctively different than the self-seeking, self-important values of the world. 

Christian husbands love their wives like Christ loved the church and Christian wives submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ and Christian children obey their parents not because we demand love and respect and obedience-- but because it is the way of Christ.  

Members of a Christian congregation are concerned for the weaker Christian in their midst and willing to sacrifice our preferences so that others are not harmed by our choices and we count others better than ourselves because it is the way of Christ.

And because we serve the one who became a slave to all people and a ransom for the many we have the same loving concern for the salvation of those around us as did our Lord, bearing witness to him in word and deed and giving generously for the sake of the Gospel so that others might have a place in God’s family.

May our lives of service be a true reflection of the Son of Man who came, not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for us all!  Amen.