Mark 10: 32-45
Something
that I have heard about lately is confirmation bias, this is when we look for
things that agree with our opinion. For example, if you think people with blue
eyes have a higher IQ than people with brown eyes, you will read articles that
agree with you, and find ways to disagree with articles or research that says
that eye colour is not associated with IQ. You may have noticed this in climate
change debates.
This
passage from Mark this morning begins with Jesus telling the disciples, for the
third time, that he will be arrested and killed. Still the disciples don’t get
it. The disciples have seen Jesus in action, healing, teaching, feeding,
miracles; they have left their home and family to follow, literally, to walk
with him. Why might they not understand or acknowledge what Jesus is saying
about his arrest and death?
I wonder
if confirmation bias is at play here.
The
Jewish people were looking for a Saviour, a Messiah, from the line of David,
who would bring them liberation. Jesus is making all the right moves, saying all
the right things; surely, he is amassing a mighty army to overthrow the Roman
occupiers of Israel. Once again Israel would be great and free, ruled by people
who feared and worshipped God.
But, we
know, and the disciples were not ready to admit, that the freedom Jesus was
offering was not freedom from Roman occupiers. Jesus was not preparing an army
of warriors to take on the might of Rome. Jesus was preparing the way for a new
kingdom, one that was so different to the current systems of the world, that it
was hard to see what it might be like.
James and
John, brothers, asked Jesus if they could sit at his left and right in the new
Kingdom. Traditionally those who sit next to the King, or leader, were powerful
people. It was a place of honour. When you are at an event, maybe a wedding,
who sits at the top table, who sits with the parents of the bride and groom,
and who sits in the back corner?
Soon the
places at the left and right of Jesus will be those crucified with him.
Then
Jesus tells the disciples, again, that those who are great are those who serve.
This new way of living, the way of Jesus, does not follow the ways of Rome or
any other empire. Honour and status is not about wealth or prestige or the
number of slaves you own. Being great is not about the size of your army, but
the way you serve, the way you live for others.
Then this
final sentence in our reading: The Son of Man did not come to be a slave
master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people. You may be
more familiar with his version: For the Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” New Revised Standard Version
One of my
favourite writers on the Gospel of Mark is Ched Myers. He writes: The term
(ransom) referred to the price required to redeem captives or purchase freedom
for indentured servants. Jesus promises then that the way of “servanthood” has
been transformed by the Human One into the way of liberation.[1]
It is 20
months since life changed dramatically due to COVID. Since then, we have been
able to meet at times, sometimes masked, sometimes singing. At times. we have
not been able to visit family and friends, we have missed birthday celebrations
and funerals. And we yearn to return to ‘normal’. But what is ‘normal’.
Like
James and John, we do what humans do best, we fall back on what we know—what’s
comfortable; how the world always worked; we hope and pray that the world has
not and will not change as much as it already has and as much as we know it will.
What once was, is not working anymore. We know that. Deep in our hearts and
souls. And we don’t know how to fix it.[2]
The world
around us is changing, it feels chaotic at times, out of our control, confusing
and frustrating.
For James and John, they have heard Jesus talk
three times now about his impending death, I imagine they may have been
confused as well, their idea of a Messiah does not include this death.
“Jesus is simply affirming here what
the world does to those who put their trust in love and follow it through in
every aspect of their lives. The disciples are fixated on the rewards for their
actions, but that is not what is significant, it’s the ability to trust love
and live it out in the world that is the right response to the call of Jesus and
the disciples miss the point completely. The kind of power they seek is the
very power that will have Jesus crucified.” [3]
Once Jesus enters Jerusalem, the world will
change. We live on the other side of the cross and empty tomb, and still when
we don’t have answers or there don’t seem to be any answers in the immediate
future, our human pattern is to “partner with power” rather than “hold hands
with humility.”[4]
I am one of those people who wants the answers,
now, all of them. I want to know what is going to happen, I want to be able to plan,
and not have those planned changed by COVID or ageing or ill-health or anything
else. I am human. I want the security of
knowledge. Jesus asks me to trust in love.
In this passage we are reminded that our faith is
not in power or knowledge, but in love and service.
I know it is not much of an advertising slogan,
but Christianity isn’t about slogans, but a way of life that offers freedom.
Freedom to love, freedom to trust in God, freedom to serve.
Where is God calling you to let go of ‘normal’
Where is God calling you to live in love?
