By Veronica Gould

Mark 10:34-38, 42-44

Encountering the Text

James and John were brothers, the sons of a fisherman named Zebedee. They were at work on a fishing boat when Jesus came along and swept them off their feet.

 

They put total trust in God that something new and marvelous was in the works– and they wanted to be part of the action. Based on the four gospels we recognize as scripture– Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John– James and John were in the inner circle of the disciples. Alongside Peter, they were present for all the main events, including Jesus’ Transfiguration and His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.  James and John were the picture of perfection as disciples.

 

Except for when they weren’t.

 

Along their journey with Jesus, James and John were anything but shy. Their zeal for the faith earned them the nickname “Sons of Thunder”. Once, James and John asked Jesus if He would call down fire from the sky to consume Samaritans who had rejected the gospel.

 

No, Jesus said, that’s the old way.

We’re doing something NEW.

 

Another time, John asked for Jesus’ help in shutting down the ministry of a stranger who acted in Jesus’ name.

 

No, Jesus said, that’s the old way.

We’re doing something NEW.

 

And in the text we heard this morning, the pattern continues. The disciples are on their way with Jesus heading towards Jerusalem, where Jesus would be crucified. He had just finished telling the disciples that He was going to be killed. The scripture tells us that the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and that they were afraid to ask him.

 

In the previous chapter of Mark’s gospel, we read that the disciples were having a secret argument about who was the greatest among them. The argument finally comes to a head when James and John have the audacity to address Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask”.

 

They ask for assurance that there is a place for them in glory. They want to be close to Jesus, to be recognized. To have power and authority of their own. After years of sacrifice, they are wondering when it will pay off. They are assessing whether the reward of following is worth the risk.

 

James and John, who jumped out of their boat at the mention of their name, began to see the reality of a life of following Jesus and became gripped by fear.

 

They asked Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in glory”.

 

No, Jesus said, that’s the old way.

We’re doing something NEW.

 

Could it be that the kingdom God has in mind is not like earthly kingdoms? That our notions of power, rank, and station become meaningless in light of the gospel? That God has something even better in store for us?

 

“The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Those who would be called greatest would be servant of all.”

 

Could it be that Christ came into the world not to give us earthly status but to free us from the need to strive for status entirely? To share in a status that is not of our own making but entirely a gift from God, the status of children of God.

 

“Spiritual Musical Chairs”

 

About two months ago, I got on a plane to fly from New Jersey to California. On my flight, I could see out the window– fields, mountain ranges, outlines of little towns below, miles and miles of open spaces.

 

It was hard to wrap my mind around so much space. By the time I arrived in Sacramento, I had the distinctive feeling that I was so far away from home that I might as well be on Mars.

 

The human brain has trouble thinking in terms that are so big. For instance, right now, try to imagine a galaxy. Do you have a picture in your mind? Perhaps sort of a vague swirling image, something you’ve seen before in a photograph? We can’t see the individual stars. We have to scale it down a bit– to a size we can understand more easily.

 

Despite all our human brilliance, the human mind is limited in what we can practically imagine. I think this is part of the reason the disciples always seem to have a hard time understanding the good news of the kingdom of God.

 

Like James and John, our economic and social realities have led us to see our world in a small lens, from a logic of scarcity.

 

Scarcity says:

 

Is it worth it to give something up if I don’t know what I’ll get in return?

 

If someone else gets something, will there be enough for me, too?

 

Is there a place for me at the table?

 

Scarcity is a language of doubt. It’s a real logic, but it’s one that is constantly hedging its bets, afraid to take risks. It’s more concerned with protecting its own self-interest than imagining new possibilities. Because the logic of scarcity is based on fear, not faith.

 

James and John were caught in the logic of scarcity.

 

They found themselves playing a game of spiritual musical chairs.

 

In the game of musical chairs, there are winners and losers. The players walk around a circle of chairs while the music plays, and when it stops, they rush to find a seat.

 

But there aren’t enough chairs for everyone. That’s the whole point! So the player left standing when the music stops is out, and the game continues until there is only one person left.

 

Wouldn’t that be a stressful way to live?

Always running, waiting for the music to stop? Never able to walk freely?

 

When we fall prey to the logic of scarcity, we, too, find ourselves playing a game of spiritual musical chairs.

 

We worry. We see more of what we don’t have than what we do. We can’t recognize the gifts we’ve been given.

 

But Jesus says to us

 

No, that’s the old way.

We’re doing something NEW.

 

With Jesus, there are enough chairs to go around. We don’t need to worry about running around, or keeping our place, or comparing ourselves to anyone else. God is already preparing a place for each of us. This is God’s promise for us.

 

And faith in this promise gives us a greater imagination– the divine imagination of the kingdom of God–which challenges our expectations of power. We worship an almighty God who is so averse to power that in order to show us love, God sacrificed power to be with us, embodied and vulnerable. God flips power on its head and instead shows us something better: love.

 

There is no prerequisite to faith other than openness to the new possibility of God’s love.

 

All of us are invited to receive it. There is enough to go around. In God’s kingdom, the logic of scarcity becomes a logic of abundance.

 

We are freed in the Spirit from our fears. If we know that our place in the Kingdom of God really is secure, how would that change the way we lived? How much more can we love and serve as Jesus did, because we know that we are deeply and unconditionally loved by God?