{"id":738,"date":"2013-07-28T11:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-28T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=738"},"modified":"2019-11-19T12:30:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T17:30:06","slug":"that-i-should-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2013\/07\/28\/that-i-should-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"That I Should Gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 10:35-45<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a boy!\u00a0 George Alexander Louis.\u00a0 On Monday afternoon, the world waited on pins and needles to hear about the birth of the new heir to the throne of England.\u00a0It was, by all accounts, a momentous occasion. Filled with shouts of joy, the ringing of bells, and many many souvenirs.\u00a0 Sure, there were and continue to be some critics\u2014those who ask, rightly, why we would celebrate the birth of one uber-privileged child when we virtually ignore the hundreds of thousands of poor children being born into this world every day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And to be fair, they have a point.\u00a0 After all, as a people of faith we know that every child born into this world matters just as much as the royal baby.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But as a people of faith, we also know that new life is new life.\u00a0 And whenever we witness it, wherever we witness it, we have reason to celebrate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And frankly, couldn\u2019t the world use a reason celebrate? Couldn\u2019t we use a little good news about now? After all, we\u2019ve definitely experienced our fair share of bad news lately, we\u2019ve felt our fair share of pain and strife and death. We\u2019ve felt it here on the sidewalks of Boston, we\u2019ve felt in the courtrooms of Florida, we\u2019ve felt it on the streets of Egypt and Syria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And as we know from experience, sometimes it\u2019s only those little reminders of new life that keep us going.\u00a0 So when we find it, we have reason to celebrate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But as we also know from experience, whether we celebrate it or not, new life isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 No! As William and Kate are no doubt discovering with their new, very tangible form of new life\u2026it isn\u2019t always easy.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if you are rich or poor, young or old, black or white, gay or straight, having a baby is not easy.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s an entirely new way of life.\u00a0 There\u2019s crying…lots and lots of it.\u00a0 There\u2019s feeding\u2026lots and lots of it.\u00a0 There\u2019s\u2026the end result of feeding\u2026lots and lots of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In other words, friends, even new life itself comes with challenges.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth it, but it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we, of all people, should understand.\u00a0 After all, as Christians we, too believe in a way of life that is much more than we could have ever bargained for, full of responsibilities and frustrations, but like a new parent, once we have experienced it, fully experienced it, we couldn\u2019t live any other way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so today, after a week in which people around the world paused to celebrate new life in our midst, we pause a moment longer to consider what new life means.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We get assistance in our quest today from the Gospel of Mark.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now some will know that the Gospel of Mark was the first gospel written, as early as 30 years after the death of Jesus.\u00a0 It was written to a community that would have had to face its own fair share of pain and strife and death, and who were no doubt starting to recognize that being a community of faith was not all sunshine and roses.\u00a0 We can hear that tension in our story today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our passage begins just after Jesus has shared some hard news with his disciples; news of pain and strife and death.\u00a0 Jesus has told the disciples for the third and final time in Mark\u2019s gospel that the son of man will be given over to the chief priests and that he will be condemned and killed and that after three days he will rise again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He has shared this same thing with the disciples two other times in Mark\u2019s gospel. And in each of those other times, we are told that the disciples ask questions and express confusion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And, frankly, we get it. After all, when we\u2019re confronted with hard news in our own lives, our first impulse is often to question it; to want a second opinion; to pretend like it isn\u2019t really about us. It\u2019s a way of protecting ourselves from the pain of the news.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But one of the hard lessons of life, friends, is that simply ignoring something doesn\u2019t make it go away\u2026just ask the people of Syria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we get the sense in Mark\u2019s telling of this story that it took until this third time hearing it for the reality of what Jesus had been saying to set in; because in our story today, instead of questions, or confusion, or denial, the disciples are not reported as saying anything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They were silent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And, if we\u2019re honest, we get this too. We know that sometimes when we are confronted with hard news, when we are forced to finally hear it and acknowledge it and accept it, we just don\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know what to say and so we don\u2019t say anything. Sometimes, friends, we just need that sweet grace of silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly this is a lesson our world could afford to hear; a reminder that, believe it or not, sometimes it\u2019s ok to be silent.\u00a0 Sometimes we don\u2019t need a 100 cannon blasts, or a million tweets, or a full running commentary.\u00a0 Sometimes we just need silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Imagine how different our world would be if each time a child was born we had a moment of silence.\u00a0 It might make some kids harder to ignore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But just as in our world, in our story, the silence doesn\u2019t last forever. \u00a0James and John, two of the first disciples called in Mark\u2019s gospel, two of the witnesses to the transfiguration of Jesus a chapter earlier, break the silence by saying to Jesus. \u201cTeacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cTeacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pretty bold demand. So bold in fact that Matthew changes this passage to have their mother ask on their behalf, perhaps recognizing that it takes some chutzpah to stand in front of Jesus, their teacher, the messiah, and ask for their wishes to be granted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And frankly, if we knew it worked that way, we\u2019d no doubt have a few things to ask ourselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Jesus, ever patient, simply responds, \u201cWhat is it that you want me to do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we think, aha! Now\u2019s their chance!\u00a0 Now\u2019s their moment to get answers to all of life\u2019s troubling questions, why do bad things happen to good people, what is the meaning of life, what\u2019s up with the name Louis? And our excitement starts to build as they open their mouths and say to him, \u201cGrant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What?!? What does that mean?\u00a0 They have just been told that their teacher, their master, their friend is not going to be with them anymore and they are worried about seating arrangements?\u00a0 What gives?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But then we remember the sweet grace of silence and take a moment to listen again. \u201cGrant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory.\u201d \u2013and it starts to make sense. Friends, this is not just about seating arrangements in some heavenly throne room.\u00a0 No! It\u2019s the disciples expressing fear about being left alone.\u00a0 It\u2019s the disciples starting to get what Jesus has been saying. \u00a0Jesus has just told them that he is not going to be with them forever.\u00a0 This man whom they had given up everything in their lives to follow is now going to be leaving them and they are basically saying, \u201ctake us with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A chapter earlier these same disciples witnessed Jesus standing in his glory as he was transfigured. They witnessed a taste of the beauty of God and didn\u2019t know how they were going to find that again alone. Do you see? They had been witnesses to what life could be and didn\u2019t want to live with what actually is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, we know what this is like. We know what it\u2019s like to face a long hard road ahead and want to just be there.\u00a0 Every four years The United Methodist Church meets to make decisions about the doctrine and practice of our beloved denomination.\u00a0 And every four years for the past 40 we have failed to recognize the full humanity of gay and lesbian people.\u00a0 And although some of us have glimpsed the possibility of what could be, we are forced to live with what actually is.\u00a0 And if we\u2019re honest, we dread it, we\u2019re embarrassed by it, we just want to be there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the way it works.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 For better or worse, a big part of the way of life taught by Jesus Christ is life itself, in all its gory details.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, our faith is about life. Not after death, but right now.\u00a0 And Jesus understood this. He understood that our faith is not about earning a place at the table in the sweet by and by, it is about opening a place at our tables right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In other words, life is not a means to an end, it is the end itself. And make no mistake, what we have been given as a people of faith is life, new life, precious life; we\u2019ve been given an example of what it means to fully live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI came that you might have life and have it abundantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the kicker: new life takes work.\u00a0 It takes work. It takes not just accepting the world as it is, but working to make it what it could be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jesus responds to them, \u201cYou do not know what you are asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He says, \u201cCan you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In other words, be careful what you wish for because when we skip the hard work and jump straight to the end, we miss out on the most important part\u2026life.\u00a0 Not a life free from pain, but life nonetheless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was announced this week that the Rev. Stephen Heiss, a United Methodist Minister from my home conference in Upper New York will be brought up on charges for performing homosexual marriages, one of which was for his own daughter.\u00a0 Rev. Heiss is an example of someone who does not just see the world for how it is, but how it could be, and is doing the hard work of living.\u00a0 It\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, there is and will always be pain and strife and death, that is part of life, but there is also always the possibility of new life. And whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, we have a part in it. A vital part. And if we don\u2019t live into it, no one else will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not wanting to hear what Jesus is saying, the disciples respond that they are able to drink the cup and be baptized with the water, but again Jesus says to them, that you may be able to drink the cup and be baptized in the water, but in the end, it is not his to grant.
\nThis is admittedly strange language, implying that Jesus doesn\u2019t have the power to snap his fingers and make things happen, but we also know this to be true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, we know that we have been given freedom to live in this world. We know that God doesn\u2019t cause pain and strife and death.\u00a0 No! Those things are part of the freedom God has given us to live in this world, but so is joy and hope and love.\u00a0 In other words, the promise of our faith is not that bad things are not going to happen to us.\u00a0 No. They will.\u00a0 The promise is that we don\u2019t have to face them alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, do you hear?\u00a0 We are not alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surely, the language of the cup and the water in this passage is a reminder. After all, Mark\u2019s audience would certainly have recognized these two symbols of the Christian faith. These two sacraments that remind us over and over again that we are now the body of Christ for the world; that we are part of the family of God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the epistle lesson for today reminds us, we are God\u2019s children now, what we will be is yet to be revealed. It\u2019s a reminder both that we are not God, but also that we\u2019re not only children.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Or said another way, we might not be able to sit on the throne of God, but as Howard Thurman might say, we have certainly all been given a crown to grow into.\u00a0 In the example of Christ, we have had a crown placed over our head which for the rest of our lives we will keep trying to grow tall enough to wear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, we might not be heirs to the throne of England, but each of us by virtue of our birth has a crown.\u00a0 Surely that\u2019s worth a celebration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you see? James and John saw what they thought they wanted, to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, and like so many of us wanted the end without the means and in the process missed the point of our faith entirely.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Christians we are not called to a destination, we are called to a journey; a way of life.\u00a0 And by not granting them their wish, Jesus offered them a chance to truly live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the other ten disciples heard the conversation going on we are told that they became angry. We don\u2019t quite know which part angered the others, but we know that it was enough that Jesus again reminded them that they were called to a different way of life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He reminds them that there are those in the world who lord power over one another, but that they are called to serve one another; to care for one another; to love one another.\u00a0 In other words, he reminds them again that whatever they do, they do it together.\u00a0 And as many have learned in recent months, we can face a lot if we know we don\u2019t have to face it alone.\u00a0 Friends, the good news of the gospel is that we are not alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our passage today closes with these words from Jesus. \u201cFor the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A ransom is that which frees us from captivity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, what is it that holds us captive? What is it that keeps us from fully living? Money, family, fear?\u00a0 Christ is our ransom. Not as some sacrifice sent from God, but as one who frees us from our captivity. He breaks us out of our bonds and shows us how to fully live. He takes away the identities that society tries to place on us and reminds us over and over again that whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, we are all children of God.\u00a0 All of us, young and old, black and white, gay and straight, male and female, royal or common. \u00a0Which ultimately means that we all have a chance at life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Will it be easy? No. Like having a baby, living as a person of faith in the world means having some late nights, it means taking some unwanted responsibilities, it means shelling out some hard-earned cash, and it even means having to put our hands in some things that we never want to touch, but the truth is, we couldn\u2019t live any other way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

~The Rev. Stephen M. Cady, II<\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor, Asbury First UMC, Rochester, NY<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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