Let’s define some terms. Glory glo·ry | \ ˈglȯr-ē \ 1A praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent B worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving 2A something that secures praise or renown B a distinguished quality or asset 3a a state of great gratification or exaltation b a height of prosperity or achievement 4 great beauty and splendor according to Merriam Webster Cross (k’ros): “A thing they nail people to.” Displayed in Frank Cross’ office in the movie Scrooged. Have you ever been talking with someone and seem to be having a conversation only to find out that you are talking about two different things. I think that’s what’s going on in the Gospel for today. I really do feel like a broken record, repeating a point in a Sunday after Sunday succession. I have to believe that Jesus is feeling way more so. I think this is the fourth Sunday in a row where Jesus is trying to make the point that the Kingdom of God is not a meritocracy. It’s not something you earn, there’s no point system and it does not align itself with our worldly expectations. It’s easy to sit at my computer studying or to stand before you and express exasperation with the people around Jesus not catching on. Good grief, why is he having to repeat himself over and over! It’s the same problem, the same admonitions, the same proclamations, subtle and not so subtle. Ugh! Why aren’t they getting it? Probably for the same reasons that I don’t get it and need to be reminded over and over. So, let’s see what’s going on today. 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.” I have been a parent and I have been a kid and I can tell you with no doubt, that this question is a trap. Bait your target into a promise, then hit’em with the thing they are not going to want to do or give you. Then there’s, “But you promised!” Classic formula, like Ralphie’s formula in A Christmas Story to get a BB gun. He knows his mom will inevitably say, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” So he expects a firm no and needs to go to work to find another way to get what he wants. Ralphie turns to the foolproof tactic of going around his parents and asking Santa, and James and John resort to “The Ignorant Promise Ruse”. Jesus doesn’t take the bait. And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” You know all the other followers are back there wondering why they didn’t ask first. We can tell that they are pretty ticked off at them because, well, Mark tells us so. But, this instance, this interaction brings us to, I think, a culminating point. After all the teaching and correction in the previous interaction, they are still not getting it and Mark puts all of these examples together like an author or filmmaker that wants to insert some serious foreshadowing but doesn’t want to give away the ending. Jesus understands where this is all headed and he keeps trying to share that with his followers but they cannot hear him or see what he is saying clearly. I think the reason they can’t see is that they are blinded by the light. I love music trivia, but this isn’t a reference to that cryptic song. The shiny light that often blinds us is the glare of our own personal interests. Personal interests or greed or self-centeredness can keep us from hearing or seeing the truth in what someone is trying to tell us, even if they say it repeatedly. In the glimmer we still only see and hear our hearts desire. So, James and John desire personal glory and recognition. They want to be identified with power. They want to be at the front of the line and at stage center. As James and John spoke, they were probably not thinking of some kind of afterlife. We can be pretty certain that they were imagining a time in the then not too far distant future here on earth where they might just be rewarded with seats of honor for being among the first to follow after Jesus. They expected the Messiah’s coming to be political, militant and would overthrow their adversaries and would become a rule of power. Jesus says, “Here’s what following me means.” Fingers in ears, “Lalalala….glory, glory, glory, and power, power, power.” Jesus keeps telling them it’s about humility and servitude… “Come on places of honor we want recognition, power, prestige….in on the ground floor and get our due!” Limited seating, get the best ones, front row or on the stage!” Jesus asks, “Are you able about the Cup and baptism?” “Yeah, yeah, sure Jesus, we got it, whatever, bring on the glory!” The disciples aren’t hearing that enough to know that their perspectives are skewed way off. There’s foreshadowing and we have the privilege of looking ahead and seeing the key pieces of the puzzle that they are missing. For one, the baptism of Jesus. With Jesus, he was baptized and driven into the wilderness. He was baptized into the full state of human suffering, poverty, disease, pain and death. His baptism was the beginning of the path to the cross. Does that sound like what these guys and many others were expecting? Then there was the cup. Our minds might turn to and expect a communion reference here, and yes it does tie in, however, the cup to which Jesus is referring is the cup of suffering, as in the garden when he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” When they answered, it was obvious that they had not been listening enough to see where this was going. So to top it off, Jesus references their question about being on his right and on his left when he comes into his glory. Again they, and oftentimes we get on the wrong page. When did Jesus come into his glory? The answer is not in a kingdom on a throne, it is in the salvific act of the cross. It’s in his suffering and death that he has repeatedly told them about. The most interesting “careful it’s a trap” foreshadowing that we often don’t consider lies in the disciples’ question concerning where they want to be. Jesus tells the disciples that that is not for him to grant, but in the end, we know who it is. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” Those considered to be at the bottom of the heap. Two people suffering the very punishment whose intention is to heap on shame and to be as inglourious as it gets. It’s the bottom. This is where Christ claims his glory and his victory, not in wealth and power. Here with the lowest of the low by society’s standards on his right and left. In Christ’s insistent pointing toward the cross and ultimate act, we can see that he desires that we be theologians of the cross and not theologians of glory. A theologian of glory assumes that beauty and bounty are obvious signs of God’s favor and blessing that result from our own efforts and choices. Martin Luther said a theologian of glory would call something bad “good” and something good “bad” while a theologian of the cross will call a thing what it is. A theologian of glory will think that power and wealth are signs of God’s blessings. A theologian of the cross would warn against the dangers of both power and wealth; they easily lead to corruption and not God’s blessing. Our calling as baptized Christians is to a mission of solidarity with the broken, marginalized and oppressed. That’s the Way of the Cross. That’s the Christian’s calling. Christ calls us to the cross in the valley. To be in the Valley and to serve all that find themselves there. To not call evil good and good evil, a theologian of the cross seeks to be honest about the times when we are broken, oppressed and marginalized as well as the times when we are the breaker, the oppressor and the center. Therefore, we are called to follow Christ into the suffering of those who are broken, oppressed and marginalized not to be the Savior (that victory has been won) but to be in solidarity with the broken, oppressed and marginalized. In this act, both the oppressor and the oppressed can find wholeness. So let’s lift high the cross, and proclaim by word and deed the love of Jesus Christ. Amen
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