First Reading:
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all
the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with
Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and we were all made to
drink of one Spirit. 14Indeed, the body does not consist of
one member but of many. 15If the foot would say, Because
I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
that would not make
it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear would
say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,
that
would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the
whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body
were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as
it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he
chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body
be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
Second Reading:
35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to
him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.
36And he said to them, What is it you want
me to do for you?
37And they said to him, Grant us
to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your
glory.
38But Jesus said to them, You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I
drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with?
39They replied, We are able.
Then Jesus
said to them, The cup that I drink you will drink; and
with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be
baptized; 40but 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.
41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with
James and John. 42So Jesus called them and said to
them, You know that among the Gentiles those whom they
recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are
tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but
whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be
slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
There are some targets that are hard to hit. Just ask Matt Emmons. Matt was an Olympic marksman … one of the best in the world. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the competition consisted of 130 shots. And going into the last round, Matt was way out in first place, almost assured of a gold medal. The scoring system was on a 10.9 scale and he had consistently been scoring around a 10. He only needed a score in the low eights to win the gold medal. He didn't need a perfect shot, he just needed to be in the vicinity of the bullseye … That's how far out in front he was. It was as close to as sure thing as there is in world class shooting. Matt went through his pre-shot ritual. He always brought the gun down from 12 o'clock to precisely the center of the target and then gently squeezed the trigger. 129 times he had done it in the competition and 129 times he had hit very close to the center of the target. But this time as he brought his gun down from 12 o'clock, it went off before he was ready. His shot barely hit the target at all and he scored a 4.4 … that one shot took him from first place to fourth place in the standings … I'm sure it was difficult and frustrating for an Olympic athlete to spend so much time in preparation and training only to have something go wrong on the last shot of the competition. But really it was nothing compared to what happened four years earlier. You see, back in the 2004 Olympics, he was in a very similar situation. Matt was way out in front of the other marksmen. He didn't need a perfect shot, or even a good shot … it was the last shot in the competition and all he needed was a below average shot. So he went through his pre-shot ritual, brought the gun down from 12-o'clock like he always did and shot dead center into the target. He waited for the light to go on saying that his shot had scored … He felt good about it and it was a good shot. But the light didn't come on. He called the judges over and they consulted. It didn't take terribly long for the judges to figure out what had happened … Matt was stationed in lane three and the target he aimed at was in lane two. Even though he hit exactly where he aimed, he ended up in eighth place in the competition because he was aiming at the wrong target.
There are some targets are hard to hit, even when we think we're aiming perfectly. Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant … whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all. We've heard this before … The disciples are looking for greatness. Earlier, while they walked on the road, the disciples argued about who was the greatest. And now, James and John ask Jesus point blank to be on his right and his left hand … and in response, Jesus redirected them to greatness that's based on service rather than being served.
I did an Internet search and found that the term servant leadership
was coined in 1970 … In the last 30 or 40 years, it's become a
hallmark of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And
interestingly enough, it is not just Christians who recognize the
effectiveness of servant leadership. In all sorts of different
companies and industries the idea of servant leadership has been
promoted as the best way to get ahead in business and the best way to
get ahead in life. There are hundreds of books out there that
directly or indirectly use the same logic as the online Academy for
Chief Executives which says on its website: soft skills [which
means the skills associated with servant leadership] can produce hard
results [which means higher profit].
The business world has
co-opted the concept of servant leadership and applied it to bottom
line reasoning. If you want to be great, become the servant of all.
But somehow I wonder if that might just be sighting the wrong target.
That line of thinking is very much still about me … still about
looking out for #1. I want to be great. And I will do what it takes
to be great even if that means serving other people … the focus
is still on me, what I am doing and where I want to be … and
because the goal is my own, in reality, that line of thinking is still
self-serving. When James and John approach Jesus asking for places of
honor, at his right and his left, Jesus doesn't rebuke them. He
doesn't chastise them or tell them they shouldn't be thinking of such
things. In fact before he redefines greatness so that it's based on
service, he first reorients them and reminds them of the direction he
himself is going. He calls them back to his mission. He asks
them, Can you drink the cup I drink … will you be baptized
into my baptism.
The cup will shortly come to represent the cup
of the new covenant, shed in Christ's blood for the forgiveness of
sins. Baptism has come to represent dying to the old self and rising
to a new way of being: Loved by God and alive in Christ.
When we celebrate the sacraments we're reminded that Christ came to share the good news that the kingdom of God has drawn near … and that his life is what the kingdom of God looks like. He died so that we can fully live. Every time we celebrate the sacraments we're invited again to commit ourselves to the mission and the work of Christ because that's the target … the call isn't simply serving others— it' s enabling others to live fully … the call isn't simply being nice—it' s living so that other people can see what the kingdom of God looks like … the call isn't it's not simply doing what others ask of you it's serving so that God's will might be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
In the children's sermon and in celebrating Cora's baptism we were reminded that the waters were there at the beginning of time and that today they still symbolize the work God is doing among us. God's story and God's mission started long before any of us were around and God's story and God's mission will continue long after all of us are gone. Part of the joy and part of the call in our baptism and living out our Christian faith is that we get the opportunity to participate in that mission. Every day by the choices we make.
Of course, personal ambition didn't begin with James and John and it didn't end there either. Every denomination, every congregation, every pastor, and every person faces the temptation to self-service, and it is often-well-disguised. But in our baptism we aren't told to be successful …we're told to be faithful. When we drink the cup it is not because we are being served … it's so that we can serve. And in this stewardship season we're reminded that the very heart of stewardship is letting go of ambition and joining in Christ's mission in the world …
And the irony of course is that greatness is directly proportional to our service to God's mission. When we let go of self ambition, and hold fast to what Christ was about in his life and ministry, that's when we realize how blessed we are and what a blessing we can be to our community and to our world. This is the time of year we set aside to make sure everything we're doing as a church and as people is aimed at that target in lane 3 … To use everything God has given us to go where God is calling us — United in Christ: Our Mission to Serve. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on October 18, 2009.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
