The Shotgun Seat 14 March 2008

Mark 10:32-45
Friday, 14 March 2008

Remember the days before airbags when it was safe for children to sit in the front seat? If you recall those days, then you probably also remember the wrangling, haggling, and downright fighting for the privilege of riding shotgun. In many families, the first one to ask for the spot got it, a circumstance that occasioned the strategic placement of the request. "I want to sit upfront." "Well, I already asked and Mom said I could."

It turns out that Jesus' journey is taking him to Jerusalem for the last time. Once he enters Jerusalem, events will proceed quickly; he wants his closest followers to understand what is ahead. All of the disciples have been debating who is greatest. The Zebedee sons seize the chance to put their bid in for the best seats. They perceive that the closer one sits to Jesus the more power one will have in the kingdom. "Let one of us sit on your right hand and the other on the left in your glory." (One can only imagine the next level of haggling that would have ensued between the brothers about which of them sat on the right if Jesus had granted their request.) Jesus presses them about the self-denial and suffering that precede elevation and promotion in the kingdom: "Can you drink the cup? Can you endure the baptism?" Participation in God's glory comes not by ambition or strategy but rather by service and humility.

It is important for us not to judge James and John too harshly but rather to learn the lesson that Jesus taught them. The one thing we have to know if we are going to ride with Jesus is that the way he travels is unlike any journey we have experienced before. The rules here are different. Neither the loudest, the fastest, the smartest, the cutest, the richest, nor the best connected advance in his administration. To move forward and upward with him, we have to be humble and helpful with one another.

Sing, "Are ye Able?"

Let us pray:
Good Teacher, we see ourselves in the rich man who could not leave his stuff. We see ourselves in the disciples who want to be regarded more highly than one another. And when the question arises about whether we are able to pay the price that discipleship requires, our hearts cry "Yes," not because we are confident in ourselves, but because we trust that if you have called us then you will make us able. We trust you not ourselves. When we come to the end, give us a seat somewhere in your kingdom we pray through Jesus Christ. Amen