Who will win the World Cup? Who will win the World Series? Who will
\nwin the Super Bowl? An unskilled laborer and a university professor can
\nfind common ground in their passion for the home team. People that would
\nnever associate with one another may even embrace in the sudden joy of
\nwinning. Men and women that have never played the game may find their
\nmoods swinging up and down with the fortunes of their team. Even American
\ncriminals stay home to watch the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
In Texas Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys (American) football
\nteam, there is a Ring of Honor \u2013 a blue band with names of the
\ngreatest men to play or lead the sports club. Doubtless players and coaches
\noccasionally look up at that band and imagine their names will someday
\nbe listed there if only they help the team to win enough games.<\/p>\n
Each year billions of dollars are spent on sports apparel, sports tickets,
\nsports equipment, sports advertising, and sports television. As with
\nthe waning days of the Roman Empire, entertainment is the great distraction.
\nWhat can be more consuming than to live vicariously through athletes
\nthat win? Of course, the downside is that many a person has spent many
\na drunken night depressed and wailing about missed opportunities and
\nbad coaching.<\/p>\n
Is it then that hard to understand James and John as they ask Jesus
\nfor positions of honor and glory when he wins? How could Jesus be up
\nto anything other than winning? Why would he draw the attention of so
\nmany people if he didn\u2019t intend to use his popularity to win? Is
\nwinning not everything?<\/p>\n
It is not difficult to imagine James and John responding to some highly
\nsuccessful moment in Jesus\u2019 ministry with chants of \u201cWe\u2019re
\nNumber One! We\u2019re Number One!\u201d If James and John were in
\ncharge of marketing Jesus, what symbol would they use? Verse 37 suggests
\nan ornate golden throne in their day but in ours a massive carved desk
\nperched at the top of a skyscraper or perhaps in an Oval Office.<\/p>\n
Like crowds of sports fans James and John want to share in Jesus\u2019 success \u2013 to
\ndraw some self-esteem from winning. Was Darwin right about the survival
\nof the fittest? Are we simply playing out the same old animal instincts?
\nDo we need always to define ourselves by who wins and who loses? Do we
\nneed the world to be that black and white?<\/p>\n
James and John cannot even imagine the world that Jesus lives in. They
\ndo not yet speak his language. They ask to be beside him in his glory \u2013 assuming
\nthat his glory is the equivalent of worldly success. Surely Jesus will
\ntake them to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
When he asks if they are ready to drink his cup and to share in his
\nbaptism, they answer quickly, \u201cBut of course! Absolutely! Sure!\u201d They
\nare not unlike a new confirmand or a newly ordained person saying, \u201cYes,
\nwith the help of God.\u201d They think they know what it\u2019s all
\nabout. They\u2019ve read the books. They\u2019ve heard the lectures.
\nIt cannot be that hard. Can it? Following Jesus must lead to glory. Is
\nthat not so?<\/p>\n
Their response is not unlike the worshipers saying by rote, \u201cI
\nbelieve in God the Father.\u201d It is not unlike the parents promising
\nto raise the child to be Christian. It is not unlike the communicant
\nlining up to receive the bread and wine. Like James and John, do we not
\nunderstand what it is to live in Jesus\u2019 world and to speak his
\nlanguage? Do we not understand the goal? Is it not about ascending to
\na heavenly Olympus?<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s next scene is a classic. Just when we begin to feel so
\nsuperior that we can see how transparent James and John are in their
\nstupidity, Mark shows us the anger of the rest of the disciples. They
\naren\u2019t correcting James and John for being idiots. They are mad,
\nbecause James and John asked for glory first. What if there is not enough
\nglory left over for the rest of the disciples? What if they end up sitting
\non the bench while James and John get into the Ring of Honor with Jesus?<\/p>\n
It would be easy to talk about the Christian obsession with position
\nand power ever since Constantine converted. But it is less easy to talk
\nabout clergy wanting to be bishops, presidents, superintendents, or even
\npastors of prominent congregations. It is less easy to talk about the
\npeople of God longing to accumulate wealth (yes, glory) for all that
\nit brings. It is less easy to talk about how hard it often is to distinguish
\nthe Christians, the disciples of Jesus from anyone else.<\/p>\n
How hard it is to learn the language of the kingdom of God! Servant,
\nslave, ransom \u2013 the vocabulary is unimaginable! It looks like a
\nlonely cross, like a hangman\u2019s noose in Flossenb\u00fcrg, like
\nLoehe\u2019s obscure parish, or like a successful young professional
\ngiving her time and money to care for the weak \u2013 the sick \u2013 the
\npoor.<\/p>\n
How seductive the kingdom of God is! James, John, and the others think
\nthey are going to Pilate\u2019s fortress or Herod\u2019s palace, but
\nthey end up despised, martyred losers in the language of earth (Babel).<\/p>\n
How seductive the kingdom of God is! New pastors think that serving
\nthe Church faithfully will lead to being loved and honored, but if we
\nare faithful we end up ridiculed (or worse) by the surrounding culture
\nand mocked by parishioners and colleagues alike.<\/p>\n
How seductive the kingdom of God is! In order to please the grandparents
\nor to do the traditional thing, we bring the children to be baptized,
\ncatechized, and confirmed. But if we are faithful hearers and learners,
\nwe soon find ourselves being drawn further and further into a world where
\nthe language seems so familiar and yet everything is upside down. In
\nthe kingdom of God, both baptism and the cup draw us downward to service,
\nto give our lives away for Jesus\u2019 sake \u2013 for the sake of
\nthe Gospel.<\/p>\n
Because Christians live in the world, as Paul reminds us in Romans
\n12, we are subject to seductions that are much sweeter and hence more
\ndeadly to the child of God. One doesn\u2019t learn the language of the
\nkingdom in a few years. It takes a lifetime. One cannot will to live
\nin the kingdom of God at the moment of baptism, confirmation, ordination,
\nor new awakening. The Risen Lord with nail-scared hands and feet invites
\nus again and again to give our lives away in the service of the kingdom.
\nSometimes we do.<\/p>\n
A newcomer to the faith may confuse losing with underachieving. A pastor
\nmay confuse knowing the vocabulary with speaking the language. A baptized
\nperson may claim citizenship in a kingdom he has no knowledge of and
\nmay claim a king she does not know. Such are among the difficulties of
\nliving in the world while being claimed through no merit of one\u2019s
\nown for the kingdom of God. How will any of us know the dangers if no
\none will talk about their failures or their losses?<\/p>\n
Among the strange paradoxes of the kingdom of God is that winning and
\nlosing look entirely different through Jesus\u2019 eyes. Today he is
\nstill inviting us to follow him into a very different world where the
\nlanguage and customs are beyond our imagining.<\/p>\n