The Good News Proclaimed

Preached by the Reverend Michael A. Diaz in the second service at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, October 18, 2009.

In Mark 10.35-37, James and John discreetly approach Jesus and pull him aside for a private, pastoral conversation (Private because they don’t want the other disciples to know about their hidden agenda and pastoral because they themselves need to be assured that they’re not part of Jesus’ movement for nothing — they want their share of the coming kingdom). “We want you to do us a favor,” they ask Jesus. “In your glorious kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you Jesus, one at your right and the other at your left.” Now, to many of us this may not seem like an unreasonable request. After all, James and John have putting in the work, canvassing and organizing all over Galilee trying to help Jesus expand his movement of justice and good news. Doesn’t all this hard work deserve a great reward? They have been putting their lives at risk by encouraging non-violent resistance of Rome and the powerful social structure that was keeping all its subjects in fear. They’ve sown some good seeds and simply want to reap a good harvest, right? James and John were doing all that Jesus had asked them to do and all their hard work was beginning to pay off. Common people were beginning to experience healing and wholeness in their lives. James and John were doing a good job. We would call them ambitious, go-getters, and upper-management material. Everything they put their hands to, it prospered. The consciousness of people they touched was expanding to the point where their stagnant faith began to move from a dreadful state of pessimism to a hopeful outlook of optimism. James and John knew this and saw that this movement of theirs was sparking revival and was soon to overtake society like never before. It had the potential to topple the oppressive Roman Empire and when it did, they wanted their share. They wanted Jesus to do them a favor. They didn’t want to be King or President of this new Kingdom and possibly infringe on Jesus’ role. No, they just wanted to be Vice-Presidents.

Well, like many supposed confidential conversations today, their private discussion with Jesus is soon leaked to the press. And when the other disciples hear about the alleged power-grab, they are immediately infuriated, indignant that James and John would shamelessly jockey for future leadership positions. Jesus then diffuses the problematic situation by turning it into an opportunity to explain how true leaders serve the needs of all, not just one’s own need for importance.

Now I’m not sure we should shame James and John for trying to obtain future leadership positions. They were simply pursing models of leadership that were highly valued in the first century. In Jesus’ day, you were only important if you were attached to a position of power. That position gave you status, honor, and recognition and it also gave you servants. It gave you the honor of being served and it in turn took away honor from those who were serving. Being a servant equaled no power and if you didn’t have power, you were essentially a nobody. No one likes being a nobody.

How many of us can truly say that we would like to be a nobody? How many of us would enjoy having no power or honor status? I imagine very few, if any. Let’s face it… you can’t succeed in life being a nobody — one has to stand out to be noticed! You can’t get a job promotion being a nobody. It’s hard to achieve the American dream being a nobody. Being a nobody gives you no power, something we all would be hard-pressed to be without. In our world, being successful translates to having the ability to tell people what to do instead of you being told what to do. Grab enough economic power, and people will be serving you all the days of your life. Be content with being a servant and having no power, and you will be serving all the days of your life. And so even from a young age, we are inclined to pursue power. When we’re young, parents tell us to stay away from the hot pot on the stove and yet we forego their advice in favor of exercising our own agency. Out of the pursuit to do what we want, we touch the pot and get burned. Many young boys are taught to be macho and manly. If someone pushes you on the playground, push them back. Doing so will gain you power and respect with the school bullies. Not pushing back will cause you to lose respect, and so we push back and fight to assert our power.

I remember my first year of high school when I was 15 years old. I joined the marching band and became part of the drum line. If you played trumpet or a wind instrument, you were just a band geek but if you played drums, you were respected like no other. The drum line had all kinds of power: we had our own drum room, we didn’t have to show up to band class, we ran our own rehearsals, and we even dated the hottest girls in school (except for me of course — the girls I dated always seemed to look like boys). We walked around school with our chests out and chins up. I had a certain honor status at school and wanted that honor status at home. I tried to assert my newfound power with my mother, but she wasn’t having it. So I tried to assert more and more power with her until this one morning came. We were both in the bathroom getting ready for the day, me for school and her for work. We had a bathroom with a two-sink vanity and a huge mirror, so we were able to both do our hair at the same time in the mirror. And while she is brushing her hair and spraying it with Aqua-net, she tells me to come right home after school to baby-sit my cousin. I of course had plans after school with my drum line buddies. She said she didn’t care what plans I had but to come home and baby-sit. And so I glanced at her and sized her up a bit, knowing that she was only 4’11″ tall and I’m around 5’9″ (depending on how big my heels are of course) and I told her, “I’m 15 years old Mom, you can’t tell me what to do anymore.” I said that and looked right back into the mirror to comb my hair. Well, not a second later a can of Aqua-net has gone air-borne, coming right at me. I have to duck and run because I’ve become a dartboard for her make-up collection. I finally shout out, “I’m sorry! I’ll come home and baby-sit!” My pursuit of power was trumped by Mom’s.

So how are we to deal with Jesus telling us to serve and give honor and power to others when our society teaches us to pursue power at the expense of others? Is this even possible? It is possible if we change our thoughts about what it means to have honor and power. In the first century, honor and power were thought of as being zero-sum. Not everyone could enjoy the privileges of power or else there might not be any servants. After all, kings are only kings if they have subjects to rule over right? Well, over time we have learned that communities flourish and prosper when everyone is allowed to exercise his / her own agency. On a global scale, we have evolved to embrace different forms democracy and representation of the people so we all can truly serve one another. In the business world, some larger companies today serve their workers well by allowing them to exercise their power through collective bargaining. In our current economic environment, some unions serve their companies well by making concessions, allowing the company to stay afloat. Here at Sunshine Cathedral, we don’t assert our power over anyone by forcing them to believe one specific doctrine. Instead, we create a safe space for you to figure out what it is you believe in the context of a community of people who are trying to figure out what they believe. The power we exercise is shared and abundant (not zero-sum)!

The call to be a servant requires us to serve all but that doesn’t mean you put everyone else’s needs first and neglect your own! I understand that oppressors and corrupt leaders do horrible things to people because they see God in themselves and not others. I understand much suffering is caused by people who think they’re God’s gift to the earth while everyone else is a nobody. But it is equally as bad if many of us go to the opposite extreme and recognize the Divine in others and never ourselves. Don’t serve people because you think they’re better than you are. Don’t serve people because you think they have more of the Divine in them than you do. It is hypocritical to say you recognize the Good in all people, and then you think less of yourself. Many people come to church to hear and receive an encouraging word and really that’s fine since that’s one reason why we are here. But if all you do is come to receive, you are recognizing the Divine in us but neglecting the divine potential in yourself. We want you to receive all that we have to offer, but we also want to receive all that you have to offer. We’re glad you’re learning from us, but we also want to learn from you. That is what we call servant leadership. And so today, will you choose to be a leader and still serve? Will you choose to be a servant and still lead? Will you choose to recognize the inherent worth of all those around you? Will you choose to honor the sacred value that is within you? Will you choose to pursue a model of leadership that strives to meet the needs of all people and still affirms the perfection that you are? Please answer yes and be the good news today. Amen.

The Good News Affirmed

I am a child of God.

I live an abundant life.

I share my inherent worth with others.

I serve and lead.

I am the good news today.

And so it is.

The Good News Repeated

“Do not think of “service to humanity” in terms of painful and unprofitable sacrifice but rather in terms of joyful and infinitely profitable self-fulfillment.” — J. B. Goldstone