Mark 10:35-45
Time After Pentecost Lectionary 29
Security is something that most of us desire. It comes in different forms, and applies to various aspects of our lives. Police provide security for our physical safety. Computer malware protects our software from viruses. Passwords and PINs keep our personal and financial information safe. The National Security Agency works to prevent foreign adversaries from gaining access to national security information. We have locks on our homes, our cars and our phones.
We also work to keep our place in life secure, and to secure our future. Adequate retirement funds assure that we can maintain our style of living. Being good at what we do secures our work. Whether you are a student or in a later stage of life, effective networking can secure our social standing.
The Zebedee brothers, James and John, were concerned about their security, and about fixing their place of rank and privilege. That’s what was behind their request. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” (I love that Jesus didn’t just burst out laughing, and say “Really?”) Jesus asked them what that would be. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory,” they replied. It is worth noting that at the cross there will be two criminals, one on Jesus’ left and one on his right. In our human world order, seats next to Jesus would be places of honor. Positions right next to Jesus would offer protection and security. That’s what happened, but not in the way that the disciples expected, but better than they could ever hope.
The disciples thought Jesus would save them by defeating the Roman Empire through his military leadership. James and John have deep faith that Jesus will reign, but they believed that the world would maintain the status quo, but with new leadership. They did not expect him to save their world by dying.
“Jesus, we call shotgun! We want to sit upfront, right next to you!” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus told them. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Still not understanding, the disciples reply that they can. Jesus tells them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.”
Jesus’ cup is a cup of suffering. His use of the word “baptism” goes back to the Greek meaning of to dip repeatedly or to immerse. “To be baptized with a baptism with which I am baptized” is an idiom that means “to be overwhelmed by some difficult experience or ordeal.[1]”
This morning, we will baptize my sweet grandbaby Ella Grace Griffin McCann. I would love for Ella Grace’s baptism to ensure that she will never know a moment of suffering. It would be my dream for her to get through school without other kids taunting her, or someone breaking her heart. A perfect life would mean never having to worry about money or a rewarding career. It would mean that she and those she loves would never have cancer or dementia. A perfect world would mean that there would be no mass shootings and no prejudice against any human being. It would mean that no one would go hungry, or go without needed medical care. But this is not the promise of baptism.
“The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,” Jesus tells us. While we may hear that as a threat, as an indication of suffering, it is also a promise. Hear the promise made to us in the water and the word:
In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the body of Christ[2].
The promise of baptism is that we are joined to Christ in his suffering and death. The promise of baptism is that wherever we go, Christ has gone before us. The promise of baptism is that Christ will never let go of us. In the water and the word, Ella Grace is given new life in Christ. Baptism’s offer and hope is that we will know every day of our lives that Jesus loves us, that we will live out our belovedness, and not driven by fears and insecurities. Baptism is Ella Grace’s call, and ours, to receive God’s love, and resting securely in that love, enter into a new way of living, a way of living beyond a system of winners and losers, insiders and outsiders. Our baptism is not an act of our faith in God, but is an act of God’s love for us. It is not dependent upon what we do or don’t do. We cannot earn God’s love. God is already crazy in love with us.
To my sweet girl Ella Grace, and to all of you, when the world tries to tell you who you are, and tell you what your value is, that your worth is tied to the color of your skin, what you do, how much money you have, and things you have earned, remember your baptism. Remember that you are marked with the cross of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Your security is in the Water and the Word. We don’t need to call shotgun to sit next to Jesus.
Biblical scholar Richard Jensen speaks in the voice of Jesus speaking to us through this story:
I have come to bear your infirmities. I have come to be wounded for your transgressions. I have come to bless your life with the blessing of God. You may not want my blessing. You may wish to condemn me. You may wish to kill me. Very well. Have your way. Push me out of the world and onto a cross. I will go through the cross to bless you. I wlll go through hell itself to bless you. I have come to give my life as a ransom for many.[3]
In the name of Christ, giver of all grace, Amen!
~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin
[1] See Brian Stoffregen’s Exegetical Notes at Crossmarks, www.crossmarks.com/brian/mark10x35.htm.
[2] ELW p. 227, Holy Baptism.
[3] Brian Stoffregen Exegetical Notes at Crossmarks, www.crossmarks.com/brian/mark10x35.htm.