This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today
we read that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] and
said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Imagine
someone comes to you and says, “Could you do me a
really big favour?” You would
probably be a bit suspicious, and say,
“Well, it depends what it is!” You might remember how King Herod really put
himself in a corner when he promised his wife’s daughter whatever she
wanted—she ended up asking for John the Baptist’s head to be cut off!
This is what happens in our reading, with James and
John coming to Jesus. They ask him: Teacher, we want you to do for us
whatever we ask of you. Was it wrong of them to come to Jesus and say this?
I think they are also embarrassed about what they are asking too. They ask him:
Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. They
want a promotion, they want honour, they want esteem, they want something
special, something glorious. And maybe they know that what they are asking for
is a bit rude or presumptuous.
But also, isn’t this often how we want to pray to
Jesus? We go to him, and we say: Jesus, I want you to do for me whatever I ask
of you. And after all, Jesus says: Whatever you ask in prayer, you will
receive, if you have faith. Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have
received it, and it will be yours. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name,
I will do it. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you.
Don’t you wish that you had such a strong and firm
faith that just goes to Jesus whenever you need something and tells him exactly
what you need or want?
Let’s read what happens. James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, came up 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 do 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.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are
asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the
baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.”
When we read about Jesus and his disciples, we notice
that the 12 apostles were given a particularly privileged position. Also, on a
number of occasions, Jesus singles out Peter, James and John: for example, when
he went up on the mountain and was transfigured and started shining with
heavenly light. Also, sometimes Peter was singled out, and often stepped
forward and spoke on behalf of the other apostles. Peter also preached the
first Christian sermon on the day of Pentecost. And so, here are these two
others, James and John, two brothers, and know that Jesus has given them
special privileges. They are two of the twelve apostles. They have often been
invited by Jesus to be part of his inner circle together with Peter. But
perhaps they are also a little bit jealous of Peter, and don’t want to be
outdone by him.
And so they ask Jesus for a special privilege of their
own choosing. They ask him: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one
at your left, in your glory. There are a few things that they don’t really
understand. They haven’t gone up to Jerusalem yet. Palm Sunday hasn’t happened
yet. Jesus hasn’t sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane yet. He hasn’t been
betrayed by Judas yet. He hasn’t been crucified yet. And so perhaps James and
John think that Jesus is going to take his throne in Jerusalem as a political
figure, as the rightful king of the Jews, and overthrow Herod and the Roman—just
like we have seen our Australian prime-ministers continually overthrown. And
when it all happens in this glorious way, as they imagine it, they would like a
special part in it. They want to be part of Jesus’ cabinet—they want to walk
down the red carpet with him, and to flank him on either side at all his press
conferences. But that’s not the way it’s going to be.
This passage also teaches us something very special
about prayer. We see in the Gospels that Jesus often teaches his disciples to
ask for whatever they want. And here, we see an exact example of two disciples
going to Jesus and asking him for whatever they want. But what we have to
realise is that when we do this, we should also be prepared for Jesus to teach
us something that we never expected and that we didn’t know before. You see,
Jesus is not a genie in a magic lamp, who just pops out and gives us three
wishes. We are not his masters, and he is not our slave. The kingdom of God is
a wonderful, glorious thing, and Jesus is the king, but this kingdom and this
king work in ways that are often completely beyond our expectations or
comprehension.
And so, later on when the other ten disciples hear
about what James and John asked of Jesus, we read: When the ten heard it,
they began to be indignant at James and John. They were angry, and thought:
Who do they think they are, asking such a thing? But Jesus doesn’t go about
things like that. He doesn’t get angry with them, but he gently explains things
to them, and shows them their mistake. He says to them: You do not know what
you are asking. So often when we pray to Jesus and ask him for things, we
don’t really know what we’re asking. We make all kinds of mistakes in prayer,
and we blubber and stammer around. But when we pray, remember that we always
pray in the name of Jesus. This means that when we speak to our heavenly
Father, everything goes through Jesus, like a master newspaper editor. He’s
like a school-teacher who takes out his red pen, a red pen that is filled with
his blood, and he edits everything, so that all our prayers are cleaned up and
tidied up like rough drafts, and washed completely clean by Jesus. Jesus always
knows what he is asking, he always knows what we need, even if we don’t know what
we’re asking. When Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he says: Your
Father knows what you need before you ask him.
And so Jesus says to James and John: You do not know
what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be
baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they said, “We are
able”. What is Jesus talking about here? In the Garden of Gethsemane, when
Jesus prays in bitter agony just before he is arrested, he prays a prayer: Abba,
Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what
I will, but what you will. Jesus prays: Remove this cup from me. Here
in our reading today, Jesus asks James and John: Are you able to drink the
cup that I drink? What do you think Jesus is talking about when he talks
about this cup? He’s talking about his cross, his bitter suffering, his death,
his floggings, his whippings, his outward suffering, his internal suffering,
everything that Jesus undergoes on Good Friday. That’s the glory of Jesus—that’s
the wonderful glory that Jesus undergoes and makes atonement for every single
sin that ever even been imagined for even a split second in the entire history
of the world. James and John want to sit at his right hand and at his left. But
when Jesus goes to the cross, who is at his right and at his left? Two
criminals who are also being crucified. Is this what the two disciples are
prepared for? Jesus says: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?
Jesus also says: Or are you able to be baptised
with the baptism with which I am baptised? Jesus, we know, was baptised in
the River Jordan by John the Baptist. And when he went to John, John wanted to
be baptised by Jesus instead. But Jesus said to him: Let it be so now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. John was baptising
sinners, and the only people who are sinners can be baptised. So why was Jesus
being baptised? He was baptised not because he was a sinner, but because in all
of his sinlessness, he took upon himself all of our sin so that he could die
for it. And at that very moment, where Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit came
upon him in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven: This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. And so what Jesus begins at
his baptism, is finished on the cross. Before Jesus died, he said: It is
finished. It’s as if he said, “my baptism is finished”. My anointing by the
Holy Spirit in the Jordan was all for this purpose. In Luke 12, we read: I
have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distressed until it is
accomplished! Jesus once again is speaking of his cross, and his suffering.
And so Jesus says to James and John: Are you able to be baptised with the
baptism with which I am baptised?
Yes, it’s true. James and John didn’t really know what
they were asking. We often don’t know what we’re asking, and so we don’t often
understand the answers to our prayers when Jesus actually does answer them.
When Jesus washes his disciples’ feet he says to them: What I am doing you
do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. This is such a
wonderful word of comfort when we don’t understand why Jesus doesn’t answer our
prayers the way we want. But also, we read in Romans: The Spirit helps us in
our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Just as Jesus
edits our prayers with the red pen of his blood, so also the Holy Spirit takes
over in our prayers, and asks the prayers through our groans and sighs of which
God alone understands the meaning, even if we don’t. All this shows us what a
great mystery prayer is—St Paul says: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but
then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have
been fully known. Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us so much
better than we could ever imagine. It’s the same as when Jesus says in John 16:
You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy from you. There’s a wonderful hymn on prayer
which says: More is lavished by Thy bounteous hand That I can ask or seek or
understand.
And so, back to our reading: Jesus asks the disciples
this profound question. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you
able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they say: We
are able. Wow! What a thing to say? Do they even understand what they are
committing themselves to?
But Jesus then says: The cup that I drink you will
drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, 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. Jesus says to James and John that they will
drink the cup and they will receive his baptism. We also receive the wonderful
gift of Holy Baptism as Christians, and in the Lord’s Supper, we drink the
wonderful cup of blessing, the blood of Christ. The baptism of Jesus and the
cup of Jesus are wonderful blessings that are given to us from heaven. All our
sins have been poured out on Jesus in baptism, and when he drank that cup of
the cross right down to the dregs. But all of his righteousness and purity and
forgiveness is given back to us in baptism, and in the cup of the Lord’s
Supper. He takes what didn’t belong to him, and he gives to us what didn’t
belong to us. And so we have this wonderful exchange—he takes our sin, and he
gives us his forgiveness and righteousness. All Christians receive this baptism
and this cup. But these gifts also point us to a reality that we Christians are
citizens of heaven in such a way that the world doesn’t recognise us anymore.
And so just as Jesus was spat out by the world, we Christians are also spat
out. Each of us have a special measure of suffering that Jesus puts upon us,
not to curse us, but for our blessing, to take us away from the things of this
world, and to point us to the kingdom of heaven. James was beheaded in
Jerusalem, and John was tortured in Rome and then exiled to one of the Greek
islands, called Patmos. This was the cross they were called to bear for the
sake of Jesus’ kingdom. We should also not be afraid to bear whatever Jesus
would have us bear. Sometimes, we pray that Jesus would take some suffering away
from us. St Paul writes: To keep me from becoming conceited because of the
surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three
times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said
to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.” So be encouraged, be strengthened by Jesus, our Lord, and let
him make his power perfect in you, even if you are struggling, and feel so
weak. Remember Jesus’ words: What I am doing now you do not understand, but
afterwards you will understand.
Jesus says: The cup that I drink you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, 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. What does Jesus mean here, when he says, “it is
not mine to grant”? Can’t Jesus do anything he wants? Well, yes and no. We say:
Nothing is impossible with God. But is it possible for God to sin? No,
because it would be completely against his nature and his character. Can God
make 1 + 1 = 3? No, because 1 + 1 = 2. That’s the way it is. Jesus is not
saying that he can’t do something—it’s just that what they ask for is not for
them.
And so, we read: When the ten heard it, they began
to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to
them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not
be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and
whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
In some sense, James and John wanted to establish a
kind of hierarchy. They weren’t content with being apostles, they wanted to be
super-apostles. And this then begs the question? Should we have any order or
hierarchy in the church? Should we have pastors, for example? Well, of course,
we should have pastors, because the bible actually speaks about them. In 1
Peter, Peter speaks about all Christians as being members of a royal
priesthood. But also, in the same letter, he tells pastors to shepherd
the flock of God that is among you. But pastors are not to rule like a
king. They are to serve people, and not simply to serve people’s whims, but to
serve them with the word of God. But there is no place in the church for the
kind of leadership that says: I’m in charge, therefore you need to shut up and
do what I say. Peter says: Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but
willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not
domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Sometimes, in the church, some people think that all
the problems would be solved if we had more people to exercise authority, more
bishops, or even a pope. But this isn’t the way Jesus rules. He says: But it
shall not be so among you. He rules through his word alone, not through
human authority. He rules, not by setting himself up on an earthly throne, but
by sacrificing his life. He says: Whoever would be great among you must be
your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as
a ransom for many. And this wonderful way in which Jesus gave his life as a
priceless ransom, and continually serves his people as our Good Shepherd with
his word and sacraments is the heart and centre of Christianity. So let’s thank
him for this! Amen.
Dear Jesus, we thank you for coming to serve your
people as our wonderful host today, and for giving your life as a ransom for
many. Send us the Holy Spirit, and teach us to be bold in prayer, and not to be
afraid to learn from you whatever you would teach us. Amen.
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