What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, October 18, 2009

20th Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 53:4-12 • Hebrews 5:1-10 • Mark 10:35-45

"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, "Grant 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 grant, 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; but 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."

“Ladies first! Ladies first!” she said. “Well, no...not now, Jeanine, not now! The tigers have got us! You don’t want to be first now!” “But, but I am beautiful. I have curly locks. I put a dash of perfume behind my ears every morning. It’s always polite for ladies to be first!” “Are you sure?! I think these tigers are going to eat one of us!” Jeanine was stuck with her friends in the jungle, caught in a trap by tigers. “Oh, I want to get out of this mess,” she said. “My dress is getting musty!” “Oh, no. Jeanine? Are you there anymore? Where did they take you? Oh…no…there’s a boiling pot over there!” “Ladies first! Ladies first!” And so, she was. And mighty tasty, too.

This story from the 1970’s record Free To Be You and Me gets at the theme of personal greatness pretty well! Greatness. Recognition. Noteriety. First place. It’s something we all want, and we all need. It’s what we’ve been taught is so important since we’ve been born. We want to be great. But where does true greatness really come from? Jeanine thought it came from putting herself first—even if it cost her! A kind of greatness can be achieved through putting others down so we can prop ourselves up. We can “seem” great if we boast about ourselves enough, and lie enough. A certain kind of greatness does come from excluding others away so that no one is left but us to brag about how great we are.

But from whom does greatness really come from? Does it come from us? No, it comes from God, who in Christ makes us all, every one of us, great. Jesus does not have a problem with James or with John, who come to him asking to share power with him at his right hand. He doesn’t have a problem with their ambition. Jesus recognizes that they and that we all want to be great—we want to be noticed! But Jesus takes that ambition, that drive…and says to James and John: “Here is how you can be great—not in serving yourselves, but in being a servant to others…to everyone.” (Mk 10:44) Jesus sees that for the world, power is gained by the few who “lord themselves over” others. But Jesus doesn’t want just a few to have power, a few to be great. He wants everyone to be a part of his kingdom, so that everyone can be served, so that everyone can be great right now. We don’t need anything more to be able to serve or to give. Jesus re-makes us into a kingdom people where we have plenty that we can give right now to serve someone else. Jesus gives us this path of ambition to greatness to follow—a path to greatness that does not require a PhD., a path to greatness that does not require a perfect track record, a path that does not require a certain number of years you’ve been coming to this or any other church. Jesus makes us great today, as we have been gifted to serve in his kingdom, a kingdom that Jesus builds through us.

That “servant greatness” is being used by Christ to build United Lutheran Church into a sign of Jesus’ own greatness: in members like Kristin Weismantle who recently received a service award from the Girl Scouts for collecting more than 100 paris of shoes for the soles of those in need when she was a student last year at OPRF high school. That foundation of servant greatness happens through the CROP walk, where 11 people walked this past spring from United Lutheran to raise awareness and fund for programs to feed the hungry. We had the 11^th most number of walkers out of 21 participating congregations in the area, and contributed $688 dollars as a church. Jesus makes this a great community through its ambition to be a place where gift bags full of gifts for area residents in need are stored for a week here in December through the Holiday Gift Basket Program. Jesus blesses the ambition of this church who will be inviting youth, adults and elderly to serve the still-flood-devastated area of Cedar Rapids, IA next summer. Today, Jesus praises and makes great the renewal of our commitment today as a church through writing an Offering of Letters in Fellowship Hall to celebrate Bread for the World’s 35^th anniversary. We write to our representatives in Congress today, asking them to support policy that prioritizes feeding the hunger of the last among us. In these and so many ways, Jesus builds the kingdom here today, because in all these ways and more, we as a church are saying that we, too, we want to sit at Jesus’ right hand and left hand, not because we want it for ourselves. We as a church say that we want to be a church that is first in love, a church that is first in moral excellence, a church that is first in our generosity to others.

I have been serving you now as pastor for one year—did you notice, perhaps?! It’s gone by so, so quickly, hasn’t it? As we move into a period of time, now, in our life together, where we will be discerning what our shared vision and mission will be for the next 5, 10 and 50 years will be…service is one of the gifts that God definitely blesses this church with. And as we look into the future, service to others and to God’s Creation will be a way that God will continue to make this congregation great! As we seek to make plans for what our witness will be, how will we seek to build on this striving for greatness through service? In what ways will we be a place where God uses that drive of James and John to be at Jesus’ left and right hand? How will that drive that motivates us not so we can be first, not so we can be best, not so we can be better, but that motivates us to be a church where, when people look back at us 5, 10…50 years from now they will say, “Wow, United Lutheran, that is a great church, because of its love for others…that church is great because of its passion for justice for others…that church is great, because it is a church that is there for others…” Jesus praises that kind of ambition, that kind of magnanimity. We do not need to be timid about our dreams for this place! Jesus praises us for aching and desiring to have aspirations and drive to be a people who want to tell a future story of being committed to others. In what ways can we enrich and deepen that witness to this community? In what ways might we not yet even have thought of that we could witness Jesus’ servanthood to this community? Let us not be ashamed, let us not lower our sights, or be afraid, or seek to serve only ourselves, or keep silent. Let us be open to the Spirit who shows up in the most surprising places. Let us build up the kingdom Jesus builds here. Jesus will bless our striving to be a people for others. Jesus will give us hearts that will embolden our church to be a witness of service…a witness in the name of the one who is our servant—Jesus Christ.

What will our witness be? What future story will we tell at United Lutheran? Whatever it is, may it be a witness and a story rooted in Christ, who builds his kingom through us. For he is the bread of life…he is the one who will feed us for the journey that is ahead of us, so that we may feed others tharough him. Amen.