“At the Front of the Line”

Mark 10:35-45

October 16 and 19, 2003

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John A. Fleming

I would like for you to imagine a couple of scenes with me this evening. Both of them have to do with vacation sites, so my guess is that you will not mind the imagining. I hope that you will see the thread that runs through these two scenes. Here is the first one. Visualize yourself in Colorado, in Breckenridge perhaps or maybe Crested Butte. It is sometime between January and March, prime time for skiing. You love to ski and besides, you are a great skier. Some of you will have to use more of your imaginations than others of you. Besides loving to ski, you love ski villages with their shops and you love being in Colorado, where there is always a hint of snow in the air. Part of the reason that you love being there is that you are not at home. And the view, well it is always tremendous and marvelous. Now, are you there? Close your eyes in you need to get there in your mind’s eye. You have checked into your condo and you are near the slopes. Are you bundled up, put on sun screen and all that? Are you ready to put your skis on? It is exciting isn’t it? You have been waiting for this all year. Ever since your last run down the mountain last season, you have been waiting for today. You cannot wait for your first run down the mountain. That is when you see it. You had no idea that so many colleges and high schools had the same spring break week as your vacation week. People are everywhere, including in the line for the ski lift. You cannot climb the mountain and then ski down it. That is too much work. You have to ride up to ski down. Before you know it, you have been in the ski lift line for half an hour. Now, if you are really there, in your mind’s eye, then I imagine that you are thinking, “I would do anything to go to the front of the line!”

Not a big fan of the cold weather and the skiing? I understand. If that is you, then why don’t we try Disney World in Orlando. After all, it is the place that you always wanted to go, but your parents never took you there. So, you have been waiting to go for a lifetime. You promised your three kids that this would be the summer that you would go and so this past year, you worked especially hard, took every overtime opportunity that came your way. You even borrowed a little money from your kid’s college funds, but that is all right. There is time to put money back into their accounts. You have always wanted to go to Disney World. Getting to mid-Florida not only took a lifetime, it took a lifetime in the car going through states like Mississippi and Alabama and towns like Nita Yuma Yazoo City, and Panther Burn. Every few miles, your kids asked, “Dad, how much longer until we get there?” Finally you arrive, check into your motel and get a good night’s sleep. The next morning, you make your way to Disney World’s front gate. You pull out the card that will charge you the rate for you and your family to be there and to jump to other Disney parks if you so choose and you walk through the front gate. There, meeting you with photo opportunity written all over them are Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck. Then it is time for your first ride. You have a decision to make. Will you ride Dumbo, Space Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, or Thunder Railroad first? It is your imagination so it might as well be your choice. Get in line for one of those rides. By the way, did you just hear me say, “Get in line?” That is right. There is a line and there are dozens of people in front of you. Now if you are there. If you are really there, then my guess is that you are thinking, “I wish that I could go to the front of the line!”

Well, it is time to come back from our vacations. There is an errand that we need to run. We need to go by the Revenue Office. I did that recently and waited in line for one hour. If you were sitting there beside me, you probably would have said, “I wish that I could go to the front of the line.” I have been told that in cities larger than Little Rock, rush hours are very hectic. There is something amusing about the term “rush hour.” I think I know what it is supposed to me. It is supposed to me that people are rushing to get home. But in cities like Little Rock and others, the trip home is anything but a rush. In larger cities, I am told that there are toll roads. Normally motorists would stop at a booth on such roads once or twice a day. But in these cities, you can buy a decal that has a small computer chip in it. As you pass by the toll booth, an electronic signal is sent that automatically deducts the cost of the toll from your checking account. So if you pay for such a decal, you are literally going to the front of the line.

Being at the front of the line is the place to be, isn’t it? It is for people who do not want to wait. It is for school children who somehow, early on, learn that it is the place to be. And it is for a couple of the disciples in our scripture lesson from Mark’s Gospel. As most of you know, we are working our way through Mark’s gospel this lectionary year. Last week we left Jesus and the twelve as they were about to go on a journey. The journey is to Jerusalem and we know what waits for Jesus there. The rich, young man, with many possessions, has knelt at Jesus’ feet, and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus has told him and now he and the twelve are back on the Jerusalem road. Mark gives us this detail in the story. He writes that Jesus was walking ahead of them and that those who followed behind were amazed and afraid. Maybe they were even more so, when Jesus turned back to them, and for the third time predicted his arrest, death, and resurrection. This third prediction is the fullest and the longest and the most detailed of the three.

It was on the heels of that, that James and John walked a little faster, ahead of the other ten and I think probably in a whispered voice, so the others would not hear, asked, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” They were like any kid, going up to his parents, not wanting a “no” answer and saying, “Momma, promise me that you will say yes to what I’m about to ask you.” Any mother worth her salt could not agree to that. That is the kind of thing the disciples are doing here. Can you see how uncomfortable they are in what they are about to ask. You remember their question, don’t you? Here it is, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.” You can see their discomfort, can’t you? If they were altogether easy with it, they would not have walked ahead and they would not have whispered. I do not mind telling you that I would like to redeem these two disciples. After all, they were the first ones to sign up for discipleship. They had been disciples longer than the other ten. That, in and of itself, ought to grant them special positions. I would like to tell you that what happened was what happened in Second Kings, right before Elijah was taken up in glory. You know that story. Elijah gives Elisha a double share of his spirit. I would like to tell you that this is like that, but it is not, for a couple of reasons. First, Elijah is the one doing the asking, not Elisha who will be left behind. If it were the same, it would have been Jesus who said to these two, “Is there something that I can do for you before I go.” Secondly, Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. These two disciples ask for prestige. The gospel of Matthew actually tries to redeem these two disciples. Matthew tells us that it was James and John’s mother who made this request of Jesus, not her sons.

We have got to go with Mark because it is our lesson for this morning. Let me tell you what I like about what happened once James and John’s question was out there. I like the fact that Jesus did not lose his temper or show his frustration. I like the fact that Jesus did not say, “I cannot believe that you still do not understand what I have been trying to tell you.” And they did not understand; they really did not understand. They thought that when they arrived in Jerusalem, a wonderful celebration would be waiting for them, maybe a banquet at one of the finest places in town. James and John wanted to be at the head table, sitting right next to the one who had recruited them and who they had followed now for three years. These two disciples did not understand that Jesus’ messiahship was different than that. Jesus had tried to explain it, but it was hard to grasp. I am glad that Jesus did not lose his cool. Instead, what he did, I think, helped the disciples to get back on the road to Jerusalem and away from the award’s ceremony. Can’t you just see the look in his eyes when Jesus says, “You don’t know what you are asking.” There must have been what I like to call a pregnant pause as their eyes met. Then Jesus asked, “Are you able to drink from the cup that I drink from? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They answer, “Lord, we are able.” I do not think they understood what they were saying. Maybe they looked around for a chalice and a baptismal bow. When Jesus asked his question, what he was really asking was, “Are you able to suffer with me.” And then his words, “The positions that you want are ones that I cannot give. In fact, the position that I am in is one that was given to me.”

It is then that the other ten catch wind of what has happened. Mark’s gospel tells us that the other disciples were angry at James and John. I would like to tell you that they are angry at the Zebedee boys because they have not understood discipleship. That is not the case. These ten are mad at James and John because these two have beat them to the punch. They, too, did not understand discipleship. They, too, wanted these positions of power. I think that Jesus stops in the middle of the road and uses what has just happened as a chance to say what discipleship is really about. Did you hear his words? Jesus tells us that the great ones are the ones who serve.

What should we do with these words today? How can they speak to us? Well, I don’t mind telling you that at the beginning of the week, I didn’t want to preach these words of Mark. Here is the reason. It occurred to me that I had preached about greatness not long ago. Even if you forget my sermon, you will remember that. It was three weeks ago that we thought together about the disciples argument on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus asked them what they were arguing about and they were painfully silent because they had been arguing about greatness. Three weeks ago, I pretty much said all that I knew about greatness and so I was looking for something else, some other scripture lesson, when I picked up my phone and called Bryan, our music director and my friend. I said, “I’m thinking about punting on the lectionary.” He asked me why and I told him that I had just preached about greatness a month ago. That is when he said, “If Jesus’ disciples did not get the lesson the first time, what makes you think that the people of St. Paul will? He is right and that is why I love having him around.

Jesus says that being great means putting the wants and the needs of others above our own needs. And so I thought, who are the people who have done this sort of thing for me and I remembered a hospital visit that I made right after I moved to Little Rock, in 1998. I was trying to find my way around St. Vincent’s Hospital. I was trying to get to the emergency room. By the way, you have to take a particular set of elevators to get there. Finally I figured that out and was walking around aimlessly near the Emergency Room when a young doctor came up to me and said, “You look lost.” I looked lost because I was lost. This doctor said, “You don’t know me. I’m a member of your church. Can I help you with something?” I told him that one of our own was in the emergency room and that I needed to see her. Not only did he point the way, he took me there, pulled back the screen, and introduced me to her. After a few minutes of visiting, he came back to make sure that I was all right. His name is Gordon Newbern, a busy orthopedic doctor. I went up the stairs and saw a plaque on the wall on my wall to the cafeteria. On the plaque were the names of doctors and nurses voted to be the best. There it was, in small letters, printed in a gold color, Gordon Newbern. I suspect that it was little acts of kindness that got his name on that plaque and getting his name on the plaque was not his intention. Great people are those people who put others in front of themselves. They are our fathers who drove old cars and wore old clothes so we would not have to. They are friends who said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Great people aren’t necessarily those who do great things; they are the ones who simply love greatly.

I started our sermon by asking us to visit Crested Butte, Colorado. I was in that town ten years ago. I was there as a youth pastor with the First United Methodist Church of Fordyce. We were there to ski and to have a retreat. At the bottom of one of the mountains was a platform and on the platform was a car. A big sign told of it’s significance. It’s words were, “This car was driven by President Jimmy Carter while in Crested Butte.” Jimmy Carter, one of our presidents. He wasn’t one of the best ones, by the criteria that we judge presidents. Do you know what makes him great these days? That’s right, building houses for Habitat for Humanity’s ministry. Go home with this question on your hearts, “Will you be great to someone this week?” Let us pray.

(Special thanks to Dr. Gordon Newbern and his ministry with me in 1998 and for his ministry with his patients since then. I once again witnessed his work with one of our church members whose hip had to be repaired. Thanks also to my dad who drove an older car and wore older clothes so that his children could have the latest things. Dad, you are great in my eyes).