“Power: What About It?”
Scripture Reading: Mark 10:35-45
Sermon Transcript for October 22, 2006
By Pastor Nancy Blevins
It was just about 20 some years ago—I said 20 some, not just 20—that I graduated from high school. Twenty plus another decade or so! And I had a little bit of envy in my life at that time because one of my brothers had a red Volkswagen bug. And it was an old model and I thought, “Wow, he’s getting that about right now, so I should probably be able to get that when I graduate from college. He’ll be finished with it by then and I’ll probably be able to afford it. Or maybe he’ll be just a really good brother and give it to me for nothing.” Because I had helped wash it and I had helped clean the mats and I had served him with that car hoping to get something from it maybe.
Well, not too long ago I was down performing a wedding; and it was his daughter’s wedding. And she came in to the parking lot with a new, silver Beatle. And that silver Beatle that she had, they don’t call them bugs anymore, it had power steering, it had not just power seats that went back and forth but up and down. And that old bug didn’t have that. There was another thing that they had that was powerful and that was they had a power sunroof. And then my seat started getting warm; or actually the car seat and my seat. He had power heated seats. How many of you remember, the old Volkswagens you had to run those little guys pretty fast just to get any heat going through them at all. And there was a nice power rear defroster on hers, not that a Volkswagen had that big of a window to reach over but that was a luxury item. More power!
And then I got to thinking this morning about its good to have power, isn’t it? All she had to do was to push a button. She had power windows, up and down, no cranking. He had power everything. When I got to thinking about the sermon this morning I thought, “Well, you know, I could handle some power.” I mean they have power bars now and it’s not something you drink, it’s something you eat. They have a power diet that has nothing to do with “will” power. Power is really a big thing in our world today. It’s something that we practice and listen and hear again and again, isn’t it? Think about it—just in the past week we heard about superpowers, nuclear power, the power of the media, the power of the voters, at least those who exercise that privilege, political power.
This coming week I want you to think about that word—power. Power, what about it? How do we use our power? Where do we get power from? I was talking with Bob Locke last Sunday and he said, “You know, just yesterday I worked out with the ‘big boys’ at the gym.” Now, Bob is 88 years old and he said, “Those big guys were power lifting.” Consumer power—what we spend effects others. We have, in the United States particularly, a huge power—the power of choice. The people of Darfur, they don’t have that power. Many of them have no choice. They live where they will always live; they eat what is available or not eat. But we have power and that is a privilege. It’s such a fact of life for us that we don’t often think about it until it is taken away.
In James and John’s thought process, there was power with position. They had hung out with Jesus for three years and just a couple of times before this they gave testimony to the fact that they had hung around with someone with a lot of power. Because James and John said, “Lord, those people of Samaria, do you want us to call down fire from heaven because they don’t believe in you?” Now this was James and John! This was the same people that then came up to Jesus and said, “Lord, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.” Now how many of you are grandparents? Have you ever had that little grandchild come up to you and say, “Grandpa, Grandma, will you do for me whatever I want you to?” How many of you are smart enough not to say “Yes” or “No” even? And Jesus, He knows He is being baited. You can see it in the words that He says because of when He responds to them, the way that they called Him. They called Him and said, “Teacher”. That was the first word that they asked. “Teacher, will you do for us whatever we ask you?” And Jesus, behaving not like a grandparent, although as wise, perhaps, as grandparents, He doesn’t answer with a definitive. He asks a question, “What is it you want me to do for you?” You might want to take that word home with you if you are a grandparent. That’s a good question. “What is it you want me to do for you?
But in Jesus’ case, He’s not just asking like a teacher to them and being a teacher to them. Jesus is being a servant! He’s ready almost it seems to do whatever it is that they want Him to do. Here is one who has said, “I have the power to lay my life down and power to take my life up.” And He says to them, “What is it you would like me to do for you?”
I wonder, what might you answer and I answer to that question? If Jesus were to ask us and if we were so bold to have come to Jesus and say, “Jesus, our will be done!” But see, that’s really what James and John are asking. We want our will to be done by you, Jesus. Of course, I don’t know, maybe we’ve never done that, have we? In our prayers—we have, haven’t we? We’ve pleaded even though that we know it’s the one that we are speaking with is the one who loves us the most and knows the best for us we will plead and say, “I know I should really be asking Thy will be done, but please, my will be done.” We want that power. We want the power to choose.
And Jesus responds, “What is it you want me to do?” You see, James and John, they have this idea that as they were getting closer to Jerusalem things were really going to change. Because they, from the time that they were born, had heard about the Messiah and they had overheard Jesus was going to come in as a conquering King and all of those around Him are going to get, if He’s the king, we’re going to get some prestige just for hanging out with Him. We’re going to have some privilege. And so they go to Jesus and say, “Let one of us sit on your right hand and one of us sit on your left hand.” For them that word “seated” is pretty big. Because seated means others come to you, seated means people rise up. The king doesn’t rise up when people come to see him; the people bow down when they come to see the king. And that’s what James and John wanted. They wanted not just to stand in proximity but for them the power was in the position also and being seated.
And Jesus takes that outlook that they have and He spins it around. Just like when we look at a ladder against a wall, we really can’t see if someone is up there already ready to come down or someone in the wings waiting to go up. But they knew what position that they wanted. They wanted to be at the top of the ladder. And when we think of power, especially in America, that’s often what we think of—that our position is the one at the top. That’s the best one. We set ourselves up for that. We set our children up for that. So is Jesus here advocating that we should be underachievers? Not at all! Jesus holds out to them not a slap on the wrist but the possibility all along the way in this journey towards and up to Jerusalem, they’ve done something that maybe you and I do called “selective listening”. I love the assisted listening devices. Only one lady came up and said, “You know, I really have need of that at home. The person I live with actually does.” Selective listening—it happens often. And even though Jesus had precisely told these people that He was traveling with, “Here is what is going to happen. They are going to arrest me. I’m going to be beaten. I’m going to end up on a cross. I’m going to die. And then after three days, I’m going to rise again.”
That’s not real hard to understand. Bang. Bang. Bang. They didn’t get that part! That could be so us. We hear the song, “More Than Conquerors”. We read the verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And I’ve got to tell you, I came from that same vantage point saying, “I shall overcome! Onward Christian soldiers!” But the whole idea of “more than conquerors” has nothing to do with dominating. Otherwise we just become the oppressors of the oppressed. “More than conquerors” is an image that we’ve probably skewed because Jesus is saying the one who is great, serves. Now does that sound like a warrior slicing and dicing? Jesus says, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
The whole concept here demands transformation of our thinking. Not just for the disciples 2000 years ago, but for us as well. A great and powerful Messiah surrounded by great and distinguished disciples—that was the vision that James and John had. And they had nurtured it all of their lives. It was the expected way! So Jesus started to use another imagery. And it’s an image of a cup. Doesn’t that seem kind of out of place—a cup? Well, they were accustomed to having been taught in the Hebrew Scriptures that the cup was not a cup of blessing. It was a cup, the prophet said, of God’s wrath that would be poured out on those who opposed the ways of God. For Jesus then to, as He says, take this cup from me, Jesus was speaking of the cup. He was going to voluntarily swallow God’s judgment for our sake. And what do these two ludicrous, ambitious folks say? Well, sure, we can drink that cup! They had no concept! See, Jesus drinks the cup that was intended for us. And as He is saying that prayer at Gethsemane, He is not going off and saying, “My will be done. Do for me whatever I ask.” He’s going in agony to the cross and saying, “God, take this cup from me. But not my will, thine be done.”
And then He asks the two men, James and John standing before Him, He says, “Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” This is an aside—we never hear about the disciples themselves being baptized, do we? Jesus, He let Himself be baptized. The one without sin who would conquer sin let Himself be baptized. He allowed John, the Baptist to baptize Him with what was called the “baptism of repentance”. The one who had nothing to repent of! But in that way He was lifting up that He would take the divine judgment there too. The judgment that humanity deserves, Jesus took upon Himself.
Jesus kept turning things upside down. And He said, “The power of God is about new creation. The power of God is about transformation. It does not conform to this world but transforms this world.” And to do that takes revoking a power. To revoke a power that puts us up and others down. “Instead,” Jesus said, “true power is allowing yourself to become a servant.” It is the powerful that can let go of the power. Did you get that? It’s the powerful that can let go of power. Everyone else is still trying to attain it and grasp it and seize it. And here is Jesus saying, “I have the power over life, over death, but I choose to be vulnerable. I choose to love. I choose powerlessness.” He’s trying to get across to the disciples that being with Jesus, following Jesus, was not a ticket to greatness, not a ticket to easy street. Rather it was a commitment to a life as a servant. A servant for Him, a servant for others, and so doing the significance of those that we think as insignificant get lifted up.
I was struggling trying to think of an example of a disciple that we might all know without using the ones that are often sited, people that have given up their entire life, their way of life, for service. International figures—there is Mother Theresa, Gandhi. I was even thinking of the guy who took the power that he had and started financing no interest loans and won the Nobel Peace prize so that those who are poor could know a new way of life. But then I got to thinking, a more recent example, and I owe it to Jim Fish, a Lutheran pastor who came last night, and he said, “Here is a true disciple”. A 13-year old girl dressed very simply taken hostage by a man with great mental illness and guilt in a school room in Pennsylvania. And her people were often looked down upon as being too simple and ostracizing everyone else and holding everyone back. And they are not in to the upward mobility game, but they are in to the simple game of acceptance, forgiveness, love. And that little 13-year old learned something in all of her time on this earth from that Amish community that said, “Shoot me first. Take my life not theirs.” That’s a disciple. That’s a disciple that says, “I will serve others. I will put my life down so that others might live. I will put my wants and my power aside so that someone else can be lifted up and saved.”
And that’s the life that Jesus, the one that we follow, demonstrated. He said, “True greatness moves beyond what we are able to do and to achieve for ourselves to what we are able to do for others.” Power, where will it be offered to you? Where will you become aware of it this week? Where will you lay it down so that another might be lifted up? Amen.
Pastor Bob: Pastor Nancy and I wanted to sort of tie things together from last week and today because you have heard us respond about the power of prayer and in the hands of disciples, prayer is very powerful. Last week we talked about the power of money. Indeed, money has power in the hands of the disciples of Jesus Christ. For today, you’ve heard the power of service. For service is very powerful in the hands and lives of disciples of Jesus Christ.
I told you earlier that we were asking for you to be in a period of prayer for the next 30 days. And to further define that, the will of God, ask first this question: God, what is your will for my life and how I use prayer as a powerful tool that you have given me for others? Lord, what is your will? You have given me resources, money that has power, how might I use that resource in a powerful way for others? Lord, what is your will for my life for service is a very powerful message that you have given us through Jesus Christ? How might I serve for the good of others as a disciple of Jesus Christ? It’s time to get started. We are going to take a time of silence. Let God guide you and lead you in those three areas—prayer, resources, service. Begin seeking God’s will today. So let us take a time of silence as we pray together.
“We pray for ourselves, we pray for this community called Grace. May we understand your will for us individually and together as a community. And how we can be truly representation of Jesus Christ by how we use our service, our prayer, our resources for others. Not to gain a level of recognition and prestige in this community, but to share the good news in word and deed. Good news of your love and your grace—the salvation of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.”
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