Mark 10:35-45To view, this service you can follow the link to our Facebook page: Worship Service for Sunday, January 16
Behind every sermon, there is often a quote, an image, and at times even another sermon from another preacher. If we are not careful preachers often become unintentional plagiarizers. I try as much as I can to avoid that so I want you to know upfront this morning that the ideas I am using are not unique to me. I am borrowing phrases from a speech that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr gave on February 4, 1968, exactly two months before his assassination. He borrowed and adapted his from a 1952 homily called “Drum Major’s Instinct” preached
by J. Wallace Hamilton who is noted to be “a well-known, liberal, white Methodist preacher.”
Seventy years later I am not at all sure I can translate accurately what “well-known, liberal, white Methodist preacher” was in 1952 any more than I can in 2022. At the same time, I can also assure myself as well as you that even with the major changes occurring in organized religion many things are true today as they were 2000 years ago when Jesus lived among the people.
Borrowing words of truth from many sources then, let’s take a look at this story from the Gospel of Mark.
So what is going on here?
James and John, brothers, came to Jesus and boldly asked: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” I would love to have seen Jesus’ face at this point! “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” (If you are good at remembering the stories you might recall that this occurs in another story, but it is the brother’s mother who makes the request!)
We will return to the story in a moment, but stop and think about this. It’s a pretty bold request. And we might wonder what is behind it.
In the sermons by King and Hamilton, they refer to this as the “Drum Major’s Instinct.” In many ways, most of us want to be leaders, the Drum Major of the band, the president of the club, the lead debate partner, the lead in the school play, first chair in our section of the orchestra, section leader in chorus. Even if we are not the first chair or elected president we might otherwise desire to serve in leadership on the City Council or the School Board, or the leadership team at work, or in the Rotary or Kiwanis, our Fraternity or Sorority. Leadership is a gift we give ourselves and others. And it is a necessary position in any group of people who gather around a common cause. It is not always a bad idea to ask to sit at the head table.
To sit at the head table with Jesus however, is another thing.
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We can,” they answered.
“You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
The other disciples catch up with Jesus and the brothers and, overhearing the conversation they are not happy.
Jesus stops the squabble and reminds everyone that the leadership in God’s Kingdom is very different than the leadership of the world. . . . “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and slave to all.”
For the last 2000 plus years, this is where the teaching begins to become difficult to hear and to understand. Jesus, as the gospel writers show, uses enigmatic ways of speaking: through stories and parables that give Christians through the years glimpse of what he means. Only as we sit with the teachings, and study with others, and listen to the interpretation of preachers and teachers through the years do we find ways to understand and apply Jesus’ words in our lives.
Hamilton and then King interpret servant leadership and the desire to be first in this interpretation of this scripture with three phrases: If we are to be worthy of being seated with Jesus we need to be FIRST IN THREE THINGS:
First in love
First in moral excellence
First in generosity.
When we are first in those three things we have become a servant worthy of being CONSIDERED for a seat at the table.
That is what a servant is.
Very quickly then,
FIRST IN LOVE: (the highest and only true motivation for doing anything.) It is following the love command to the highest level: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. Which means to love yourself.
Something interesting here is that there is never talk about “being in love” with God, or with Jesus or the Church or your neighbor. The verb is always an active verb of “love God” and “love neighbor” and “love yourself.”
Being First in Love means excelling above others in how you love and how you show your love . . . how you live it out. We can talk about that for years and still not master the topic. But it is a prerequisite for Jesus and Paul and these two preachers from the past. As well as your current pastor.’
FIRST IN MORAL EXCELLENCE:(The way you live your life as a servant is to be so ingrained in you that you by habit do the right thing. (Aristotle’s definition of excellence: habits that are so ingrained you do them 99 percent of the time.)
Both KING and HAMILTON were schooled in the classic philosophers and were influenced by Aristotle who is one of the philosophers who addressed morality and excellence.
Moral excellence means living in such a way that you don’t have to think about what the right thing to do is . . . you do it because the right thing is a part of everything you do consciously and subconsciously.
FIRST IN GENEROSITY: Generosity is also going above and beyond what is expected. (If someone wants your cloak give them your coat as well . . . ) Generosity is not a part of planned giving, although there are many generous persons who plan their giving. Generosity means less about where “I want my money, my estate, my time, my talent to go.” Generosity means what do I have that the other needs from me and how do I make it happen for them. How do I give my time to benefit others? What financial resources do I have that someone else needs if I can make it happen? What talent do I have that will better the space and place in which I live, work, or serve?
First in generosity is the third hallmark requisite for King and Hamilton. The more I thought about it this week it aligns with the Gospel almost 100 percent.
You give even when you don’t want to. (Salvation Army Kettles)
You give even when you have already given (Tithe vs reduced tithe and selective giving)
You give because you can give.
Sunday morning parking at the church is available in the high school parking lot on Third Street across from the church and in the city lots west of the church. These lots are available only on Sunday mornings. A small lot for handicapped parking is available just off of Adams Street on the north side of the church, with an accessible entrance directly into the sanctuary. A lift operates between the Fellowship Hall (3rd Street level) and the Sanctuary. William Sound System Receivers and Headsets are available to assist with hearing problems.
The First United Methodist Church of Moscow, Idaho takes as our mission to be the body of Jesus Christ, ministering to a community which draws strength from its diversity. Our mission centers on the worship of God, expressed through varied forms of prayer, preaching, music, and ritual. See more...