Loving God, we come before you today, bringing our fear and our anxiety with us, and hungering for your peace.  Empower us this day by your Holy Spirit, setting us free to experience your abundance through service to others; for we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Have any of you ever noticed what usually happens when it is announced that there will be a shortage of something?  For example, what do you think would happen if it was announced today that there is a shortage of gasoline?  [People would rush out and get as much as they can!] It’s called the instinct for self-preservation.  I’ve got to look out for number one.  I’ve got to make sure that I have as much as I need.  And then the result from all of this self-preservation is that there really isn’t enough to go around, because it’s all been taken by the first people to get there.  It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy when we believe that there is a scarcity – no matter what it is that we believe we don’t have enough of.  On the other hand, what happens when we believe that there is lots to go around? [Most people just use what they need, and then there is lots to go around.] This, too, is like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    You might wonder at first what this has to do with the Scripture readings that we heard this morning, but there is a connection!  James and John, who come to Jesus to ask special favours in today’s gospel, believe that there will not be enough glory to go around.  In fact, right before we get to the part that we heard today, Jesus has just told his disciples for the third time what will happen to him in Jerusalem.  He is going to be mocked and spit upon and flogged and condemned and killed – and then after three days he will rise again (Mk. 10:32-34).  This is absolutely not what James and John signed up for!

    They are hoping for lots of glory.  They have visions of Jesus as the king of Israel – ruling over the nations and bringing God’s people back to their former glory.  But all of this talk about being condemned to death and then killed has them worried.  What kind of glory will that lead to?  This is not sounding good for them – not sounding good at all.  And so their instinct for self-preservation takes over, and they go to Jesus to see what they can get for themselves.

    Notice that they go to Jesus privately, without the other disciples.  All of a sudden their companions have become rivals rather than partners.  After all, if there’s not going to be enough glory and honour to go around, you want to make sure you get whatever’s available for yourself!  And so they go to Jesus and ask for the places of honour when he comes in his glory.

    They do have some concept that there will be some kind of glory, but obviously not quite enough for everybody to share.  For his part, Jesus simply says to them that they have no idea what they’re asking.  They simply don’t understand, and anyway those places of honour are not his to hand out.  And so while Jesus will, in fact, come in glory, it is not individual accomplishment or power over others that will lead there.  Instead, glory will come from service to others.

    In a way, service to others is kind of like the gift that keeps on giving.  I have heard so many different people talk about their experiences serving others – whether at a homeless shelter or at a personal care home or at a food bank or at a group home – and even though there can be frustrations and challenges in all of these places, most volunteers discover that they end up receiving far more than they give.  There is actually joy to be found in giving ourselves to another.

    One example I can think of comes out of my own experience of leading worship services at Fred Douglas Lodge.  While it certainly takes time and energy to lead those services, I am often blessed in doing so, as residents respond with expressions of thanks and pronouncing God’s blessing on me and prayers for my health and well-being.  I certainly don’t lead services there to see what I can get out of them, but there is a sense of receiving just as much or more than what I give.  And I know that others who give themselves in service have had similar experiences.

    The truth is that in God’s kingdom there is no need to be in competition with others.  There is more than enough love to go around.  There is more than enough forgiveness.  There is more than enough glory for all to share.  There is more than enough healing and wholeness and salvation for all.  And yet, how many of us are still caught up in the mind set that puts us constantly in competition with others?

    A young child gets a new brother or sister in the house and immediately starts trying to get more attention.  Surely there won’t be enough love and attention to go around, and so they want to be sure to get whatever they can!  A young couple is drowning in credit card debt and yet continue to buy more and more that they can’t afford.  They have this sense of never having enough to make them acceptable and successful.  

    A family with children keeps adding more and more activities and new and better possessions until they are so stressed out they don’t even know where to turn.  They have this nagging sense that unless they do just as much and have just as much as their children’s friends, they will be considered failures.  A single person keeps looking around at the married ones and the “in love” ones and wonders what is wrong with them.  There is this nagging feeling that they will be considered a failure if they don’t find somebody soon.

    What we often just don’t get is that God has such a different concept of success and failure than we do.  In God’s kingdom – in God’s economy – success is not based on comparison with others and how we stack up against our neighbour.  Success is not based on getting the places of honour over others who are left in our wake.  Rather, success is based on service to others.

    God says to each one of us, “I love you.  I have saved and forgiven you through my Son, Jesus.  I have set you apart for service to others, for in that service you will find your purpose and your well-being and maybe even joy!  I have set you free from the need to prove your worth and the constant comparisons. You are loved.  You are forgiven, and you are worth the death of my Son.”

    It is fear and anxiety and a sense of being threatened somehow that usually send us into self-preservation mode, and today we are reminded by James and John that the outcome is always worse than we had hoped for.  Greed does lead to scarcity, and looking out for number one produces rivals rather than partners and co-workers.  However, God sets us free from the constant competition and comparisons, inviting us into the experience of God’s abundance and the absolute joy of being able to give ourselves away in service to others.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Lectionary 29(B)                                Mark 10:35-45
October 21, 2012
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved