Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Sermon - Lent 5 - Mark 10:35-45

 


“Right, Left, Cup, Baptism”

Like any experienced parent has learned, Jesus already knows, never agree to do something before you know what it is.  James and John say, like children, “Jesus, promise to do us a favor”.  Uh huh.  “What do you want me to do?” Jesus asks.  And then their audacity shows.

We want the highest positions in the new Jesus-regime.  We want to be picked first for your new team of governing leadership.  When you defeat Pontius Pilate and drive out the Roman dogs, or when you depose the High Priest and set up your kingdom, we want some sweet positions of honor and prestige.  We want to sit at your right and left hand, when you come into your glory.

How many times did Jesus sigh, or roll his eyes, or have to exercise divine patience with these petty and foolish disciples.  How many times must he do the same toward us?  Sure it’s easy to see James and John in a poor light.  But we are no different.  We are no better.

James and John were simply doing what sinful humans do – looking out for themselves.  Putting themselves first.  Jockeying for a position from which to look down on others, be in charge, get their way, have their day in the sun.  Their request came from a place of selfish glory-seeking, not selfless neighbor-loving.  And so it’s easy to criticize.  But you do it, and I do it, and every sinful son and daughter of Adam does it.

But James and John are clueless.  They don’t even know what they are asking.  They don’t really understand what Jesus is about, and so their selfish request makes even less sense.  They think Jesus is going to earthly, human, worldly glory, and they want in on the action.  But Jesus is going to the cross.  There in the blood and sweat and bitter pains of the cross is his glory.  And if they knew that, they wouldn’t be asking for part of it.

Jesus has a cup to drink, and a baptism to be baptized with.  These are just two ways of speaking of his suffering and death.

The cup – that’s an Old Testament picture that is used especially in connection with God’s wrath.  For example:

 

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup

with foaming wine, well mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall drain it down to the dregs.  Psalm 75:8

 

Jesus makes reference to this, also, in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:  “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

 

He refuses to drink the wine mixed with gall when they first crucify him, for it was a mild anesthetic, and Jesus would not turn away from the least bit of suffering that he was due.  But later he drinks of the sour wine to quench his thirst just enough to fulfill prophecy and utter his last declaration, “It is finished”.  Oh, and he drinks the cup of wrath to its dregs when he suffers the worst of it – the abandonment of his Father, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

Can you drink this cup, James and John?  Can you drink this cup, dear Christian?

 

Or his baptism – no, not the baptism by John in the Jordan – that was already past.  Though, by that baptism Christ did indeed identify himself with sinners.  But the baptism that was coming was none other than the cross itself.  Like the cup appointed, a baptism that could not be avoided if he is to do the Father’s will.  And if you think of a baptism as a cleansing, of course by the cross Jesus cleanses all sin.  Or baptism as a renewal – and by the cross he destroys death and wins new life.

 

Can you undergo such a baptism?  No, you can’t die for your own sins, James and John.  You can’t pay the price of your debts, Christian, even with your very life.

 

But Jesus can.  And Jesus did.  He drank the cup.  He submitted to the baptism.  And he does so, in a great twist, so that indeed James and John and all sinners who trust in him would be spared the cup and the baptism, and receive places of honor and glory in his kingdom.  Even a crown of righteousness and share in his eternal kingdom.  What a twist!  James and John, in a sense, do have their requests fulfilled.

 

No, they wouldn’t be on Jesus right and left hand when he accomplished his glorious redemption at the cross.  That was reserved for the two thieves.

 

And that account is sort of running in the background of this one, isn’t it?  The gospel reader or hearer who knows the rest of the story, who knows how Jesus died crucified between two robbers – it comes to mind, doesn’t it, when James and John want to be at Jesus’ left and right hand when he comes into his glory.  They don’t know what they are asking.  But we who have read ahead – we kind of do.

 

And so their request for their own glory stands in a sort of contrast with the request of the repentant thief.  The one who did have a place beside Jesus.  This transgressor with whom Jesus was numbered.  He got it right, exactly right, where James and John got it wrong.  His request wasn’t self serving and self-aggrandizing.  His request was the voice of faith.  You know it, I’m sure:  “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”.  No, “Jesus promote me” or “Jesus honor me”, not “give me a place of power and prestige”.  This thief had no time for any of that.  He had bigger problems.  He was dying for his sins, and he knew it. But he also confessed it.  And so his request, his petition, his prayer to Jesus was simply to be remembered.  Not a bad prayer for us to pray, as well.

 

When Jesus remembers you – he does more than just think about you fondly.  He acts.  He promises.  He blesses.  He gives you the same thing he gave this thief – forgiveness in the face of impending doom because of your sins.  He gives you more than you even ask for.  He also promises you a place in his kingdom – in paradise – in his Father’s house, even forever.  What a contrast with the embarrassingly petty request of James and John – the humble, trusting request of a repentant thief facing his last hours.  Not, “Jesus give me glory”, but, essentially, “Jesus, forgive me, bless me, remember me”  We can pray the same.

 

No, James and John would not hang on the crosses next to Jesus. But James and John and all the apostles, eventually, would suffer and be persecuted, and most of them die for the sake of Christ and the gospel.  They had their own little cups and little baptisms and little crosses to bear.

 

As do we. “If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.”  And so we shoulder up the crosses he has appointed for us – whether it be suffering under the brokenness of this world, shame and ridicule in the eyes of a scornful world, or even persecution unto death if it comes to that – God grant us all the strength and courage to persevere in faith to the end.

 

And can a Lutheran think of a cup and a baptism without connecting to the sacraments?  Where in the bread and cup that are his body and blood, and in the baptism of water and the word, Jesus pours out the blessings won for us by his drinking of the cup and the baptism he had to undergo?  Only for us, these gifts are full of forgiveness and mercy.

 

There’s so much here this morning – the bad example of selfish James and John, their ill-informed request for self-advancement.  An example of how we all act in sin from time to time.  In the background, the good example of the dying, repentant thief whose request is simply the cry of faith to the only one who can save, “Jesus, remember me”.  And then the reference to Jesus’ cup and Jesus’ baptism – that is, his suffering and death – by which he procures for all the faithful a place in his kingdom.  And a reminder for us of where to find his grace – in the cup (and also the bread) of his holy supper, and in the baptism of his spirit which promises us a place in paradise.  And so we do, indeed have a share in his cup of suffering and the baptism of his cross – but we also have a share in his resurrection on the other side of suffering and death.  And there, we will be with him in his glory.

 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

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