October 22, 2006
Job 38:1-7, 21
Hebrews 5:1-5
Mark 10:35-45
“Keep It Real”
Rev Jeffrey Cheifetz
Job 38:1-7, 21
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. 4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone 7when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? ....21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
Hebrews 5:1-5
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; 3and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”.
Mark 10:35-45
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.”
Impudent. Arrogant. Presumptious. Those are words we give to people who lay claim to more than they should get on the basis of an inflated opinion about themselves. We can all think of people like that, who for some reason believe they are God’s special gift to humanity, and act accordingly.
This describes James and John, the sons of thunder. Whatever caused them to believe that they could demand a blank check of their teacher? Perhaps they thought they understood his role in history, and tried to hitch a ride on his star. Whether they saw him as potential military leader, or servant king who would begin a golden age by the power of God, they wanted to be in on the action, part of the “A” team.
It is too easy for us to condemn these restless disciples. Not all of us are as honest as they in their desire to be close to the center, in the mix. But we do not think of ourselves as ambitious - we just want our lives, our work, to be significant. And it would be OK for us to be noticed, as well - being honored is nice, and a little prestige is good. Underneath our planning and plotting, we may have a deep need for security, for a protected and honored place, and for an established role. If we begin there, we are likely to act in ways that violate deeply held values in order to meet those needs.
We love to bash politicians when their very human foibles and temptations become public - when they sell themselves to the highest bidder, and take positions that are calculated to garner votes. But when we are honest about ourselves, we must admit that we too jockey for position, and present ourselves in less than honest ways, posing as friends to those whose personality, position, or power lure us toward them, that we too might become greater than we are now. The danger is, of course, that little by little we lose our own souls in a vain quest to silence the hungry voice within us that is never quite satisfied.
We think that we know what we ask for, not realizing that sometimes not receiving what we want is the better option. Overreaching is a very modern phenomenon, not limited to captains of the internet, gurus of the stock market, and CEO’s of huge corporations. Our culture demands that we become more, than we get more, that we control more, that we have our 15 minutes of fame. The virtues of humility, of having enough, of personal and corporate integrity and honesty, are easily overrun by our anxiety. Whatever happened to, “give us this day our daily bread“, and “lead us not into temptation”? Lost in the white noise of our consumerism.
Today’s religious leaders are also prone to lose their way. Not just the ones that make the headlines through abuse of their pastoral office and power. It is all too easy for the clergy I know, including myself, to believe that we have to be more, do more, know more. Somehow the mantle of authority leads us to think that we have to always be ‘on’, because our ordination has somehow made us indispensable, responsible for everything, and as Barbara Brown Taylor has written, believers in the false gospel of ‘omnicompetence’ (BBT, Leaving Church, 2006). It is an inhumane way of being that violates the very notion of God’s grace given to all.
Well, what models of leadership had the disciples experienced so far? The Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes, the politico-religious leaders of the Jewish people under Pilate, the Roman commander and governor, and Herod, the Jewish king who ruled at the pleasure of the Romans. All of them were politically savvy, networked the system, understood who buttered whose bread. All of them knew how to protect their turf by diplomacy and influence, and force. And there were the Zealots, the Jewish underground, guerrillas, freedom fighters, and terrorists of that day, who made sure the Romans never felt totally secure about their rule.
The disciples’ teacher tried to turn the contemporary notions of leadership and the holding of power and influence on their heads, for they were toxic, lethal to the fullness of human existence within the reign of God. No doubt Jesus was crestfallen when two of his disciples proved that they had not learned to let go of their messianic ideology, and their hidden desires for personal glory at any cost. They had not learned what Jesus came to teach all of humanity. The rest of the 12 responded with anger, probably because James and John had beat them to the punch.
Jesus noted the ways of the rulers of world, as those who lord it over people, and who act like tyrants. He tells the disciples that they are not to act this way, the way of despotism, of power over other children of God. For he came not to be feared because of his power, but to bring life to many.
Misused power has always undercut and given the lie to the gospel proclaimed by the Church. History tells us about Hatuey, a Taíno chief who lived on the island of Hispaniola (upon which are Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the early sixteenth century. Hatuey was the first fighter against colonialism in the New World, and is celebrated as "Cuba's First National Hero."[1] When in 1511, Diego Velázquez set out from Hispaniola to conquer the island of Cuba, he was preceded by Hatuey, who fled with a party of four hundred natives in canoes and warned the Cuban natives about what to expect from the Spaniards.[2] Bartolomé de Las Casas later attributed the following speech to Hatuey. He showed the Cubans a basket of gold and jewels, saying:
Here is the God the Spaniards worship. For these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea... They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters. Incapable of matching us in valor, these cowards cover themselves with iron that our weapons cannot break...[3]
Most of the Cubans could not believe Hatuey's message, and few joined him to fight .… Eventually the Spaniards succeeded in capturing him. On February 2, 1512[4], he was tied to a stake and burned alive (at Yara[5]). Before he was burned, a priest asked him if he would accept Jesus and go to heaven. Hatuey asked "Are there people like you in heaven?" When the priest assured him that there were, Hatuey replied that he wanted nothing to do with a God that allowed such cruelty to be perpetuated in His name.[6]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatuey - see notes below)
Note that Jesus did not respond to James and John with condemnation. He simply spoke of drinking the cup that he would drink, and being baptized with his baptism.
What did this mean? It meant his remaining true to God’s call, through suffering and death. It meant enduring a baptism of fire that none of them could withstand, no matter their brave words.
They were so eager, and uncalculating in some ways, just as many of us are when we begin our pilgrimage into leadership. Jesus assured them that they would experience what they had committed themselves to, but he made no promises about privileged position or status. That in itself would militate against their need to be totally vulnerable in the tasks that they agreed to do. (adapted from Journey Into Weakness by Gene Beerens, Sojourners Magazine, January 1980)
Vulnerable. True. Humble. Able to fall while knowing that one is held in the strong arms of God. Durable. Faithful. Dependent upon God. Able to serve others rather than riding roughshod over them. Faithful to God above everyone and everything else. A leader who is emptyhanded, but full-hearted toward God and their brothers and sisters. This requires God’s grace of transformation in our inmost being. It is so easy to criticize others, whether political or religious leaders, for their failures of leadership, but without God’s Spirit remaking us we too will fall. Being a servant is not a strategy. It is a way of being that we grow into by the grace of God, slowly.
Until we grow into it, it is easy to be falsely humble, or unwilling to be vulnerable, or to take the risk of leading. There is a temptation to remain a "behind-the-scenes" leader, not really emerging to take full responsibility for leadership. This is the reverse of James and John’s inflated and grasping brashness. When we sit on and deny our God-given giftedness and uniqueness, our wisdom and knowledge, out of false humility, or a fear of failure, or a fear of criticism, then we deny one another what God can do only in and through us.
We cannot be Jesus. The job of messiah is already taken, and you and I are not it.
But we can move toward the faith of Jesus, that sense of being loved and secured in God’s hands as we follow the Spirit, whether or not doing so makes us popular, liked, respected, powerful, significant, the center of attention, or one who suffers because we love God and neighbor with our whole heart, mind, soul, and body.
The question that echoed in the silence of the disciple’s hearts was this one: “What would I become in the reign of God?” May we hear the same question in the depths of who we are, and may we answer, “One who comes with empty hands, and a full heart”.
Let us pray: O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, strength of the thoughts that seek you: Help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whose service is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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