Places of Honor

Scripture:  Mark 10: 35-45
               After twenty-one years of marriage I have learned that there are certain ways that Abigail and I think and interact with the world that are fundamentally different from each other.  For instance, she will occasionally like something so much like a movie or a restaurant and declare it her favorite.  By and large though she does not naturally rank things against other things of the same category.   Using pie as an example, she will take any given pie and either like it, think it is ok, or not like it.  It is possible to really like, really dislike it, or if she is not sure then “it’s different.”   This is not how I work at all, because I naturally evaluate and rank everything.  So using pie as an example, I can easily give you a top ten list of what I consider to be the best kind of pie (Since you are now curious it is Strawberry-Rhubarb as number one, followed closely by blueberry and pecan.  Apple, Boston Cream, chocolate chip, sugar cream, pumpkin, blackberry, and Cherry- in that order- round out the top ten).  I do not just arbitrarily rank things.  I tend to know what I like, and why I like it.  I feel like this would be a weird personality quirk, except for I am clearly not the only person who does this.  David Letterman made the top ten list into an art form, and since then a lot of people have found organizing our likes into list a helpful practice.  In our digital age this has become even more popular.  Many websites and YouTube channels are dedicated to making top lists for all kinds of things.   I naturally rand and put everything into a list and order.  While that might be a quirk today, in previous eras I think it might have been second nature to a lot of people. 
​
            For most of human civilization it was the nature of humanity to rank people.  The idea of “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” is a fairly new ideal, and it is one we still have not been able to fully live into yet.  For most of human history the default way of thinking is that everyone was not created equally, but that some people deserved a hire station in life.  This morning’s scripture gives us a glimpse of people thinking that way.   In this morning’s scripture James and John, the Son of Zebedee, shoot their shot.  They swing for the fences and try to secure for themselves a top spot in the kingdom of God.  They wanted to get themselves in at least the top 5 if not the top 3.  Jesus’ response shows that the kingdom of God did not work like any earthly kingdom.  Today that is still true, and to live as a citizen of God’s kingdom requires living like no one else. 

While I think we get the gist of James and John’s request, to sit at the left and right of Jesus when he comes into his glory, a little cultural context helps give a fuller understanding.   At a formal banquet in the first century, there was a very strict seating order.   Often at the head or center of the table would sit the person of honor.   If this was party thrown in honor of someone, they would sit there.  Otherwise, the seat would go to the most important person in the room.    This might be the host or depending on the event it could be a powerful official or ruler of some sort.   From this person, everyone else would fall in line.   The second most important or prestigious person would then sit to this person’s right, and the third most important or prestigious person would then be the left.   It would go back and forth like this from right to left filling the table.   Again, it was human nature of that era for everyone to rank each other.  It was baked into the culture, and everyone knew their place and they knew where they were in relation to everyone else.   Even if they did not understand what it truly meant, James and John believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and they believed that he would usher in a new kingdom.   They wanted to secure their position early.    By asking to sit at the left and right of Jesus they were essentially asking to be the second and third most important, respected, and powerful people in God’s eternal kingdom right after Jesus.

It was a bold and brazen move.  This is probably why when the other disciples heard about it the scripture records “they became indignant.”   There was probably a bunch of “just who do you think you are?”   and “someone’s a little too big for their britches” comments thrown around. 

At the same time though, we cannot really fault James and John.  After all they were only doing what some of us might have tried to do.   They were doing what we have all been taught to do.   We do not rank everyone in a strict social hierarchy anymore, but our culture in general celebrates winners.  By and large our culture sends messages that winning is everything and reaching the top is the most important thing we can do.  We want to be the MVP, we want to be #1, we want to be the king of the hill, and we want to be the person at the top of heap.   James and John were just being ambitious.  In most situations, we would applaud their move as one that shows a boldness that should be rewarded.  If the other ten disciples were being honest, they wanted the same thing.   They were not indignant because of the audacity of James and John’s request.  They were indignant because they got beat to the punch!  

   Seeking to be the first of greatest is the way of the world, and we know it.  Ambition is celebrated as a character virtue, those with wealth and power try to promote themselves as role models, and people run themselves ragged in an attempt to get a head.  A constant pressure to be viewed as winners or number one might be the way of the world, but it is not the way of Jesus.  Jesus flips the script.  He turns everything upside down.   Jesus points out that the way of the world during his time was the same way it is today.  People carve power and authority, and then they “lord that power over others.”     Jesus though offers a different way.   The world of Jesus day and the world of our day defines success by reaching the top, by having the most, and by being regarded as the best.   Jesus though redefines success.   Jesus tells us what success looks like in the kingdom of God.  Success is not based on how much you get, it is based on how much you give away; it is not based on what you earn, it is based on how you put others first.   Jesus is clear, we should not seek or measure success on the same terms the world uses. 

This is a point that gospel of Mark hammer again and again.  In chapter 9 the disciples are arguing about who is greatest and Jesus tells them “anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and a servant to all.”  Then at the beginning of Mark 10 Jesus lifts up the little children.  We looked at this scripture two weeks ago, and the reason why Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to those like little children is to reinforce the idea that the kingdom of God inverts the worldly power structure.   This is then followed up with the scripture of the rich young ruler that we looked at last week, where Jesus confirms the rich and powerful cannot buy their way into heaven, that the way the world measures success is not how God measures success in the heavenly kingdom.   This small section of Mark find different ways to hit the same point.  As my college history professor, Dr. Parks, said, “If the teacher repeats the same thing more than once you need to pay attention and write it down.”  Hopefully we are paying attention, because in this morning’s scripture the theme that Mark’s gospel has been coming back to time and time again gets laid out in the bluntest way.   When James and John ask to be the top guys in the kingdom of God, Jesus responds by saying, “Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” 

This is the example that Jesus gave us.   If anyone could have achieved power, authority, and success by the measure of the world it was Jesus.  He had the ability to rise above his station and claim whatever seat at the table he would have wanted.  Being the very nature of God, he could have accomplished whatever he wanted, but Jesus was obedient to the point of death to serve others.   He put the needs of the world before his own on the cross for he “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom of many.”

            This is an example we should follow, but our natural impulse is more likely to follow the example of James and John.  They sought the best and most powerful positions for themselves, because they were motivated by putting themselves first and getting the most for themselves.  The example Jesus gives though is one that is motivated by putting others first and it is motivated by love.  James and John assumed the kingdom of God would work like the way this world works.  They thought it was like a pie, where there was only so much to go around and so they wanted to ensure that they got the biggest piece.   In this morning’s scripture and throughout the middle of the gospel of Mark Jesus makes it clear that this is not how the kingdom of God works.  The kingdom of God is based in the love of God, and friends this love is an unlimited resource.  It is not like pie because there is more than enough to go around.  The love of God, the grace of Jesus Christ never gives up and never runs out.  Since there is grace enough for everyone, then instead of trying to get ours the best thing to do is share it with everyone. 

            The kingdom of God is one that is based in abundance, so we can consider others first because we know there is still room for us.  The way of this world is one that is based in scarcity and scrambling to get something before it is all gone.  In this morning’s mindset Jesus urges his disciples to live with a kingdom mindset of abundance in a world based around scarcity.   There is a modern-day example that I think shows us how we do that.

            While we may not have places of honor and rank everyone today, there are still some people who by nature of their office get a lot of difference.   There is a lot of pomp and circumstance that surrounds them, and they are treated as a step above most people.   A good example of one of these people is the Pope.   While is health makes it a lot harder for him to get around, Pope Francis caused more than a few headaches for Vatican officials early in his term as the head of the Catholic church.  Pope Francis got caught sneaking out of the Vatican.   He would leave the Vatican dressed as a regular priest in order to feed, pray with, and minister to the homeless of Rome.  Pope Francis would leave behind the trappings of palatial living to serve others.  He is arguably among the upper echelon of influential and powerful people in the world, but it was important to him to continue the practice of putting others first and serving them.  

            The example that Pope Francis gives is one that follows in the example of Jesus.  None of us are too important to put others first.   When we seek to follow Jesus we find that the place of honor is not to his left or right.  The place of honor of is not the one that gets in first place or the one that gets us the most power.  In the kingdom of God the place of honor is the one that serves others.   The place of honor is the one found where we put others first, because in the kingdom of God honor is not measured by what we can get for ourselves, it is measured by what we can share with others.   So may we not approach life as if there were a limited amount of pie and try to get the biggest piece for ourselves, but may we approach life so that we ensure there is always enough to go around for everyone.  May what motivates our actions be the abundance of the kingdom of God.  May we live like no one else, may we live like Jesus, may you live like a citizen of God’s kingdom.  May we seek the place of honor in God’s kingdom by continuing to see the needs and meet the needs of this community.