Twentieth Pentecost
Mark 10:35-45; Hebrews 5:1-10; Isaiah 53:4-12
I wanted this sermon to be about Melchizedek. His name is just so much fun to say. Melchizedek appears almost mysteriously in the Old Testament as the king and priest of Salem where he provided a meal and a blessing to Abraham. Abraham responds with a tithe to Melchizedek and the God that he worshipped. This is going back some 4,000 years to a time before there was any Israel or priests or even religion as we know it. Jump forward 2,000 years and Melchizedek is then mentioned in the New Testament in our second lesson for today as a priestly type of the servant model Jesus fulfilled. A mysterious priestly figure who steps out of the wilderness to serve the father of the three great faiths of the world today. I really wanted to preach about him but then I got caught with a question.
What if you had the power to give one of the children of this congregation, say one of our two year olds, what ever abilities, skills, intellect, money, talents and strengths you wanted to give them? What would you enable that child to become? Would you direct them into the business world or politics? Would you have them pursue a scientific field or something in the arts and humanities? What shape would a successful life take for someone with unlimited resources? Would you have them travel the world or build their own little kingdom? Would they become a CEO of some great company or be a renowned artist or athlete. The question, of course, is how do we measure a successful life? What do we each consider important to the life well lived?
There are many young people in this congregation just beginning to explore this question. There are others approaching mid-life who are beginning to consider the meaning of what has been and the question of what will be. One of the peculiar elements of my calling as a pastor is that I regularly am called upon to find some means to assess and reflect on the meaning of a persons life. Pastors often wind up sharing at the funeral or memorial service some of the few final public words about someone's life. Sometimes the task is amazingly easy due to the nature of the person and the life that they lived. Other times I have struggled mightily to find something appropriate to say. One of the challenges, of course is that often we cannot be completely honest and say what every else is thinking. The one thing that has become abundantly clear to me over the years is that those who gather after someone dies have no interest in hearing about the things that the deceased owned or possessed. There is rarely little interest or discussion of how many pairs of shoes someone owned or what kind of cars they drove. Most people don't care about the deceased's things unless maybe they are in line to inherit something. Those who gather to share memories, thoughts and feelings rarely reflect on possessions, money or even awards. What people usually talk about, what people usually remember are the actions. He was the one who helped with a certain project or cared for a certain friend, she visited or assisted or worked along side. It is the doing and the giving that people remember the most.
Jesus was constantly trying to teach his disciples by words and example how to live. He tried to teach them what God wanted them to be and to do. But over the last few weeks we have seen how the disciples just didn't seem to get it. Time and again Jesus tried to describe to them how the son of man would suffer and die and each time the disciples missed the point. Over a month ago now our lessons had Jesus describing his coming passion and Simon Peter rebuked Jesus wanting to hear no such talk of such sacrifice. A couple weeks ago Jesus again predicted the circumstances of his death and the disciples got in an argument about who of them was the most important. And now today, for a third time in the verses immediately preceding our lesson, Jesus speaks of his impending death only to be approached by the brothers James and John. At least you have to give them credit for deciding that Jesus was someone of great power. What is so amazing is that they seem to approach him asking for a blank check, a credit card with no limit.
"Teacher," they say, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." I don't know about you, but when someone comes to me and says, "Can you do me a favor?" I usually reply rather cautiously, "It depends on the favor?" Jesus has a reply that is very open ended.. He says, "What is it you want me to do for you?" Now these are the exact same words that he will use in the next lesson when he is approached by a blind man seeking to be healed. It is the question Jesus asks of those seeking healing, seeking a miracle. So James and John make their request, they want a place along side Jesus, to be on his right and his left as he moves forward into the glory they anticipate. I am never quite sure whether Jesus at this point in the story is shaking his head in disbelief at how completely these two disciples have misunderstood what he has been telling them or if he is simply looking at them in stunned amazement as he says, "You have got to be kidding me. Do you have any idea what you are asking for?" The disciples had seen what Jesus could do and clearly they wanted a piece of that action. The two young disciples were probably excitedly imagining jogs across the surface of the lake and cool afternoons creating and calming storms when they naively assured Jesus that they were ready to handle whatever miracles they needed to perform if he but gave them the starting positions on his team.
And then the other ten disciples caught wind of what was going on and they began to get angry with James and John for apparently trying to cut them out of the action. This is the beginnings of division and conflict that is too familiar to our world. The sectarian conflict of our daily headlines chronicles story after story of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq, each striving to claim their place on the right and the left of the American occupying forces. It would take most of us very little effort to come up with our lists of conflict and tension due to aspirations to place and power. Jesus tried once more to give the disciples and us perspective. The point is not to claim power or possess anything but to serve. It is in the doing , not the having. It is in the giving , not the getting. You have heard this all before. I know I have preached it before. For over 30 years, 15 from this pulpit and yet...
I still remember the conversation I had some years ago with a college student who was trying to set a direction for his life. He was amazingly honest when he asked me, "Why are you a Christian? What's in it for you? What do you get?" I replied that I get to give. I assured him I wasn't being smart or clever. To me, being a Christian is being blessed by God in such away that I can give. The Christian has been given the eyes to see the world as it could be rather than as it has to be. The Christian has been given the heart to respond by grace without the limits or demands of the law. The Christian knows that they live as a forgiven and loved child of God. We respond to God's grace given to us by giving of ourselves.
It is so easy to misunderstand what Jesus is saying. We are not required to serve others in order to be Christians. We serve others because we are Christians . We give because we are Christians blessed by God. The other evening I was at dinner with someone unfamiliar with the Christian faith. At one point in the conversation, after we had been describing some of the many activities our congregation is involved in, he asked me, "Where do you get your money? Do you have dues, assessments, required fees?" I said no. People just give. "Why?" he asked. "Because they can," I replied. Blessed by God, we respond. There is no demand that a Christian serve. That would be obedience to the law. There is something more than the law.
All of our sons have now been driving for several years but I still remember how we tried to teach them that there are two ways to drive a car. One is to obey the law. Don't speed or you will get a ticket. Yield to other cars to avoid an accident. One way to drive is to obey the law. The speed limit on side streets in Lincolnshire is 20 miles per hour or you get a ticket. But with each of the boys there came a day when the law was not the defining force in their lives, at least not on our street. I still remember our youngest son coming into the house saying, "Boy, it took me ten minutes to get up the block. There were so many kids playing in the street." He was not angry or upset. His voice seemed to celebrate all the life and energy he had seen playing outside. Life and energy he had once been apart of and wanted to see continue. That was when I knew he did not drive 20 miles per hour on our street to obey the law. He drives slower than 20 miles per hour because he cares about the kids in the neighborhood. He knows that four year olds don't always think about cars when they are rolling down their driveway or chasing a ball into the street. The law has power to limit and even protect lives but it does not grant life or enrich life the way love of neighbor and service to others does.
Jesus told his disciples that they must be servants not as a requirement to become disciples but because that is what a disciple does. If water is not wet it is not water. If fire is not hot it is not fire. If ice is not cold it is not ice. If a follower of Christ is not a servant, they are not a disciple. It should be so simple and yet.
Our world is defined by competition and power. The World Series being played right now is not a friendly game for fun. It is a quest for the best. The Bears are undefeated, at least for this morning, but the competition is intense. In a few weeks we will vote and the campaign material is all filled with descriptions of what can be done to secure our nation's place in the world. A world defined by competition and power. A world where weapons are more important than people. Power and strength are lifted up as more important then service, justice or even lives. And yet.
This morning the blood drive is welcoming donations of a life giving gift. There is nothing in it for those who give except for a few bites of refreshments afterwards. There is no competition to see who can give the most blood. There is simply the giving to fill a need because a few people have the gift to give. The gift of life is like that. This morning there are several sign-up sheets in the narthex. There is no competition to fill spots in staffing the PADS shelter or providing food. There is no trophy for the best steward in our stewardship appeal. We are Christians, blessed by God to be a blessing.
Jesus revealed the great truth to us. That he came not to be served but to serve.
But, you know, I really wanted to preach about Melchizedek. His name means king of righteousness. That's one of the names that was given to the Messiah, to Jesus. After all this talk about service I really like the name Melchizedek. I like how he embraced the unknown stranger in his land and found in him a promise that God fulfilled over the centuries. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, that was the city's ancient name. God would make that place important, we know it today as Jerusalem.
We are told that Melchizedek was God's chosen high priest who blessed the one who came in peace and service. He received a gift of a tithe and his name became marked in all history. All he really did was share some bread and wine. That is also what we will soon do as we return once more to the table our great high priest has prepared for us. The one we call messiah, the Christ, as the letter to the Hebrews tells us, the one designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, the righteous one, the one who came not to be served but to serve.
Amen