On Being Great in God's Kingdom

You can theoretically explain a certain view point, you might even be a great advocate for this view point, but your instincts lead you to make choices contrary to this.

For example: eating healthy food. I am well aware that eating healthy food is good for you. Not only is it good for your body, but you actually feel better after eating it. In addition, it is often the case that it is cheaper.

I know all that - but do you think I always eat health? Unfortuately not.

One of my guilty pleasures is walking into the bakery and buying something from the sweet shelf. I love cake. I love lollies.

I take one piece of chocolate - but I can’t stop there. I need more!

But you know what? On many occasions this slippery slope has got the better of me, and after that amazing feeling when I first ate the chocolate, I’m then left with this sluggish, yukky feeling. I then think back - why didn’t I just eat better.

Now today, if your familiar with the teaching of the bible, then the main idea is not going to be something new. It is something that Jesus taught on a number of different occasions.

So let me tell you the big idea right up front - being great in God’s kingdom is not about self-promotion, it is about self-sacrifice.

I’m going to flesh that idea out throughout this message, but for now, I want to think about how this idea can become a battle within us.

You see, for most of us, I think there is part of us that is disgusted by what we might refer to as the rat race. That is, this idea of always pushing ourselves forward. It’s deeply disatisfying. When you push yourself forward, usually that means pushing someone else down. Conflicts occur and often you end up worse than when you started.

And yet, there is also a part of us were that competiveness just kicks in. That by be for a number of reasons. Maybe it might seem like necessity. Maybe you feel the pressure from others to push yourself forward. Or maybe it’s just a natural instinct you can’t explain.

And so, on one hand we know we should be humble and putting others first, but we just can’t help showing how good we are.

Now I recognise that this battle within will vary in degree for each of us. For some, the tendency to want to push yourself forward will invade much of your life. For others this might not be as strong, but still, there can be that pressure from our culture that you should be pushing yourself forward.

Either way, I suspect when you allow the instinct to push yourself forward, you probably feel the conflict and general nastiness that comes with it.

Well, my intention this morning is to look at the way of Jesus.

Unfortunately while ever we have that sinful nature within us, that battle between what we know is right and what our instincts are will continue, but as we draw closer to Jesus I believe we will become transformed more in his likeness, and in doing so, will be able to swing the battle in the right direction.

Context

So, let’s start with a little context.

Where in the book of Mark, and as I’ve described throughout this series, the two chapters we’ve been looking at, namely nine and ten, are at a turning point in this gospel.

The first eight chapters explored who Jesus was, culminating in Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah. Then we look at what it means to follow Jesus.

We’ve seen what it’s like to follow Jesus in the tough times. Last week we saw how following Jesus means not relying on worldly means like money and wealth.

And so it is in this context that this passage comes, showing how following Jesus means recognising that the Kingdom of God works differently to the world. Power is not to be found in strength, but in weakness.

One other aspect of these two chapters which I haven’t emphasised in this series, is what is happening geographically. You see, most of Mark’s gospel is set up in the region of Galilee. This is a region that is a few days walk north of Jerusalem.

Interestingly, as this gospel starts to describe what it means to follow Jesus, it also takes us geographically south.

This is made explicitly clear for us once we get to verse 32.

But I want you to take specific note of this verse because there is a little bit which is easy to gloss over.

You see, after telling us that they are on their way to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, Mark then tells us that the disciples were astonished and those that followed were afraid.

You certainly get the impression that they some how know that Jesus is actually leading them into danger.

Prediction of crucifixion

If that is what they were thinking, they were in fact correct.

Jesus then goes on to spell this out for them. He tells them that they are going to go to Jerusalem, and when he gets there, he will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

And it will get worse - they will condemn him to death, hand him over the Gentiles who wil then mock and spit on him, flog him and kill him.

Now we aren’t told exactly what there reaction is, but that being said, this is the third time Jesus has told them.

The first time was back in chapter 8 when Peter reacted rather badly. In fact, we’re told that Peter started rebuking Jesus because what he was saying made absolutely no sense.

The second time Jesus predicted his death was in chapter 9. On this occasion, we’re told that the disciple didn’t understand and were afraid to ask about it.

So while we’re not told exactly how they reacted, I dare say they were still puzzled by this. They still just don’t quite get it.

Now Jesus did add on the end, that he will rise three days later, but I’m pretty sure that just added further to their confusion. They didn’t yet realise the significance of Jesus breaking the bonds of death and claiming victory in such a way.

Not only did they not understand all of the theological implication, they also did not understand the implication to do with leadership. Something that becomes very evident in the very next little episode.

Request of James and John

You see, the very next verse after Jesus describes his death and resurection, we get this request from James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

Now to put this episode into perspective, it’s relevant to note that James and John were part of what we generally refer to as Jesus’ inner circle. The third member of this being Peter. It was after all, these three that went up the mountain and experienced the transfiguration which is what we discussed a few weeks ago.

Also of interest, if we go back to chapter 1 of Mark, these two were among the first chosen by Jesus to follow him. It has been noted by some that when Jesus called these two out of a fishing boat, Mark’s gospel recalls for us that they left the hired men who were with them.

We could extrapolate from that, that quite possibly these two were actually quite successful business men. Perhaps you could conclude they have done quite well climbing the social rankings - something which could become relevant as we look at their request in this section.

You see, it was these two men that they come up to Jesus - just after Jesus has spoken about his imminent death - to ask about being elevated in their own position.

Now you might recall that in Matthew’s gospel, this request is actually made by their mother, although even in that account, the son’s come with the mother and they kneel down before Jesus. So even though Mark attribute the request to James and John, it really isn’t a contradiction, because even if the request comes from the mouth of their mother, the two sons are still making the request as well.

Well, specifically, their request is that one of them sit at Jesus right hand, and the other on his left.

Clash of culture

Now we look at this request and I think most of us feel a bit awkward about the whole thing. That’s largely because we’ve learnt about the importance of humility, or at least, in theory we have.

If we want to push ourselves forward, we usually at least try to do it in more subversive ways. After all, such a direct request is almost setting yourself up for failure.

But while this question might make us feel awkward, that wouldn’t have been the case back then.

After all, it would have seemed a perfectly reasonable request. These two were part of Jesus’ inner circle. If my assumption is correct that they were successful in their fishing business, then they would likely have been accustomed to pushing themselves forward - and also, this was just part of the culture of the day.

But that being said, I’m going to suggest that it is also awkward for us because it is such a juxtaposition from the example of leadership that Jesus is giving.

You see, Jesus is demonstrated what would have been a completely foreign idea of leadership - that of servantship. You’ll see examples of servant leadership even in contemporary leadership talk, including even the secular literature, however back in the day of Jesus this would not have been the case.

It was very clear - power is found in strength. The strong succeed, the weak perish. It was just the natural way of things.

In fact, as we now know the value of humility, it is this power in strength thinking that feeds that instinct that so often drives us.

And so, right here in this short section we see the competing ideas come crashing together. It’s the battle which I believe continues internally with most, if not all of us today.

Changing our thinking

Well, we’ve got this clash - so the big question is: what do we do about it?

Well, let’s look at the way Jesus responds and we will see what we can learn.

In verse 38 he tells them directly: “You don’t know what you are asking”.

He then spins it around to start them thinking in the right direction.

He asks them “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?”

They seem to be quite quick in their response that yes they can.

Now the question needs to be asked: what did the disciples understand by Jesus talking about the cup and baptism?

Certainly in the context, it is quite clear that Jesus is not just talking about his physical cup, or even the baptism in the strict and literal sense of being dunked under water.

The cup was a well known metaphor for the wrath of God, a metaphor used numerous times in the Old Testament. When Jesus uses it here, he is talking about the suffering he is going to experience on the cross, a divine wrath for the punishment of sin of mankind.

Baptism similarly carries the sense of being overwhelmed by disaster or danger.

Now I suspect that these two disciples would have been aware of this meaning. I suspect they realise that there is going to be some tough times ahead, and they are prepared for this.

But that being said, I think they

But that being said, I think they just haven’t joined the dots yet.

You see, this suffering is not just a simple one off. Yes, there was a very specific form of suffering that Jesus was to endure - something that was unique to him and served a very specific point, but the cup and baptism that the disciples and other followers of Jesus were to endure had a deeper significance, because in it, we see a way of the kingdom. Something which contrasts sharply with the way of the world.

I suspect that the disciples realise that some suffering is about to take place, but do not realise that the implication that strength is not found in power, but in weakness.

Recognising our strength in weakness

Now, what we find is that Jesus doesn’t spell this out so explicitly for us. What he does instead he confirm that these disciples are in fact going to share the cup and baptism.

And here is the first thing that we need to do as we deal with the clash between God’s way and the world’s way - we need to recognise that when we suffer, this is not indication that God is unhappy with us, but rather we are living in a time when there is strength in weakness.

Now, I believe this is really hard. You see, as things go wrong, and as we face opposition, we can easily interpret this as we must be doing something wrong, and therefore are natural assumption is that we need to try harder.

But if we recognise that in fact this is the way of God’s kingdom - indeed the way demonstrated for us by Jesus, we can recognise that it’s not in us trying harder, but in identifying this suffering with Jesus.

When these two disciples come asking for glory, what we find instead is that Jesus points them to the way of suffering.

Glory is something that will happen in time, but that should not be our concern. We should be happy that we have a place in heaven, not what our exact position will be there.

The other disciples

In verse 41, we then see how the other disciples become indignant upon hearing this request.

Now I know sometimes when I’ve read this, coming from my own perspective, I’ve assumed that this indignation was probably because they thought these two lacked the humility in asking such a question - however on further reflection, I suspect that the indignation is more likely to be because they wanted these high places. After all, we have seen these disciples arguing at other times about who is the greatest.

Jesus sets them straight

But it is from verse 42 that Jesus sets them straight.

He calls them together and highlights the difference between the ways of the world and the ways of God’s kingdom.

He starts by telling them what they already know - those who are rulers lord it over other and are keen to exercise their authority over others.

In this description right here we can see what is wrong with this approach. It might be fine if you’re on top, but for the vast majority of people below it is not good.

The problem is, we usually just seem to think that this is the way it must be. The reality however, is that there is a better way.

And that is what Jesus describes. He tells his disciples - whoever wants to become great among you, must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

While initially that seems upside down, the more we reflect on it the more we start to realise how true it is.

It promotes community. It allows us to bring out the best in others. It helps us to recognise that we are not on top - that there is something greater than us.

Changing our ways

But here is where we come back to the original problem I identified, that is: knowing the value of humility, but having the instinct to want to push ourselves first.

Unfortunately, while we remain dual citizens of both this world and God’s kingdom, this battle will remain. There isn’t a silver bullet which will mean it will go away - however there are some things we can do.

Drawing close to Jesus

The best thing we can do is draw close to Jesus. Spend time with him and become familiar with his ways.

The final verse invites us to look to Jesus. He tells us “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”.

This starts as good theory for us, but we need this to be more than just theory. As we spend time reading God’s word, praying, meditating, fasting, and just general contemplation of who he is, we will find his ways will become more real to us.

In doing so, we can become better placed to not end up acting as the rest of the world does, and instead being the servant that Jesus wants us to be.

Choosing servanthood

But I also want to suggest that there is a choice that we can make.

We can choose to become a servant.

This will usually go against our instinct, but we can choose to lift others above ourselves even if that means we miss out on an opportunity.

We can choose to encourage others instead of showing off our own abilities.

This means that sometimes people will never realise just how hard we are working. Sometimes we won’t receive the recognition that we know we should be getting.

But this can’t be about ourselves if it is to be about God’s kingdom.

Even as a church we need to lose the competitive nature. Now I recognise in this area, we are pretty good at working with the other churches, however it can still be easy to look at other churches, whether on this peninsula or elsewhere, and when they have success, to feel some jealously.

Instead we need to rejoice that God is working with them.

Our task is to just do whatever it is that God has set for us to do. If we receive accolades or not is not the point. The point is that we are working for God’s kingdom.

Conclusion

It is not easy because the ways of the world have become so ingrained in us. Even though we can know it is good to promote success in other and to have humility, it just feel so hard when we don’t seem to get the same sort of success.

But Jesus clearly tells us, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all.

If we truly are to live this way we need to stay close to Jesus and make the choice of servanthood.