Mark 10:35-45
As I pondered the passage from Mark today, I remembered a Peanuts cartoon that I had seen years ago. It showed Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog, chasing after a bubble that was floating through the air. Snoopy gently and adroitly grabs the bubble in his teeth and starts to trot back to Charlie Brown with it in his mouth but in the next to last panel, he trips and the bubble bursts. Charlie Brown says to him, “You the only one I know who can be deft and clumsy all at the same time.”
In some ways, the Zebedee brothers, James and John, are exhibiting their own simultaneous deftness and clumsiness in these scriptures. To understand why I say that about them though, we have to look at a bigger picture than we got in this morning’s reading because context may not be everything in scripture, but it sure is a lot.
The passage just prior to this reading, ending right at verse 34, is Jesus’ prediction of his own death and resurrection. The sentence immediately prior to our reading for this morning is:
As I pondered the passage from Mark today, I remembered a Peanuts cartoon that I had seen years ago. It showed Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog, chasing after a bubble that was floating through the air. Snoopy gently and adroitly grabs the bubble in his teeth and starts to trot back to Charlie Brown with it in his mouth but in the next to last panel, he trips and the bubble bursts. Charlie Brown says to him, “You the only one I know who can be deft and clumsy all at the same time.”
In some ways, the Zebedee brothers, James and John, are exhibiting their own simultaneous deftness and clumsiness in these scriptures. To understand why I say that about them though, we have to look at a bigger picture than we got in this morning’s reading because context may not be everything in scripture, but it sure is a lot.
The passage just prior to this reading, ending right at verse 34, is Jesus’ prediction of his own death and resurrection. The sentence immediately prior to our reading for this morning is:
[Jesus] took the twelve aside again and began to tell them was was to happen to him, saying, “See, 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; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again. (32b-34)
Pretty direct, don’t you think? There’s not much there to wonder about. Jesus even gets rather specific. And this is the third time that he’s done this as they journey to Jerusalem. He’s told the disciples about his impending death and resurrection three times now.
And what is the first thing out of the mouths of those sons of Zebedee? “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It’s such a jarring disconnect that you wonder if they understood a word that Jesus said. How did they so miss what Jesus had just said as to come up with a glaring, grating non sequitur? Following a previous prediction of his death, at least Peter understood what Jesus was saying but then tried to deny it, getting a sharp rebuke for his efforts. But Peter understood what Jesus was talking about, it seems. These two, James & John, seem like they were standing there just waiting for Jesus to get done with whatever he was going on about this time so they could ask him their all important question.
Or were they? Did they actually get it, perhaps? Did they know what Jesus was talking about and were ready to sign on for whatever came along, but they still wanted their share of the power and the glory that was to come?
Of course, what they were asking for was a big deal. Hosts would put the most important guests right next to themselves at a feast. Rulers kept their most trusted advisors right beside themselves. These sons of Zebedee wanted those positions of honor and power for themselves, as did, no doubt, most if not all of the rest of the disciples. They wanted to be next to Jesus, even in the time beyond his death that he had just finished predicting.
They seem all too quick and easy though in their reply that they are indeed able to drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism as Jesus. Following as it does so quickly on the prediction of his impending crucifixion, these two metaphors are clearly about death and I think the Zebedees understand that. They aren’t being flip and Jesus goes on to affirm that they, like many of the earliest leaders of the fledgling Christian community, will suffer because of following him.
Like Snoopy, James and John are deft in their adroit handling of the precious bubble that is the way of following Jesus but clumsy in their grasp of what Jesus’ heavenly reign actually means. I believe they are going in with eyes wide open and know full well that having given their life to their teacher they may yet be called to truly give of their life. But they haven’t followed completely the teachings they’ve heard because they don’t fully understand for what they’re asking.
Most of us are not going to be called upon to give our lives for our faith. There are some notable martyrs of the past century, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oscar Romero, the nuns of El Salvador, Martin Luther King Jr. and others whose names we may not know. Most of us though will not face our death because we hold to our faith so securely as they and those early Christian leaders who faced persecution from the state did.
But still, we too are Zebedeean in our following if we don’t stop and realize just what deaths are required of us, if indeed we are to follow the teachings of Jesus and truly claim him as the Christ. For we must die to this world and its ways in order to follow. And we must die to our selves in order to follow.
The world and all its trappings is an glittery attraction that draws us into materialism. If we follow the way of the world, we embrace greed and denial. It offers us comfort and security. It beckons us with offers of “more,” “new,” and “improved.” It tells us that what we have is never enough. Our deaths, because of our faith, are to this world and a renunciation of what it offers. If we drink from the cup that Jesus drinks from, we will die to this world and face away from the plastic offerings that tempt us.
Likewise, if we become so self-focussed that we turn away from the plight of others, we are being as blind about Jesus’ teachings as those early disciples were. We must die to self-absorption and the inflation of our egos. If we care only for ourselves and ignore that which is going on all around us, we need to find ourselves on the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. If we are to be baptized with the same baptism that Jesus faced, we must die to ourselves.
But we’ll be just like the sons of Zebedee if we think by doing so, we’ll get special considerations. If we’re deft enough to accept the deaths we must face in ourselves because of our faith, but still clumsily seek out special favors or a power boost for our prayer requests, we’ve missed the mark as surely as James & John did two thousand years ago.
Interesting, this cycle from Mark begins and end with the healings of blind men starting back in chapter 8 and moving through to the end of chapter 10, immediately following today’s passage. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think Mark, in putting together his gospel, knew exactly what he was doing in saying that we all have to open our eyes and see, really see, the truth about following Jesus. Yes, we must drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism in order to follow. And we must do so with few expectations and little to gain in a worldly way from it.
And what is the first thing out of the mouths of those sons of Zebedee? “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It’s such a jarring disconnect that you wonder if they understood a word that Jesus said. How did they so miss what Jesus had just said as to come up with a glaring, grating non sequitur? Following a previous prediction of his death, at least Peter understood what Jesus was saying but then tried to deny it, getting a sharp rebuke for his efforts. But Peter understood what Jesus was talking about, it seems. These two, James & John, seem like they were standing there just waiting for Jesus to get done with whatever he was going on about this time so they could ask him their all important question.
Or were they? Did they actually get it, perhaps? Did they know what Jesus was talking about and were ready to sign on for whatever came along, but they still wanted their share of the power and the glory that was to come?
Of course, what they were asking for was a big deal. Hosts would put the most important guests right next to themselves at a feast. Rulers kept their most trusted advisors right beside themselves. These sons of Zebedee wanted those positions of honor and power for themselves, as did, no doubt, most if not all of the rest of the disciples. They wanted to be next to Jesus, even in the time beyond his death that he had just finished predicting.
They seem all too quick and easy though in their reply that they are indeed able to drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism as Jesus. Following as it does so quickly on the prediction of his impending crucifixion, these two metaphors are clearly about death and I think the Zebedees understand that. They aren’t being flip and Jesus goes on to affirm that they, like many of the earliest leaders of the fledgling Christian community, will suffer because of following him.
Like Snoopy, James and John are deft in their adroit handling of the precious bubble that is the way of following Jesus but clumsy in their grasp of what Jesus’ heavenly reign actually means. I believe they are going in with eyes wide open and know full well that having given their life to their teacher they may yet be called to truly give of their life. But they haven’t followed completely the teachings they’ve heard because they don’t fully understand for what they’re asking.
Most of us are not going to be called upon to give our lives for our faith. There are some notable martyrs of the past century, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oscar Romero, the nuns of El Salvador, Martin Luther King Jr. and others whose names we may not know. Most of us though will not face our death because we hold to our faith so securely as they and those early Christian leaders who faced persecution from the state did.
But still, we too are Zebedeean in our following if we don’t stop and realize just what deaths are required of us, if indeed we are to follow the teachings of Jesus and truly claim him as the Christ. For we must die to this world and its ways in order to follow. And we must die to our selves in order to follow.
The world and all its trappings is an glittery attraction that draws us into materialism. If we follow the way of the world, we embrace greed and denial. It offers us comfort and security. It beckons us with offers of “more,” “new,” and “improved.” It tells us that what we have is never enough. Our deaths, because of our faith, are to this world and a renunciation of what it offers. If we drink from the cup that Jesus drinks from, we will die to this world and face away from the plastic offerings that tempt us.
Likewise, if we become so self-focussed that we turn away from the plight of others, we are being as blind about Jesus’ teachings as those early disciples were. We must die to self-absorption and the inflation of our egos. If we care only for ourselves and ignore that which is going on all around us, we need to find ourselves on the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. If we are to be baptized with the same baptism that Jesus faced, we must die to ourselves.
But we’ll be just like the sons of Zebedee if we think by doing so, we’ll get special considerations. If we’re deft enough to accept the deaths we must face in ourselves because of our faith, but still clumsily seek out special favors or a power boost for our prayer requests, we’ve missed the mark as surely as James & John did two thousand years ago.
Interesting, this cycle from Mark begins and end with the healings of blind men starting back in chapter 8 and moving through to the end of chapter 10, immediately following today’s passage. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think Mark, in putting together his gospel, knew exactly what he was doing in saying that we all have to open our eyes and see, really see, the truth about following Jesus. Yes, we must drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism in order to follow. And we must do so with few expectations and little to gain in a worldly way from it.
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