“BUT IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU”

MARK 10:35-45

35  James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."

36  And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"

37  And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

38  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

39  They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;

40  but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

41  When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.

42  So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.

43  But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,

44  and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.

45  For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

According to one of my favorite sayings there are three kinds of people in the world.

There are those who make things happen.

There are those who watch things happen and

There are those who wonder what the heck happened.

Which one of those three kinds of people are you? Nobody, of course, wants to be a person who ends up wondering what the heck happened. That could be embarrassing. You could end up feeling the same way a young woman felt after she went to a workshop for dog owners. While she was at the workshop she learned that you can often tell a dog’s disposition by looking at the way it reacts when it senses that you’re hurt.  The instructor pointed out that if you fall to the ground and pretend to be hurt a dog with a bad disposition will tend to nip at you. A dog with a good disposition, on the other hand, will show concern and may even lick your face.  Well, a couple of days later the young woman decided to put her two dogs to the test.  While eating a slice of pizza she suddenly clutched her heart, then let out a yell and fell to the floor.  Her two dogs stood there with a puzzled look on their faces.  They looked at each other, then looked at the young woman and then raced to the coffee table for the pizza.

Nobody wants to be a person who ends up wondering what the heck happened. If you’re like most people what you really want is to be a person who makes things happen and that brings us to James and John.  James and John were a couple of guys who liked to make things happen.  You can see that by looking at the request that they made while the disciples and Jesus were on their way to Jerusalem.  James and John went to Jesus and said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left when you come into your glory.”

James and John showed a lot of initiative that day.  They were a couple of ambitious guys who liked to make things happen.  So, I think it’s safe to say that James and John would be very much at home with the way many people live their lives today.

That’s because people today want to be successful and important. These days it’s all about getting that promotion at work, hitting that home run to win the game, getting the starring role in the school play and being recognized and rewarded for your accomplishments. Maybe that’s the way it is for you too.

That ambitious nature can be seen in a conversation that a man had one day with a little boy.  The little boy’s father was the pastor of the church that the man attended. Well, the man went to see his father after he heard that a much larger church had asked him to be their new pastor. The man also knew that the much larger church was offering him a lot more money. So, when the little boy answered the door the man asked him if he knew if they were going to stay or leave.  The little boy shrugged his shoulders.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “Dad’s downstairs praying, but mom’s upstairs packing.”

These days’ being ambitious is a good thing. James and John though learned that being ambitious can also be very dangerous. They learned that sometimes you pay a price for being ambitious. Take another look at what happened to James and John after they asked Jesus to let them sit beside him in his kingdom. When the other disciples found out what they had done they were furious.  Now part of the reason the other disciples reacted the way they did is because they were angry at themselves.  They saw what James and John did and were probably angry at themselves because they didn’t think of it first.  They were also undoubtedly angry though because they were convinced that James and John had double crossed them. Each of the disciples also undoubtedly felt that he deserved the honor of sitting beside Jesus in his kingdom. So, it wasn’t long before the disciples were fighting with each other.

All of that infighting is incredibly sad when you think about it.  For three years those 12 disciples had been there for each other. For three years they had worked together, laughed together, faced challenges together, shared meals together and now they were fighting with each other.  Those 12 disciples, those 12 friends were no longer of one accord.

That’s what happens when you become too ambitious. It can ruin your relationships. That’s because success becomes more important than family.  Winning becomes more important than friendship.  So, you end up paying a really big price for all of those big paychecks and payoffs. You end up paying a really big price for all of the perks and privileges that come with being a really important person.

You see it in the troubled marriages where the husband and the wife both have successful careers. They end up living in a really beautiful house but they don’t really have a home.  You see it in the loneliness and emptiness that so many people feel these days. They feel that way because after years of pushing themselves to get ahead they suddenly realize that all of their friends got tired of being used and being taken for granted and moved on. You see it in the kids that are acting out because their dads were too busy playing hardball at work to find some time to play baseball with them at home.

Ambition can be a dangerous thing if you’re not careful. That’s why Jesus sat the disciples down for a little talk when he saw them fighting with each other.  The words that he spoke to the disciples are just as important for us today.  Do you remember what Jesus said to the disciples?  He told them that in the so called real world the goal is to get ahead of everyone else.  The goal is to win so you can tell everyone else what to do.  The goal is to climb the ladder of success so you can be in control and in charge.  Jesus told the disciples what it’s like in the so called real word. Then Jesus said to the disciples and to us, “But, it shall not be so among you...whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (RSV)

What Jesus is saying here is that the best kind of ambition is the ambition that leads to caring and helping. It’s the ambition that leads to sharing and serving.  It’s the ambition that strengthens your relationships. It’s the ambition that strengthens the bonds of love between you and the people around you.  Ambition that weakens those bonds of love is an ambition that is unhealthy and maybe even a little unholy.

A good example of ambition that is good and godly can be seen in a grace filled moment that took place during a Christmas pageant a number of years ago.  In the weeks leading up to the pageant the children worked very hard to get ready for the big day. The actors had learned where to stand and when to move and the narrators had practiced their lines over and over until they knew them by heart. When the day of the pageant finally arrived all the children were very excited. That was especially true for one little narrator who was so short that she actually had to stand on a wooden box to reach the microphone.  Everything seemed to be going along just fine when the time came for the little girl to go up and read her part of the story.  Before she could do that though, one of the actors got confused and skipped over the part of the story that the little girl was supposed to read.  In the choir loft the minister realized what had happened and he could see the tears welling up in the little girl’s eyes.  He could see how disappointed she was, but h e didn’t know what he could do to fix the problem.  While he sat there feeling really bad for the little girl a 17 year-old boy who was scheduled to be the next narrator leaned over to the little girl. He handed her the paper in his hand and said, “Here, you can read my part.”  The little girl let out a huge smile and then got up and read the words flawlessly.  While she did that the minister sat in the choir loft and thought to himself, “What a wonderful thing to do. This is what Christmas is all about.  This is what grace is all about.”

By the way that Christmas pageant took place right here in this sanctuary.  The best kind of ambition is the ambition that leads to greater love.  Just ask Jesus.  Just ask that little girl. Then ask yourself where you are on that ladder of success and how healthy and holy are your relationships these days? Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 22, 2006