They Just Didn't Get It!

Isaiah 53:10-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45

Three times Jesus tells His disciples about His coming passion, death and resurrection and three times He tells them about what it means to be His disciple:

1. (Mark 8:27-35) “Who do people say that I am?” – John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. “But who do you say that I am?” – Peter said in reply “You are the Christ.”

Jesus then tells them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Upon hearing this Peter rebukes Jesus – “no master you must not do this” and Jesus rebukes him saying “Get behind me satan!”

Then Jesus says “whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.”

2. (Mark 9:30-37) Jesus was teaching His disciples telling them “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But His disciples did not understand and when they came to Capernaum Jesus asked them what they were arguing about on the way – who among them (the disciples) was the greatest.

Jesus calls them over and says: “if anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” and He calls a child over and says “whoever receives one child such as this in my name – receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but the One who sent me.”

3. And today, the lines just prior to our reading reveal the third prediction of the passion: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”

And the sons of Zebedee – James and John – worrying only about themselves – ask Jesus if in His glory (when He comes into His kingdom) that they may sit one on His right and the other on His left. And Jesus basically replies that they don’t know what they are talking about or what they are asking.

Jesus uses this opportunity to tell His disciples and us: “whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Three times Jesus tells His disciples about His coming passion, death and resurrection and three times He teaches them about what means to be His disciple. And they just don’t get it.

And it isn’t an easy lesson – for them of for us – because they thought and we think in worldly terms. Jesus isn’t supposed to die – He is supposed to set up His Kingdom and rule over it – Jesus isn’t supposed to serve – Kings don’t serve others – they have servants who wait on them.

But Jesus tells them and us that is the way of the world – not His way – and to be a disciple of His they must and we must embrace our crosses, follow Him, and give our lives completely over to God and become the servant of all – just like He did.

We heard last week that whoever does that – whoever “has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother of father or children or lands for” his “sake and for the sake of the gospel … will receive a hundred times more now in this present age with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”

Following Jesus is not easy – it is demanding – to humble ourselves – and to serve others – but the rewards are great – perhaps not in the eyes of the world or in this lifetime but in eyes of God and in eternity – which is all that really matters.
A journalist once saw Mother Teresa of Calcutta engaged in picking up the abandoned sick and dying people lying in the gutters along the streets and caring for them. He said to her, “Not even for a million dollars would I do a job like that.” “Neither would I,” answered Mother Teresa. She wouldn’t have done what she did for all the treasures in the world. She cared for those people out of love for God – she did what she did in obedience to His will for her life – and in doing so – she lived the message we find in Mark’s Gospel today– “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; who ever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”
Now not all of us are called to be Mother Teresa – but each of us are called just the same – we are called to embrace whatever crosses or persecutions come our way, we are called to serve one another, we are called to do God’s will for our lives, not our will – we are not to abuse our positions (at home or at work) by lording it over family or coworkers or make our authority be felt.

Jesus, though He was in the form of God did not regard equality with God – something to be imitated. Though He was the true Son of God he assumed a human nature – deprived of all glory, subject to suffering and death – so that he could live in obedience to the Father, even to His ultimate sacrifice on the cross – for our redemption. He who was truly “first” came to serve and not be served. Jesus asks no less of His apostles and of us.

Nowhere is this kind of leadership better exemplified than in a normal family. In such a family, the leaders—the father and mother —are completely at the service of the family, especially the children. Aside from providing them with food, clothing, shelter and education, they also teach them the basics of our faith and this, more by their example than by what they say.

Wives be subordinate to your husbands as to the Lord; Husbands love your wives. The greatest gift we can give our children is the love we have for each other and for God.

The question each of us must ask ourselves is who is it we are called to serve – and how well are we serving them? Do we put God first in our lives, everybody else second – an ourselves third? If we did this then we would truly be followers of Christ – and if all Christians did this we would – as the body of Christ – change the face of the earth.