Oct 18/09

Time seems to be picking up pace. It seems it was just a few weeks ago when the weather was warm, and we had those oh-to-die-for beach days in September. An elderly woman commented on how time was moving along quickly for her too. I asked her why she thought that. And she said that she plans to do things during the day but by the end of the day, she hasn’t done what she had planned and there’s no more time left for her to do it. This woman is 81 and because her body’s not working the way it used to, she has become quite aware of her days. Now that’s kind of a heavy thought for today. But there is a measure of heaviness in today’s text.

Jesus is preparing the disciples for when he won’t be there. He has just told them for the third time now, that he is going to die when they get to Jerusalem, and he gives all the cruel and violent details of how it’s all going to happen. And time is closing in on them because they’re getting closer to Jerusalem. And Mark tells us that they’re afraid.

Who wants to hear someone talk about their death? Try talking to your children about when you’ll be gone and they’ll probably roll their eyes and maybe say what my kids told me once, "Mom, stop talking about death. Stop it!

The disciples were no different. They don’t want to talk about Jesus dying. Well James and John for sure don’t want to talk about it. They want to talk about the glory that’s coming after Jesus’ death. They want Jesus to arrange it so that they can sit beside him on either side when he gets to heaven. But I can’t help noticing that they have a very strange way of putting their request. It’s like they planned it out and have come up with the plan. They ask Jesus…well….they……tell Jesus, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It’s a funny way to ask someone something, isn’t it? Does it sound nervy coming from them. “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Imagine me saying to you, “I want you to do for me whatever I ask you to do.” And then I wait for your response. You’d probably say, “Uh, excuse me!”

Jesus does respond but his answer has two parts. First it’s no, you can’t sit on my right and on my left because I can’t make that decision only God can. And secondly it’s yes with a caveat.

Yes, you can share in my glory. But you might not know what you’re asking for because you see there’s this cup of suffering and there’s this baptism of dying that I have to go through. The road to my glory is the way servanthood. This is where I see Jesus play volleyball. This is where I hear in Jesus’ answer, the same words back to the Zebedee brothers gave to him in the first place, “I want you to do for me, whatever I ask of you.” Those are the same words that James and John used and when they used them to Jesus it sounds strange doesn’t it? But coming from Jesus, it doesn’t sound as bad, “I want you to do for me, whatever I ask of you.”, “Follow me, wherever we go.”

I want you to do the work of a servant, and a slave.

I want you to be last.

• I want you to be the last one to leave the bedside of those who are ill.
• I want you to be the last one who gives up on a friend has given up hoping for a miracle.
• I want you to be the last one to stop knitting prayer shawls.
• I want you to be the last one to let a grieving spouse sit alone.
• I want you to be the last to write off the children whose parents have failed them or thrown them away.
• I want you to be the last to ignore the homeless camped under city bridges.
• I want you to be the last to give up on funds like the Mission and Services Fund which addresses hunger that gnaws at the bellies of starving children in Somalia.
• I want you to be the last one to shrug your shoulders at the ongoing problems with the environment.
• I want you to be the last one to care for those who live on the other side of the world by giving to agencies like the Mission and Services Fund.
• I want you to be the last one to stop caring for the hungry among us by bringing non-perishable food items into the church for the Morris Food Bank.
• I want you to be the last one to stop supporting and encouraging each other here in this church community.
• I want you to be the last one to give up on yourself as you adjust to growing older and that the body you had is still there. It’s just different.
• I want you to be the last because on the to the glorious kingdom where I am going, the last are first, and the first are last.

I want you to do for me, whatever I ask of you.” “Follow me.” That is the way to glory in my kingdom says Jesus.

Rev Bob Gilbert is the President of our Conference this year. He is also the minister at West Broadway Community Ministry. They open their doors to mentally challenged, homeless, needy, financially poor, drug addicts and you name it. They give them meals, a safer place to rest, cooking skills, computer skills, social community. It sounds so admirable and wonderful to be helping all those needy people. I worked there for 8 months when I was doing my first year in the ministry (I did my first year in Winnipeg). The place often smells like urine and like clothes and bodies that haven’t been washed in a long time. The people are sick often. Homeless mothers bring babies in. During those 8 months I can remember having to pray before I went for my ‘shift’ for God to take away my fear. Sometimes that happened and sometimes I just went in afraid. And then one day Mary, one of the people who came every time the place was open, invited me to come up to her apartment. And I went. Mary and I were in the car driving to her place and all of a sudden Mary said, “I’m so glad you’re taking me home because I get to drive beside a minister.”

That’s the kind of road we’re on to the glorious kingdom of God. The ball is in our court. Jesus’ daring request, I want you to do for me, whatever I ask of you is ours to answer through our living. Will you do what Jesus asks you to do? Not what the world asks you to do, or what I ask you to do, or what your community asks you to do. But what Jesus wants you to do for Jesus. That is the true glory of being followers of the way of Jesus who came to serve. Time is moving along. It’s never too late to choose to walk this road to amazing glory and greatness.