"What Jesus Wants
"
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. David McMaster
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Text: Mark 10:35-45
A few years ago, the film, What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, was released. You may remember the humorous story of an advertising executive who had an accident with an electrical device in his bathroom. The electrocution he suffered left him, as James Bond may put it, “shaken and stirred,” but also with a very wonderful gift, he could hear the thoughts of women. Everywhere he went, he could hear what women were thinking and as a societal playboy, Gibson's character used the gift to his benefit. Women fawned over him, dazzled by the fact that a man could actually understand them. In conversation, he was as good as a woman, he was amazing, he actually knew “what women want” and the film goes on to focus on his use of this gift against, and then for, his new boss played by Helen Hunt.
I'm not sure whether it would be a good thing to know what other people are thinking, and about ourselves in particular, but I have to admit that such a gift may help us get beyond the “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” thing. We may actually reach the point at which we understand each other. Alas, the gift is the stuff of fiction but as someone who frequently reflects upon God and God-things, the theme of that film left me wondering, “Wouldn't it be great to know exactly what Jesus wants?” Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that gift with respect to God? We sometimes see the acronym these days, WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing, when we face two paths in the forest of life, when we need some direction to actually be able to tap into the thoughts of the one who has the big picture ever before him?
Alas, that too is wishful thinking, at least, when it comes to the particular, but in a general way, we actually do know what Jesus wants. We know it from the Gospels and the writings of the early church. These things provide us with a record of the life, and the teaching, and the impact of Jesus on people 2,000 years ago. If we turn to the Gospels, if we read them for understanding, and if we take their teaching into ourselves, we can get to know a great deal of what Jesus really wants.
I'm afraid, as we encounter our reading this morning, the path that Jesus sets before us is not an easy one. It is not an easy path to understand or live. It is far from the Comfortable Pew, it goes against the grain of our humanity and one of the principles of the world, it goes against something that has existed from the beginning, the human desire for power. Nietzsche formulated a philosophy elevating power and strength. We live in a world in which might is so often right and how much we value power may be seen as we engage as nations, as people within nations, within cities, within communities, and even within groups of children who meet on street corners.
This part of the human condition was not absent among those who gathered around Jesus. James and John approached Jesus quietly. They saw the possibility that Jesus would be the one who would set Judaea free. There was a widespread expectation in Judaea at the time that a powerful messiah was coming who would rule with strength and righteousness and free the people from foreign domination. About the time of Jesus, a writing came forth that became known as The Psalms of Solomon. It described these expectations
Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David…that he may reign over Israel, thy servant. Gird him with strength that he may shatter unrighteous rulers, and purge Jerusalem from nations that trample her down to destruction…with a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance. He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth…(Pss.Sol. 17:21-25).
When James and John heard Jesus speaking of a kingdom, perhaps they thought that this was the end of Rome and its forces. They envisioned freedom, power, and the re-establishment of a great kingdom under God. They came to Jesus and selfishly asked, “May one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory (10:37).”
Jesus replied, “You don't know what you are asking.” When the other disciples heard of it, they were indignant. Jesus took the opportunity to teach about the new kingdom and power and leadership. He said,
You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (vv.41-44).
What Jesus was saying is that the world runs on the principle that might is right. Sometimes we like to pretend that we are actually more civilized than that, but again and again, not least in our own time, we have seen that when the chips are down we revert to the same rule: if in doubt, send in the tanks. It happened recently in Tehran and Georgia less recently, in Yugoslavia and Tian'anmin Square. But Jesus points his people beyond, to something different, to a kingdom formed on different principles, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
Jesus modelled this, think of what he was about to face. Soon he would enter the Garden of Gethsemene. After a night of prayer, the troops would come with Judas. Jesus could have put the call out and people would have gathered around, zealots intent on overthrowing Rome. He could have called upon legions of angels but neither his kingdom nor his kingship were like that. He could have taken another option and just left. Before the soldiers came, he could have chosen to walk away, leave town, wander down to the Dead Sea or somewhere and live in a religious community. But that would not have helped the world either. His kingdom and leadership were of a different kind altogether. His approach was one of engagement, one of serving, one of bringing God into every situation. Jesus' leadership was of the kind foretold by Isaiah in chapter 53, the great passage about the Suffering Servant who goes like a lamb to the slaughter and who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Jesus' option in Gethsemene was to take the projected evil of the world and to draw it onto himself, to offer himself up for the sins and evil and pain of the world. Jesus' destiny was to serve, to be the greatest servant of all. “No greater love has any man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends (Jn.15:13).”
I read, the other day, a wonderful little illustration from the pen of Tom Wright. Wright asked:
Do you know how a fox in the wild gets rid of its fleas? The fox goes along the hedgerow and collects little bits of sheep's wool. Then he makes it all into a ball of wool, which he holds in his mouth. Then he goes to the stream, and slowly, slowly, walks down into the water. As he lowers himself down into the water, the fleas migrate upward to the drier places of his body. Slowly he moves down with the ball of wool in his mouth, until at last he is almost totally submerged; the ball of wool alone is out of the water; then he lets go, and the ball of wool floats away downstream, carrying all the fleas with it. The fox emerges clean.
Jesus is like that ball of wool. The spotless lamb allows the evil of the whole world to be concentrated on him. He doesn't keep it going by responding to the world with violence. Nor does he walk away and live with God himself leaving the world to itself. Jesus approach was to engage the world, meet its struggles head on, and take the weight of the world's evil upon himself so that the world may emerge clean. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (v.45).” Jesus' type of kingdom and kingship involved service to people and the whole world.
This has so many ramifications for us in terms of what Jesus wants. Jesus wants his followers to serve. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all,” he says. The Church has not always understood that. I have been reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat, Pray, Love. In one of the episodes she is chatting with some friends in Rome when she is asked if she likes Rome. “Yes,” she says, “I like it but I'm not sure if Rome is really me. ” She sees some woman walk by in four inch heals, a tight skirt, and extensive make-up, and opines that that is Rome, “I am not like that.” One of the friends builds on the conversation and suggests that every city has a word that encapsulates it. For Rome, he says the word is “sex.” The discussion goes around the table and her friend from Stockholm thinks that the word that encapsulates Stockholm is “conformity.” Gilbert thinks of her own hometown, New York. New York's word is “achieve.” As I was reading, I let my mind wander and thought of Toronto. Maybe Toronto's word is “tolerance.” I thought of one of my favourite cities, Manchester and thought its word is surely “United,” but we won't go there. The friends got back to Rome's word “sex” when Gilbert looked up towards the Vatican and said, “It can't be just “sex” for the Vatican is here.” One of the Italians suggests that the Vatican is not Rome. The Vatican is its own place. “What is its word?” asked Gilbert. “Power” came the reply. “Not faith?” said Gilbert. “No, power,” came the response.
I don't want to pick on any branch of the church, but too often the church has fallen to the temptation of power. It happened with the Crusades, with the Inquisition, in the enslavement of peoples. We saw it when the church encountered crises like the Great Schism of the 11th century and the Reformation of the 16th century. At the heart of these things lies the word “power.” Jesus warned of the temptation to power and he showed us in his own life another option. It wasn't to call on force, neither was it a suggestion to walk away, it was to engage, to bring God and his love into life, to serve wherever God places you.
That is what was happening in South Africa when Bishop Desmond Tutu stood in front of a mob, risking his own life, to tell them that violence was not the answer. It is what happens when the Church in any country stands up and says “no” to the vice that goes on all around it.
It is what happened when Henri Nouwen left a career and posts at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard to take on the role of pastor to mentally disabled adults in L'Arche community north of our city. Nouwen wrote of his struggles in his book, In the Name of Jesus. He had had the belief that as he grew older he would move into greater and greater positions of leadership. He knew more, had the ability to express it and be heard and, yet, here he was working in a simple environment where he had limited control, constant surprises and unpredictability, situation after situation where logic did not apply. He struggled with what God had asked him to do, but in choosing to serve he had, perhaps, his most significant ministry and wrote his most influential works on Christian spirituality. Sometimes serving Christ can place one in places one doesn't quite understand at the time.
What Jesus wants was also illustrated for us by actress, Roma Downey. You may remember the television series, Touched by an Angel. In one episode, some of Monica's angelic status is taken away. She is forced to deal with a situation as a human being and is asked to minister to one of the down and out, a man who had lost everything. He had been on the street for a long time and suffered from some of the ailments and conditions that come with that. He had lived with no socks and poor footwear for some time. He was in pain, his feet were a mess, covered in sores as Monica knelt down and gently removed a pair of old leather boots. She recoiled as she gazed at his soiled feet with festering sores. She had to fight with herself and her own notions of how far she could go for God. But on that day, she brought God and God's love into the life of one of the most hopeless cases as she cared for and bathed those feet.
The call of Christ involves neither getting rid of the homeless by some force, nor walking away from them, it involves engaging the issue and the people and serving God in their midst. And the question is for us, from the least of us to the greatest of us, are we willing to follow Jesus, to don the towel of service, to take the bowl of water, and to bathe the feet of others. What Jesus wants is a willingness, whether you are a CEO or on the factory floor, to help others. What Jesus wants is a church that is willing to take up the cause of right and fairness, and the cause of those who cannot take it up for themselves. He wants a church that will stand up for the homeless and mentally disabled. He wants a church that will stand tall and ask governments to face the problems of Third World debt that so cripples fledgling nations. He wants a church that will take issue with an increasing government-sanctioned gambling industry that robs families of their means and income. He wants a church that will stand against misguided notions of “free speech” that put no barriers on gross violence in the media. He wants us to stand up for human rights and human beings even if it means putting up with the type of thing encountered by an English priest who had the front door of his home kicked in by the National Front because he had stood up for the rights of the local black population. It is a risky business, but that is the kind of service Jesus was willing to do and that is the very kind of service that he wants the Church and you to engage in today.
What does Jesus want? He wants a church that is involved in God's restoration of the world. I leave you with the thoughts of Theresa of Avila:
Christ has no body now on earth but yours;
Yours are the only hands with which He can do his work,
Yours are the only feet with which He can go about the world,
Yours are the only eyes through which His compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.”