Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Readings – Job 1-7,34-41; Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
Sixteen more days of political ads on T.V. Sixteen more days of mailers that arrive every day. And there are those phone calls at supper time, and the text messages at all hours. Promises, promises, promises, vote for me, and I will deliver lower taxes, higher wages, a better economy, better schools, stronger armed forces, safer communities, and peace on our borders and strength around the world. Vote for me and I will do this for you. So, they all claim.
Today in that fire hose of advertising we hear from Holy Scripture our God addressing Job.
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
…where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me…
who determined its measurements – surely you know!
… who laid the cornerstone…Can you send forth lightenings…
The sarcasm of the Lord God confronted Job, and it confronts modern era politicians, and it confronts all of us, too. The voice of the Lord God confronts us with humbling reality. Do we even know the word “humility” in this age, or have we just put it in a dark closet, rarely to be seen?
This clash of strutting self-importance and honest humility is not new. It is front and center in our reading from the Good News according to St. Mark. The brothers James and John approached Jesus with the teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask…Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.
No small ask here! They want to be his designated most powerful associates! They want to sit in the power seats. Please note that St. Mark also reports that the other ten disciples were angry with the brothers. They also coveted those power seats. James and John just got there first to ask what they all were desiring.
The response of Jesus rings as true today as it did them.
… whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man [Jesus] came not to be served, but to serve…
To be followers of the Son of Man, to be followers of Jesus, we are to serve.
To the brothers Zebedee Jesus said, …the cup I drink, you will drink.
Here Jesus gave them, and us, a different meaning to “The Blood of Christ, the Cup of Salvation”. It is the cup of service. And that service is our salvation. Banners at Susquehanna University proclaimed – “Achieve, Learn, Serve”. You don’t need to be noticed; you are needed to serve. These words, “Achieve, Learn, Serve” direct us to humility.
One additional thought, for many of us here, as the expression goes, “This is not our first rodeo”. Our knees, backs, hips are not as flexible as they once were; our brains are perhaps not as sharp. Therefore, we can not always serve as we once could. Rather, we need to rediscover, we need to revise, as we move through this life of ours, new ways of serving.
I applaud all who have deepened their heart of service as the years move on. I had a conversation this past week with someone serving at Martha’s Table and at the Mustard Seed. This is now her life of service. And so many others serve, like as devoted child-caring grandparents for example.
There are so many opportunities to Bless the Lord, O my soul Psalm104:1a
We can not all do a walk or run a marathon for a good cause, but we can discover new avenues to drink the cup of service, to drink the cup of salvation, that Jesus places in our hands.
The final word today as we live our lives of service comes from Micah 6:8. There are some scholars who believe that these verses were tacked on to the Old Testament, perhaps written during the earliest days of the Christian Era. What does the Lord God require? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
That is where the Lord God is to be found. Let us walk with our God, humbly, doing justly and living mercifully, and with our cup of joy running over.
Amen
