Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 91:9-16; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:32-45
The Ven. Dr C. Lucy Morris
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
The politics of power and service are what we, as disciples of Christ, are being invited to practice and embrace as our way of living, not simply the acceptance or understanding of the ideas, as we travel together as a community with Jesus, on ‘the way’.
It is the third time that Jesus, now walking ahead of his disciples, has told them he is to die and how, and to know also he will rise again. Those following him, Mark tells us, were afraid. I’m not surprised. Jesus’ teaching is very confronting for all of us.
His choice to walk steadfastly to his inevitable death involved betrayal by his own disciple and by his spiritual leaders, their rejection of him to the Roman military oppressor, the growing verbal condemnation from those willing to accept the price of an innocent scapegoat, and people mocking, spitting, flogging and finally killing him.
It’s a comprehensive list of actions which we still use today when we want to kill our enemies, when we choose not to love them in spite of Jesus’ commandment. It was done to those in Guantanamo Bay and in all the hidden detention centres around the world, it is done in the current wars in the middle East, Europe and West Papua, it is done in our youth detention centres, in our off-shoring of refugees, it happens with First Nations people, and in the way violence is expressed in our homes.
In the light of this knowledge, we must pay attention to how we reconcile our understanding of faith and religion with our experience of hope, and our capacity for moral courage. It’s a big call, a huge expectation by God in which we are invited to participate. It is both political and faithful, and it means a lifelong commitment as we follow Jesus and hear his teaching and watch his obvious, clear example.
Jesus’ way requires courage to suffer humiliating public abuse contempt, physical and mental torture and death for an ending to which Jesus faithfully walked. The suffering service he showed is also, oddly enough, sensible and wise. Jesus is not foolishly disregarding consequences, because the way of his suffering brings with it moral consequences, along with renewal, salvation, hope and grace for all the ‘last ones’.
It’s a much bigger picture built on love; reliable, eternal breath-taking love. We are not invited to seek suffering, but we are shown repeatedly by Jesus it is only through love that hope-filled service is offered sustainably, which may be rejected violently, but in the end, such love will always save those who live this way.
We cannot separate out the politics of power from the way Jesus invites us to serve. We are not stupid, even though those around us may believe we are foolish in the extreme. In understanding the differences in the way power is exercised, knowing how we can be manipulated, coerced, misinformed, abused and deceived, we can still choose to love honestly, faithfully and serve in spite of the threats of all kinds of evil. We can choose to trust God and not let fear and worry overcome our commitment to peace, hope, justice and love.
The love Jesus demonstrated with the disciples was consistent and persistent. In the face of their ongoing lack of understanding, he did not berate them or give up on them, he continued to show them the awful consequences of the insatiable selfish human desire for wealth, status and power; and, he did not promise what he could not deliver. He showed his disciples the wisdom of knowing what power is all about when it is not based on and grown in love, and how this affects each of us individually, and how the impacts go beyond our personal ambitions for authority, impacting the whole world.
Jesus was calling for courage to accept contempt, persecution and suffering, and the wisdom to know when the exposure of wrongdoing is needed, even if it brings suffering, when it will sustainably grow a new beginning in love. Jesus was able to look beyond the world’s current problems, its violence and the unjust structures of power and justice to a new creation beyond violent rejection and death. The politics of power and servanthood based on love, informs and grows moral courage and faith.
As we look at the intractable problems and challenges facing us today, the wars spreading across the globe, the withdrawal from a rules-based system of governance, the tipping into authoritarianism and the greedy, selfish desire for power and control over others without permission in all aspects of our lives: speaking of love and service as providing a way forward is always going to look foolish, naïve and unwise. However, every small step, every tiny contribution always makes a difference for God, even if you can’t see it at the time. The conversation James and John had with Jesus and with the disciples together meant their current expectations were being changed, their lives forever altered. A new way was being born even if they didn’t know it then.
There’s a story about a South Korean pastor who was imprisoned for preaching and teaching the Christian faith. Conditions in prison were so dreadful that over the months and years he finally started losing his faith, he stopped praying and thought about renouncing his political and faith beliefs. He decided to recant. Entering the court, he saw his wife and some members of his church in the gallery. He had not seen them for months. He started to cry. The judge told him to stand and renounce publicly the error of his ways. He heard his wife and Christian friends shouting, ‘God is alive, God is alive!’ – it was all they could say before they were removed from court. But, it was enough to give him hope and faith, and he refused to recant.
The risen Christ always goes before us. As we continue to follow him, let us ask ourselves, what makes us afraid, what levers of power do we try to hang onto to help ourselves, who are we serving and why? If we are unable to answer, perhaps we have lost sight of God and so today, we need to recommit to following him on the road, wherever he leads, together, you and I, with faith and without fear.
The Lord be with you.
Reference
Jarvis, C.A., Johnson E.E. [Gen. Eds]. 2014. Feasting on the Gospels. Mark. Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
