Scripture: Mark 10:35-45; Job 38:1-7 Series: After Pentecost
Preached on Confirmation Sunday, this sermon reads James and John’s request to sit at Jesus’ right and left not as selfish scheming but as a genuine desire to be great alongside Jesus. Jesus reframes greatness as servanthood: the cup he offers is a life of service and obligation to all, and his ransom (lutron) frees us not for worldly power but for the freedom of love. Pruitt urges the congregation to let Scripture speak rather than read into it, celebrates the confirmands and baptisms as commitments to self-giving over power, and calls the whole church to be a mutually dependent team living out the Prayer of St. Francis.
Illustrations: paris-olympics-family, olympics-history, school-success-opportunity, jacob-winks-his-way, mexican-food-dinner-pick, lutron-ransom-word, shot-putter-flavor-flav, prayer-of-st-francis
October 20
The Cup
Job 38:1-7
Mark 10:35-45
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? - Job 38:1-7
James 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.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But 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?” They 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, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So 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. But it is not so among you; instead, 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.” - Mark 10:35-45
My family really enjoyed watching the Summer Olympics this year from Paris. It was the first time all of us were into it at the same time. We all had different sports that we really liked to watch. Ephraim was into track events and the sprinting. Alina was really into women’s rugby. Dominic’s favorite event was in the paraolympics: it was GoalBall. I was really interested in the judo, because I know the rules now from practicing jujitsu. And it was great to see just this excellence, these amazing athletes going back and forth. People striving to be the best, to be the greatest at this one thing.
The modern Olympics started in 1896. The ancient one lasted for more than a 1000 years, beginning in 776 BC and lasting up until 393 AD. Greek history was demarcated by the Olympic games. Even into the Roman times, the Olympics were a way to demarcate the passing of time. The Olympics then and now contain people striving to be the best.
Most of Olympians have this drive in them that is unique. That drive to be the best is not necessarily bad. There are a lot of goods that come out of striving for excellence. You know, we want our kids to succeed in school, to be successful in school, to strive for excellence because that opens up for them many more opportunities later in life. They have more freedom to follow a life that they would like to lead. This is a good thing.
Mark
In the gospel of Mark in chapter 10, John and his brother James are striving to be the best. I think that’s how we should read this and understand it. They are not looking for a handout. They are not trying to make an easy buck or get an easy position in the organization. These are men who have given up everything to follow Jesus.
A lot of times, this story is told as if James and John are trying to wink, wink, nudge, nudge their way into glory. I don’t think that’s the case at all. And I don’t think that they’re disappointed in what Jesus has to say. There are other people in the Bible who would try and wink, wink, nudge, nudge their way to glory. Jacob is a great example. Jacob is trying to get out of working in order to get what he wants. But James and John, I mean, they already gave up everything to be where they are. They’re really not striving for worldly glory. They really want to be with Jesus.
Now usually, when this text is preached, there is talk about how important sitting next to someone was in ancient cultures. We need to understand that a lot of that is speculation. We’re reading into what’s going on in the text when we define what Jesus didn’t define. We’re often tempted to do that. I mean, it was a long time ago. But I think it’s always important for people today, when they’re reading the Bible, to let the Bible speak to them and not to speak into it. Because that gives more opportunity for the the word of God, for the spirit of God present in the text to speak to us, to transform us. The more we put into the words, the more we define the meaning with extra biblical resources, the less space God has to move in us. It’s like trying to pick a place to eat for dinner, and you first tell your spouse, “I want Mexican food,” and then there are a few more requirements. “…but not like too fancy Mexican food, but not too trashy Mexican food. It’s really gotta have, like, a good enchilada, but not like that greasy an enchilada.” Suddenly, there are not that many places you can pick. There’s not a lot of space for freedom.
Mark Again
When we get back to Mark, the important detail here is the cup. Sitting next to Jesus is a mark of wanting to be excellent, of wanting to be great. We see that in his response. We understand what they’re striving for. They’re wanting to be the best. They’re wanting to be important in a specific way, in a way of service in the power of God and love, these things which are good.
Not every goal is worth striving for. To be the laziest person in the world is not a goal worth pursuing. But being the most loving person on earth, that’s pretty darn great. Right?
But there’s a catch. This is the catch that Jesus is trying to point out. To be the most loving, to be the most giving, this pursuit may have some consequences in this world. We don’t live in a vacuum. We are not an island to ourselves. My behavior effects my neighbors. And their behavior affects me.
In the secular world, in ancient times and then still today, there’s a level of greatness people seek that gives them authority over other people. And this is where the catch is. The power found in the presence of God is not worldly power. It does not give you worldly authority. Jesus said, 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. But it is not so among you. Instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
Obligated to everyone. That’s the catch. That’s the part that James and John don’t quite realize that they’re asking for. What they’re asking for is a life of servitude, which seems to be the very thing that people who are trying to be great seek to avoid. A life of servitude is a life without as many options, without as many opportunities, without as many choices. And then Jesus ends it with this in Mark. For the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Ransom is a is a Greek word, lutron , which is found at one other place in Matthew 20. And it’s, uh, comes from the the verb to lose. It’s a payment that loosens, that releases someone from bondage. That’s what Jesus gives. Jesus frees us from sin, but that freedom isn’t the freedom of power or domination. It is the freedom of love.
Today is confirmation Sunday. I’m honored to preach this day to share in the decisions these young people have made for their life. Decisions that may look strange to some. The decision to claim their faith in confirmation is not a decision to seek power in this world or to seek glory from their friends. It is a decision to say that giving of themselves is better than receiving. The life of love is better than the life of destruction. The god is Triune. The god is real and offered not only to them, but to the world. We’re also baptizing two young people today. Baptism is an act of God. It’s not an act of humans. It is a gift of God, which is why we baptize infants in this church. Is offered by God. It is a free gift. So why should we withhold that free gift?
If we go back to the Olympics, the folks who qualify for the Olympics, they were the ones who were in the arena. They were the ones who had to perform, but they had people who trained them, training partners, coaches their friends and family that supported them. Some were in lucrative sports. Some weren’t at all. There was one of the US female shop putters was in Paris and couldn’t make rent ‘cause she, she wasn’t getting anything out of it. She got the ticket over there, but she wasn’t making extra money. And it’s like the old rapper, Flava Flave came out of nowhere to sponsor her, cover her rent. While LeBron James and Steph Curry make millions every year, she struggled to follow her dream, but she followed it.
What Jesus is saying here in Mark 10 is that to be a Christian is to be a part of a team, to not seek to be beyond the team, beyond the people around you.
Following Jesus is not about dominating the people around you. Even dominating in love, for domination itself points to a fall from grace. It points to the very brokenness in this world that Jesus came to heal.
These people whom we have prayed for this morning, these people we lift up, they need us to continue to pray for them, to continue to lift them up, and even more so, we need them. We need them not just as reminders of our own youth or our own children. We need them as Christians. We need them as the church. We need them to step up in leading, to take on ministry, to take on service, to give, to welcome, to witness. We need to learn from them about who Jesus is. It is a relationship. It is a dialogue. This is the faith. Paul uses the term Koinaneia, fellowship, brotherhood, sisterhood, community. All this together, wrapped up in servanthood and love around the person Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us.
So, as we celebrate this day, as we pray for them this day, let us commit to learning from them. Let us commit to teaching them, to including in the full life of the church and let us commit ourselves to step into the full life of the church with our presence, with our service, with our gifts, with our financial support. It is not somebody else’s job. It is not somebody else’s responsibility. We are all each called in this way. Let us give thanks to God for these people, but God has brought into our life and let us not disappoint them by acting any less than the people God called us to be.
The choir sang an anthem based on the prayer of Saint Francis. These words can guide all us, whether we are being confirmed or have been Christian’s for decades
Lord make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. O divine master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love For it is in giving that we receive- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit on Amen.