Proper 24 2015

Proper 24 2015

It’s the kind of question that all of us should be wary of: “If I ask you something will you promise (insert whatever ridiculous thing is being asked)?”

The point is, we know we should be wary because whatever we’re being asked, it is obviously something that we would never agree to do. And, what’s worse, the person asking us knows this about us, hence the attempt at clever entrapment from the very beginning.

But what we may find amusing is that, regardless of how old this tactic may be, people never seem to give up trying it. In fact, I would imagine that this was even a tired old con back in the First Century. I would even bet that it was so tired and sad that Jesus didn’t even have to rely on his Messiah powers to know what James and John were up to well before they even asked. However, in his patience, Jesus allows these “Sons of Thunder” to make fools of themselves, and in his grace, Jesus even uses it as lesson for all of us.

So, again, we have James and John who asked Jesus to promise them whatever they ask—whether it be a pony, a dog, or even Greenland. And Jesus, who could smell this from a mile away, probably smirked and asked them what it was they were asking. Without any real ceremony, then, the sons of Zebedee ask to have the seats of highest honor (one Jesus’ left and right hand) in the Kingdom.

  

Now before we completely become scandalized by this (which is what happened with Peter and the other disciples), it might do to remember that what John and James were asking really wasn’t completely out of line. After all, there are plenty of instances in which people who had been called to a particular mission by God were given lavish and abundant gifts. So, given that these two brothers had left everything to follow Jesus (the Messiah of God), reason held that they should ask, and not feel that what they asked was too much.

However, what Jesus says to them is completely in line with what he’s been teaching throughout his ministry—that his authority, power, and identity are all vested in God. So what they’re asking him to give, he doesn’t have the authority to give…

What’s more, Jesus then explains that the Kingdom of God is rooted in a power and authority which is far beyond the understanding of the power systems of the world. He explains that the Gentiles, even when they have a scrap of power, will lord it over one another (apparently some things never change). But the Kingdom of God, Jesus explains, is one where the powerless is exalted, and the servant is one who is given honor. Everything is turned on its head.

Last week I was away at the annual Clergy Conference for the diocese, and our speaker was Mark McIntosh who wrote one of the volumes in the Church’s Teaching Series—and is a professor of theology (I believe) at Loyola, and is well respected among Jesuits, even though he is Episcopalian (no small feat).

Anyway, one of the things that he brought up was this idea of the Greek Worldview—and this is something that would have formed the understanding and perspectives of the Romanized (or Hellenized) Near Mid-East (effectively these Gentiles that Jesus was talking about).

Mark explained that even within Greek religion, the gods of Olympus were really sort of just exaggerated egos and personalities that reflected humanity. And while these gods wielded supernatural powers, and were apparently immortal, they were regularly caught up in petty quarrels among themselves—or, they were regularly made jealous by the very mortals they feigned to rule over.

Mark’s point was, even in the realm of the gods, the game of power was one which was always about getting ahead, and taking the advantage regardless of the cost. Of course, as we well know this perspective is not limited to ancient Greek culture, and certainly continues even in our day without the gods of Olympus.

Yet into this system of power mongering enters Jesus. Not only does Jesus defy the structures of oppression, but he does it by teaching the powerless, confounding the powerful, and calling all of them together with the promise of a Kingdom which will belong to every one of them.

Certainly Jesus offers displays miraculous signs to get his point across—but even these things he attributes to God working through him.

  

And in spite of the prestige and strength that people projected onto Jesus: a Warrior Messiah, a Military King, even a Jewish revolutionary like the Maccabees who would stand and force Rome out…all of these Jesus shrugs off. Because his is a Kingdom of peace, justice and equity—and as we know, this sort of understanding of power is a threat to the illusions of power we hold to in the world. Inevitably, this is what got Jesus killed.

Death, should be the final word. For the powerful in this world, for the wealthy, for the famous—even for the powerless, the poor and the infamous: Death seems both the final word, and the great equalizer. Nothing we can do ourselves can change this fate.

But in spite of how absolute our sureness of both power and Death, Jesus breaks both of these by his resurrection. And by so doing this, Jesus unmasks the illusion of power that humanity seems to revere, and affirms this Kingdom which is already and not yet, where Death no longer has final say…

The point of all of this (which seems fitting for all of the campaigning that’s going on)—the point is that as people of faith, we can’t afford to be swayed, or even duped by the flash and promise of political power, or even the wild goose of success. Because our identity is vouchsafed in the promise that we are marked as Christ’s own forever. What this means practically is that one day when no amount of money, possession, or power can promise another moment of life—it will inevitably be this promise, this identity as the redeemed of Christ Jesus which will matter most. But we stand to miss so much of what is truly vital and truly important if we wait until then to realize it.