October 19, 2003 - 19th Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Job 38: 107, 34-41

PSALM: 104: 1-6, 25

SECOND READING: Letter to the Hebrews 5: 1-10

GOSPEL: Mark 10: 35-45

Can you imagine the audacity of James and John? They go up to Jesus when they can get Jesus alone and say, "We would like for you to do something for us." And Jesus said, "What do you want me to do?". "You know, when you reach this place of glory that you keep telling us about, that you are going to, how about letting us be number one and number two, one on the left and one on the right? How about letting us be your helpers?" And I love Jesus' answer. He says, "Are you sure you can do it? Are you really sure that you have what it takes to do it?" And then he explains to them that it is not going to be an easy job. "You have to suffer what I suffer. You have to be baptized with what I am baptized with. You have to be ready to face whatever it takes to be my right and left hand persons."

But, you know, James and John aren't much different from the rest of us. Isn't that the way we think, too? "I want to be at the top. I want to be the most important. I want to be right there." You know, our whole culture just encourages this kind of thing. Even children - you know, when I was a kid, it used to be fun to go out in an empty lot we had way out behind the houses on the other side of the street, and we would go out there and play baseball. First base was a big rock. Second base was a piece of wood that we had found, and third base was, I think, just a worn spot. The distance between second base and third base was longer than the distance between first base and second base. But we had a lot of fun. But, look at what we have done with that. We have a thing called Little League. And what do we do to those boys and girls playing Little League? We encourage them. We say, "You have to be the best player". And the parents! Oh, my gosh! The parents - competitive - got to be at the top - got to have that team that wins, and woe to the umpire that calls a wrong kind of call. It is part of our culture, part of who we are - strive to be the first - strive, strive, strive.

Then, in the story, the other apostles get angry with Jesus, don't' they? Just like we do when we are in competition, and we don't seem to make it to the top - someone edges in in front of us, and we get angry. So, the apostles were no different than who we are. We are no different than who they are. But Jesus says, "You know, that is not where you are going to really find happiness. That is not really where you are going to find success, a sense of well-being - that is not where you are going to find it." Jesus says that where you are going to find that is when you are serving others. When you can serve other people, then you will find your own worth - you will find out who you are, and you will be blessed in that. Jesus says, "That is not what I am about".

Even the writer of the Book of Hebrews says that Jesus did not aspire to be a high priest. He was appointed by God, because Jesus was willing to give Himself as a ransom, as an offering. He was willing to give His life for the world, and that is why He was appointed, if you will, as the High Priest of Heaven.

Even Job is brought up short when God says to Job, "Where were you when the earth was built? Did you have anything to do with that? Do you know who did it? Are you sure?"

Jesus calls us to be servants - servants to one another. Jesus does not call us to be in charge. Look at the Church today. Look at how divided we are - how much tumult and chaos there is in the Church because one side wants to be the leader, and the other side wants to be the leader. They want to be at the top. They want to be on the right and left sides of Jesus, and they think that they can do that.

But that is not what we are called to do. Jesus said that, if we want to rise to the top, we are called to be servants - servants to one another. Jesus summed it all up when he was asked what the greatest law was. He said, "Love God with your whole soul, with your whole life, with your whole heart, and then love one another as yourselves". This is what we are called to do. We are called to love one another, to serve one another, and, in that serving, we will find peace. We can find our own self-worth. We can find wholeness in our minds. It is not striving to be first. It is not striving to be number one. But it is working for one another - living one another. This is what Jesus told us to do. This is what Jesus calls us to be.

AMEN