“Breaking the Cycle” 10/22/06

(Mark 10:35-45)

 

There is something reassuring about the apostles’ lack of comprehension. So many times, Jesus spells out the lesson for them and they don’t get it. They’re clueless.

And that’s a relief for us, isn’t it? It tells us we’re not the only ones who get confused about the gospel message. If even Peter and James and John could be so dense sometimes, there’s hope for us!

In this case, it’s James and John who completely miss the point. Jesus speaks of God’s ultimate triumph and they’re thinking of worldly conquest. Jesus is talking about winning souls and they’re thinking of winning political favors. When James and John speak of Jesus entering into his “glory,” they’re thinking of him as an earthly ruler, with the power to appoint them to the highest positions in his cabinet. They believe Jesus is going to take over Jerusalem, and they want to share in the spoils of victory.

I can almost see Jesus shaking his head in dismay, having to explain to them, once again, “My kingdom is not of this world.” In my kingdom, there is a different kind of victory, and different kinds of rewards.

James and John are acting on the old assumptions of misguided human nature: that there must always be winners and losers, some who are up and some who are down, some who dominate and some who suffer domination. Jesus means to break that cycle. He wants to break that see-saw right in the middle.

He tells James and John that far from getting accolades, promotions, pomp and circumstance, they will have to suffer, as Jesus will suffer, for the sake of the gospel.

Well, no wonder they didn’t catch on. Suffer? Who wants any part of that? Like James and John, we don’t want any part of that either. In a way, it’s understandable.

For far too long—centuries, in fact—the church has held onto the idea that there is some inherent good in suffering. That it’s good for us to suffer. That monk in The DaVinci Code who wore spikes around his leg and lashed his own back with a whip was carrying out the church’s unfortunate prescription for “self-mortification.” Sounds barbaric? It is! Modern Christians have recognized that there’s nothing good or redemptive in suffering for its own sake.

Jesus never said suffering was good, but he did say suffering may be necessary in order to uphold the promise of the kingdom of God, in order to break the cycle of domination.

There is a surprising sequence in this gospel story. James and John ask for dominant positions in the kingdom. When the other ten apostles hear this, they’re furious. It appears they’d like to issue some punishment to James and John for their presumption, cut them down to size.

Surprisingly, Jesus scolds the other ten. He says, in effect: James and John may have wanted to be over you, but now you are trying to be over them. No, there’s only one way to get off this treadmill people have been treading forever. Someone has to break the cycle. Someone has to decide not to respond in kind. Someone has to refuse to lord it over others, even if it brings suffering and ridicule. Jesus made that decision. They tortured Jesus. They mocked Jesus. But Jesus disarmed his persecutors because he would not compete with them on their terms. His death, which seemed, at first, like a quiet defeat, proved in three days time, how hollow was the victory of his enemies.

To follow Christ, we must refuse to play the domination game. We must not rest on the bottom of the see-saw or the top. We have to get off the see-saw! We have to break the cycle.

Now I don’t want to imply that this is just a simple decision. This is certainly one of the hardest of all Christ’s teachings. Especially, I think, in our present day culture with our stress on individual freedom and personal success. Sacrificing ourselves for the common good, the greater good, seems foolish. But this is just what the gospel instructs us to do over and over again.

We hate to hear about the workers who came late to the vineyard and still received full pay. It’s not fair to those who worked all day. We sympathize with the older brother in the parable of The Prodigal Son. It’s not fair that his irresponsible sibling should get a party when he doesn’t. The fact that the early workers and the older brother have to suffer in these situations is not good, but it’s necessary. In order to break the cycle, the old, accepted patterns have to change and that means someone must be willing to accept some personal sacrifice for the greater good.

Christ showed the way—suffering personally for our common good. As Isaiah says, “He was wounded for our transgressions…by his stripes we are healed.” By his sacrifice, the cycle can be broken. Jesus laid down his life to break the cycle of domination and submission. Jesus, King of Kings, became servant of all. There’s no more powerful example of lowering oneself for the good of all.

Few of us are called to such extreme sacrifice. None of us are capable of the perfect selflessness of Jesus. But that doesn’t give us permission to simply accept the cycle of power and powerlessness. One of the great problems in our world today is that so few of us are willing to bear even the slightest personal discomfort for the greater good.

There are too few heroes, like Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, willing to put their lives on the line to break the cycle of racism, tyranny, poverty and oppression for the greater good.

I remember reading in high school, a book by John F. Kennedy called, Profiles in Courage, about political figures who were willing to sacrifice their own power, their own careers, for a higher purpose. Sad to say, I doubt those pages could be filled with such profiles in courage today.

There are too few ordinary people, willing to jeopardize their jobs, their privileges and their comforts to do the right thing for the common good. I think of those tobacco industry executives line up before a congressional committee a few years ago, their right hands raised, swearing falsely, in an effort to protect their profits at the expense of the common good.

And there are too few of us who are willing to accept any personal sacrifice, any discomfort, any inconvenience for a higher good. For the good of a marriage, for the good of a friendship, for the good of a church, for the good of a community.

We need to recommit ourselves to Christ-like behavior. Refusing to lord-it-over anyone. Refusing to match a superior attitude with a superior response. Being willing to accept even some sacrifice in our own lives in order to improve the life we share.

It may begin with the simplest things. Not jumping to take offense at an offhand, perhaps unintended slight. Not holding a mistake over someone else’s head long after we’ve received an apology. Not keeping silent when a difficult truth needs to be told. Not viewing others as competitors but as partners in the task of living life together.

And it can extend all the way to the common good of peoples and nations throughout the world. If we’re willing to accept some suffering instead of causing more suffering in return, if we’re willing to break the cycle, trusting God to make all things equal in the kingdom. Amen.