I
listened recently to a public radio presentation on parasomnia, which is
category of sleep that often expresses itself in rather dramatic sleepwalking. Basically, a person’s dreams are extremely
vivid because the veil between sleep and wakefulness is extraordinarily thin. A parasomniac actually acts out a complete dream
in his or her real life setting – sometimes to humorous - and not so humorous -
consequences.
In
one true story that the program host related, a man dreamt that he had won
third place in the Olympics. However, just
as he was about to receive his bronze medal, the International Olympic
Committee President interrupted the awards ceremony to announce a grievous error. The man, in fact, had actually won the event,
and he should be presented with the gold – not the bronze – medal.
The
man was overjoyed, of course, and immediately began to climb onto the top spot
on the podium. However, as he did so, the
podium began to shake uncontrollably and then crumpled to the ground. It was at that point that the man awoke, only
to discover that, in his parasomniac state, he had left his bed, climbed to the
top of a bookcase, and the bookcase had toppled over.
Now
I tell you this story not to initiate a discussion on unusual sleep habits, but
rather to point out our very human obsession with being first. Blogger Nancy Rockwell describes the
phenomenon like this.
“First. The word permeates
our thinking, informs our social relations, orders our values and our world,
tells us who we are in the bustling human sea….First Born, First Chance, First Place, First
Signs, First Opportunity. We understand ourselves in relation to
the firsts that are part of our lives….First Things, First Time, First Base, First Prize….Firsts
are how we know where we are and where we are going….First Lady, First Family, First World, First
Act, First Place, First Among Equals….Firsts establish a social order,
and we all know it. …First Step, First Tooth, First Word…These mark our progress from
the beginning of our lives.” And
it was no different for James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples who are
featured in today’s Gospel lesson. Now,
one might label this duo immature, dimwitted, or even socially irresponsible
because of what they did that day.
However, you cannot fault them for their honesty. They knew what they wanted, and they
did not hesitate to ask for it.
Now,
I know that we are all told throughout school and sometimes beyond that there
are no stupid questions. However, James
and John really did give the lie to that particular piece of advice. You have got to admit that they asked, if not
a stupid, then a really inappropriate question.
“Teacher,”
they said as they initiated this particular conversation, “we want you to do
for us whatever we ask.”
Now
how audacious is that statement?
God, can you give me an A on that test? Jesus, I need a girlfriend. Spirit, I really want a Porsche.
Holy
One, “my lawn’s looking a little dry. I need for you to send some rain - but
not Thursday afternoon. That’s when I play golf. I’d appreciate it if it could
be dry then. Wait until Friday morning. Yes, that would be good. (Hold it),
I’ve got that long drive to that big sales meeting. I can’t afford for the
roads to be slick so that it slows me down. Could you make it rain just enough
to take care of the lawn but not affect the roads?”
“Teacher,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
James and John were bold and brash.
They did not pull any punches. However,
Jesus did not fall into that rather obvious trap. Instead he asked for specifics. “What is it? I’ll see what I can do.”
“Arrange it,” they
said, “so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory—one
of us at your right, the other at your left.”
They
wanted the first class seats when Jesus became king – no doubt about it. They wanted the power and the glory that
should be part and parcel of the kingdom as they saw it – and besides that,
apparently James and John did not think there was going to be enough of that
power and glory to go around because they did not ask Jesus this favor on
behalf of all the disciples. They asked
it in secret – just for themselves.
And,
boy, were the other ten disciples angry about that. You see, they too wanted premium seats. They too wanted the power and prestige that
in their little minds were surely their due after the years they had given to
this itinerant rabbi.
Did
these guys not get it? Were they really
such blockheads? Jesus had already told
them twice that he was bent on getting to Jerusalem and that he expected to
encounter immense suffering there as well as absolute rejection and even
death. Though we often call these
revelations of Jesus “passion predictions”, they are probably better labeled as
“Interpretations of the Messiah’s Mission.”
(David Lose)
The
long and the short of it was that the future with Jesus was not going to be a
Sunday School picnic. And it was
certainly not going to be like the pomp and circumstance that James and John
envisioned when they imagined Jesus entering Jerusalem and being crowned the
long awaited king of all Judaism.
In
spite of all the time they had spent with Jesus, in spite of Jesus trying his
best to interpret again and again and again the essence of his mission, the
foundation of the kingdom he proclaimed, and the role of discipleship, James
and John (and the other ten for that matter) still did not get it.
They
continued to imagine the formidable white horse on which Jesus would ride as he
overtook the Holy City. They still saw
in their mind’s eye the banquet table and the dais and the two of them seated
on either side of King Jesus.
They
conjured up the only image of leadership that they had ever experienced. As Christian Church pastor, Mickey Anders
writes, “The traditional image of leadership…is that of an autocratic person
controlling and manipulating the actions of others. This approach has been
practiced throughout the world among virtually all cultures.
Sometimes
both followers and leaders prefer this kind of leadership because it relieves
the followers of the necessity of thinking for themselves and of taking
responsibility for their own actions and it gives leaders virtually unlimited
power. Jesus declared, however, that this type of leadership was not to
be exercised.”
In
short, the disciples visualized Jesus as simply taking the place of Herod, of
Pilate, of Caesar himself.
“Arrange
it,” they had said, “so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in
your glory—one of us at your right, the other at your left.”
The
disciples thought they knew who Jesus was and what he was about, but the
reality was that they had no vague idea – even after all this time. And Jesus once again sadly shook his tired
head and softly replied, “You have no idea what you are asking.” And then he used two ancient images of death
– baptism and the cup of suffering – to try to make his point clear - but
apparently to no avail.
“Are
you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism I’m
about to be plunged into?”
“Sure,” they said. “Why not?” And then Jesus
told them what perhaps they should have realized all along. “As to awarding places of honor, that’s not
my business. There are other arrangements for that.”
But
that was not the end of the discussion.
You see, in one final effort before the final push to the Holy City,
Jesus described to the Twelve his unique style of leadership – and if you
remember nothing else about this sermon or even about the Gospels themselves,
remember the gist of this final part of their conversation.
“You’ve
observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” Jesus said, “and when
people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to
be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever
wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what I have done: I
came to serve, not to be served.”
As
Lutheran pastor David Lose writes, “Jesus invites them not just to re-imagine
but actually to redefine their understanding of power, prestige, status, and
leadership. In this case he defines leadership as serving the needs of another.
Which means that glory comes not from individual accomplishment but from
service.”
It
is not a question of upward mobility in a world of power games and overwelming
insecurity about having enough – enough time, money, prestige, or love.
It is not a question of upward
mobility in a world crowded with cultural messages that run roughshod over the
essence of the gospel message to help our neighbor. It is not a question of upward mobility in a global
society that encourages us to look out for #1 - at any cost.
It
is not a question of upward mobility, but rather it is a matter of intentionally
stepping downward on the ladder – rung after rung - until we are at a vantage
point to be able to really look our neighbor in the eye, until we are near
enough to place a bowl of food into empty hands, until we are close enough to
reach out and touch the untouchable, hug the unhuggable, and love the
unlovable.
As
Mickey Anders writes so accurately, “Jesus declares that it is only in service
that one may become great. By his example and by his direct teaching,
Jesus showed the way to real leadership for us today, (which is)…not power but
love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion.”
We
call it servant leadership (a term coined by Robert Greenleaf in his book
describing effective leadership in secular organizations). For us in the church, it is where
each one of us, because we are Christian, acts as “a caring, humble individual
who seeks the good of all, as the group of people whom he or she leads
accomplishes the organization's objectives." (http://www.regent.edu/acad/schbus/cur/entr665-00fa/entr665-syllabus-00fa.htm)
And
servant leadership is not easy. That is
for sure. It will mean accepting as our own those ancient images of death
(baptism and the cup of suffering), which Marcus Borg interprets
metaphorically. That is, it will mean
"a dying of the self as the center of its own concern" and "a
dying to the world as the center of security and identity." It is that
kind of dying, that “radical re-centering” that will lead to transformation,
that will lead us to the Kingdom.
But
it works. Servant leadership works – and
deep down inside we all know that. Our
culture’s road to glory, our culture’s brand of autocratic, bullying, “we are
#1” leadership, is outdated, unworkable, and unsustainable. It leads only to a dead end.
And
we all know that when we have put someone else’s needs first – not because it
was demanded of us, not because we wanted to please that person or wanted
something in return – but when we did it simply for the sheer delight of
helping, of serving, of stepping down the ladder, rung after rung – when we
have done that, amazing things have happened.
We
lent a hand. We brought over a
meal. We were motivated not by our
insecurities about whether we had enough time, enough food, enough love. Instead we were motivated by the joy of
giving to someone else.
And
we found that we received in some inexplicable way more than we gave. And our reward was not just gratitude from
the one we served but also an injection of courage and sense of purpose to our
own lives. We discovered that to lead by
serving, to lead by coming down the ladder rather than expecting that the only
way to go was up, to lead in that way was indeed to walk in the footsteps of
Jesus.
by Rev. Nancy Foran, Raymond Village COmmunity Church, Raymond, Maine
www.rvccme.org
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