It Shall Not be So With You*

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B/Pentecost 22/Proper 29

Mark 10:35-45

…But I added verses 32-34 which is Jesus’ third and most explicit teaching about what awaits in Jerusalem

 

Our garage is a good fifty yards from our back door

And when our kids were in middle school 

I drove them to school

And without fail

As we were walking toward the garage

At about a third of the way there, as the garage door was raising

I would hear

“I Call Shotgun!” 

And the shouter began to sprint

In case you aren’t familiar with the game

The rules are simple

The first to shout-when in sight of the vehicle-gets to sit in the front.

That front seat…

It was the object of some kind of powerful craving

Is that what James and John were succumbing to

A powerful craving…for a seat…a place of power and prestige?

It’s almost a little too easy

To think of those two…James and John…calling ‘shotgun’

And I think, “really…really…are you really that thick headed?”

For weeks now we have been hearing Jesus 

Patiently teaching the disciples

About just what kind of Messiah he is

And about just what kind of kingdom this ‘kingdom of God’ is

He has picked up the children…using them as metaphors

He has said the last shall be first

Losing your life will gain it

Be a servant

Be a slave 

And today…

As the narrative is drawing nearer and nearer to Jerusalem

…today, this third time…he is at his most explicit

About what lies ahead

And James and John…and the rest of them

Well…their hearts and heads are still stuck in SHOTGUN

But it is a tough message

Last will be first

Be a slave 

Lose your life

Suffer and die

It was a tough message then and it is still tough today
In the face of that message

-especially without knowing the end of the story-

Who wouldn’t run for shelter…calling ‘shotgun’ 

The important thing about this episode in Mark’s gospel 

…It seems to me…

Is the reality of the Cross 

and just how hard it is NOT to run the other way!

I remember in the late 70’s

There was a ‘charismatic’ movement going on in my church

And my friend Kimberly was really into it

And she had posters and jewelry

And of course crosses

But not the crosses I was used to seeing

Not the crosses with Jesus’ bloody and dying body hanging there

No…these crosses were rainbow colored

And sparkly

And they had “Hallelujah” written on them

It was as if the movement was saying

We’ve had enough of Good Friday

Let’s focus on Easter Sunday instead.

And that reminded me of 

Jesus asking James and John “What is it you want?”  

And they say

‘to sit…one on your right…the other on your left…IN YOUR GLORY’

All they are hearing is the GLORY part…

It’s like they are punch drunk on the notion of GLORY

It is easy to poke fun of James and John

But the truth is

I am absolutely certain 

that I would not have performed 

Any better than James and John.  

I would have been all about ‘Shotgun.’
Because honestly

I don’t know a thoughtful Christian who has the whole cross thing all figured out

And just as soon as I think I have my head wrapped around it
---poof more mystery pops up

Today I have two tiny nibbles… 

It had to take the cross…at some level every Christian knows that.
We cross ourselves

We have jewelry and tattoos

And Christmas ornaments and wall art

And shiny Brass processional crosses

There is no denying…it is our central symbol

Why?

Why the cross?

Why not Jesus living to a nice old age and dying peacefully in his sleep?

I need to go back to the scene…

or better yet…the series of scenes that make up Jesus’ passion

There are

Those who mock

Those who spit

Those who scourge

Those who kill

And there are 

Those who betray

Those who abandon and hide

Those who utterly fail

Especially in Mark…everyone fails

Just Jesus…utterly alone

And therein lies tiny nibble number 1

EVEN THERE

ThatEven There…alone on that cross after a terrifying series of events

Hangs our EVEN THERE God

Even There

When it can’t get any worse

For Jesus and at times for each of us

Even There

We are in fact not alone

God is always in it with us

Thinking about EVEN THERE
puts me in Jesus’ place

But Jesus isn’t the only character in the Passion scenes

One great theme of Mark’s Gospel is Discipleship

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

What does the cross have to do with it?

The corollary to Even There is

‘It shall not be so with you’

‘It shall not be so with you’

I think of the scene again

Of the Roman soldiers

Those who mock, spit, scourge and kill

And I think of the disciples

Those who betray, abandon and hide

It doesn’t seem like it

But for us…struggling disciples in the year 2018
that is…in fact…good news

As my Dad would say “there is nowhere to go but up”

In her wisdom

The Church calls us to confess

Publicly…every week when we gather

We check in on our discipleship

We check in knowing full well

That we have both doneand left undone

We have been both Roman Soldiers and Terrified Disciples

But this confession of ours

Is grounded in the sure hope of our EVEN THERE God

We confess our hope to change
…to change just as much as we can handle…for today;)

            

The Gospel is so very realistic!

The cross won’t let us off easy

It confronts us

It sheds light on our human capacity for sin 

But it never leaves us there

The cross pushes us through…it invites us to a new way

‘It shall not be so with you’

‘It shall not be so with you’

When emotions flair

And the swirl of blame and scandal suck us in

And we find ourselves jockeying for position or hiding in fear

Jesus speaks gently…‘It shall not be so with you’

And then we make our way here  

We come here

We fall on our knees

And we confess

And while we do we call to mind 

What we have doneand what we have left undone

And in each other’s company 

We hear that gentle whisper

‘It shall not be so with you’