When Jesus Says "no"
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Dear Fellow Preacher,
Two requests of Jesus from characters in the Gospel readings assigned in the lectionary for this Sunday and the next dominate this issue of The Immediate Word. The request of James and John for places of honor beside Jesus in his time of glory is typical of the self-aggrandizement that is so prized in contemporary life. But Bartimaeus' prayer, "Lord, have mercy on me," has much less appeal to many.
In our lead article Carlos Wilton contrasts these two kinds of requests, linking them to several recent and current events and making clear at the same time the stark difference between the enduring foibles of human nature and the higher calling to which Jesus directs his first followers and us. The tension between self-promotion and the needs of others will be familiar to our parishioners; it is an issue that deserves repeated attention.
Additional resources and perspective are provided by team responses, illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon, all related to the Gospel for the day.
WHEN JESUS SAYS "NO"
by Carlos E. Wilton
Mark 10:35-45 (with further reference to 10:46-52)
The Message on a Postcard
Winners and losers have been much in the news lately. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been elected Governor of California in an unprecedented recall election, sending his incumbent opponent, Gray Davis (himself a winner just months ago), into defeat. On the baseball diamond, two longtime "lovable loser" teams-the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs-have made it into the playoffs. As of this writing, sportswriters are speculating about the rare treat of an underdog World Series, should both teams make it that far. At the same time, Los Angeles Lakers basketball superstar Kobe Bryant is facing sexual-assault charges that, if sustained, will summarily unseat him from the exalted place of honor American society accords to its sports heroes.
In this week's Gospel reading, James and John aspire to be winners. They ask Jesus to assign them the places of greatest honor, but their Master turns them down flat. Then, in the very next pericope (the lectionary reading for next week, October 26), Jesus just as abruptly grants the request of another petitioner: blind Bartimaeus, who desires healing.
Sometimes the artificial divisions imposed by the lectionary are best set aside in order to glimpse the larger sweep of the narrative. Taking the Gospel readings for this week and next week together, it becomes apparent that in both episodes Jesus is posing the very same question: "What would you like me to do for you?" To the first request he answers, "No"; to the second, "Yes." Not every prayer receives the answer we desire or expect-and Jesus seems particularly averse to fulfilling the dreams of self-promoters.
Some Words on the Word
These two encounters-between Jesus and his upwardly mobile disciples James and John on the one hand, and between Jesus and blind Bartimaeus on the other-must be seen in light of Jesus' prediction of his own passion in 10:32-34. The lectionary skips over this passion prediction, so it may be necessary to remind our listeners it's there, just prior to today's passage.
Eduard Schweizer points out that this story demonstrates "the completely incomprehensible manner in which God's call runs counter to all human thinking" (The Gospel According to Mark; trans. Donald H. Madvig [Atlanta: John Knox, 1970], p. 220). No sooner has Jesus explained the grueling ordeal ahead than James and John pop up with a totally irrelevant request. In one of his books Thomas Long has portrayed it as though it were an old war movie. Jesus is the tough, battle-hardened sergeant about to order his men into combat. They're in the trenches, and the bullets are whizzing overhead. The only problem is that his soldiers are Moe, Larry, and Curly. Just as their leader valiantly cries, "OK, boys, over the top!" and begins to climb out of the trench, one of them pulls on his uniform jacket, asking with a goofy grin, "We have matching ties and blazers, can we sit on either side of you?" Seen in the larger biblical context, James' and John's request is ridiculous to the point of absurdity.
As it will turn out, of course, the only ones who will occupy places of "honor" on Jesus' right and left are the two thieves, crucified beside him on Calvary. James and John know not what they ask (as Jesus himself remarks in v. 38).
As Lamar Williamson puts it, "...despite Jesus' rebuke of Peter and despite his teaching about denying self, taking up one's cross and losing one's life (8:34-37); despite his rebuke of the squabble over greatness by the example of the child and his words about being last of all and servant of all (9:35-36); and finally despite his threefold prediction of his own suffering and death at the end of this road, James and John are still fantasizing about the coming glory and scheming for positions of privilege" (Mark; Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983], p. 192).
In verse 41 we learn the other disciples are angry with James and John. What makes them angry? Probably not the fact that their two dim-witted colleagues have missed the point of their Lord's passion prediction. No, they're angry because they wish they'd gotten to Jesus first! Jesus rebukes them all, teaching that servanthood-not self-exaltation-is the example his followers must emulate.
As for the story of blind Bartimaeus' healing that follows, D. E. Nineham points out that "it contains the first public and unrebuked recognition of Jesus as Messiah. Hitherto only the demons and the disciples had recognized him as such, and they had been forbidden to speak of it; but now the secret seems to have leaked out, and a blind beggar hails Jesus as Son of David" (Saint Mark [New York: Penguin, 1963], p. 282).
In both cases, Jesus has asked, "What can I do for you?" Only in Bartimaeus' case, however, does the Lord make good on the promise implied in that question. In his naive and wholehearted enthusiasm, Bartimaeus springs up, casting off his cloak, to shout out the one thing that is his heart's desire-that Jesus may have mercy on him and heal him. Jesus rewards this beggar's childlike enthusiasm and single-minded faith by doing what he asks. It's a visual parable, enacting his wisdom saying of verse 44: the last (Bartimaeus) shall be first, and the first (James and John) shall be last.
A Map of the Message
A sermon on this passage could begin with a reflection on the "winners and losers" theme that has dominated the headlines in the past week or so. American society loves a winner. We idolize those who seem strong, self-assured, ambitious. The voters of California have elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor, a mostly inexperienced outsider to the political process, who seems to have succeeded mainly on the strength of his movie persona. Even Ronald Reagan, Arnold's predecessor on the political walk of fame between Hollywood and Sacramento, had some prior leadership experience as president of the Hollywood actors' union, the Screen Actors Guild. Until now, Schwarzenegger has never been elected to anything.
But he does have ambition, and plenty of it. This governor-elect would undoubtedly relate personally to James' and John's gutsy bid for power and glory: and most of the world would join him in applauding such initiative.
Most of the world would do so ... but not Jesus. For him, "the last shall be first, and the first shall be last."
There's a certain strain within contemporary Christian preaching that tends to soft-pedal the ordinary difficulties that accompany the life of discipleship. Many such "feel-good religion" sermons can be boiled down to the subtext, "You, too, can be a winner-and God wants to make you one!" Based on this passage from Mark, Lamar Williamson suggests extreme caution to any who may be tempted to deliver such a message:
Today the gospel is often presented as a no-risk offer, and persons sometimes follow Jesus in order to stay out of trouble.... The text offers a jolting challenge to any simplistic, self-centered understanding of discipleship. Getting right with God by coming to Jesus is not simply a basic factor in an orderly life. Discipleship will mean more trouble, not less. Though it may be palliative in some respects, following Jesus is likely to be disruptive in others. True discipleship is characterized by a costly pouring out of one's life for another, whether it be an aging parent, a difficult spouse, a special child, another member of the Christian fellowship who has unusual needs, or any person whose situation elicits neighborly service at personal cost. Jesus came to serve and to give his life. Anyone who contemplates following Jesus without fear and trembling has not understood true discipleship, according to Mark. (Mark, p. 194)
Besides a message on servanthood, this passage could also provide the basis for a sermon on prayer. Considering today's passage alongside next week's story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus-and focusing on the "What would you like me to do for you?" question Jesus asks in both situations-a preacher could address the fundamental purpose of prayer. Bartimaeus' wish is fulfilled instantly, while James' and John's is denied. What's the difference?
To speculate on the will of God is always a daunting endeavor, but in light of the whole Gospel witness we could venture to assert that God gives less credence to calculating, self-serving prayers, and more to those that are simply heartfelt cries for help. James and John sidle up to Jesus and demand, "Make us great." Bartimaeus, on the other hand, cries out from the heart, "Lord, have mercy."
That's not to say, of course, that every prayer of desperation is answered in the affirmative. (No pastoral ministry veteran, speaking honestly, would dare pretend that's the case.) Is the fundamental purpose of prayer to change things-or is it to change the heart of the person praying? Is it to make our desires known to God, so (like a cosmic vending-machine) God can answer them? Or is prayer's purpose to encounter the divine, communicating deeply about our most heartfelt needs and desires? Jesus' brusque response to two of his best friends reminds us just how hard it is to predict the will of God, when it comes to answered prayer.
Team Comments
George L. Murphy responds: The inability of Jesus' disciples to understand who he is and what he's about is a major feature of Mark's Gospel-and one that Matthew and Luke modify in some ways. The disciples tend to be not quite so dense in the later Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew's version of the request for the chief places in the kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28), it isn't James and John themselves but their mother who makes the request. Perhaps we're supposed to see the disciples as being a bit embarrassed by her pushiness! ("Aw, Mom, don't!") But in Mark they're the ones who ask.
And in a way-in the way that we usually operate in the world-it's a reasonable request. We should be careful, I think, not to equate the lack of spiritual understanding of the disciples with a lack of ordinary intelligence. In hindsight it's easy enough for us to understand the statements about Jesus' suffering and death like the one that just precedes this story. We have the advantage of knowing about Good Friday and Easter.
And, in fact, the passion predictions in the Gospels are probably framed in part by a similar post-resurrection understanding of the early church. Before those events, whatever Jesus said about what would happen to him in Jerusalem (and it really wouldn't have required supernatural knowledge to know what was likely to happen if he confronted the religious leaders and Roman occupation there) must have been very hard to grasp by those who thought that Jesus was going to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. What could that have had to do with being crucified? Often we just don't hear the things that don't fit into our picture of the world. Or perhaps the disciples thought (as those familiar with biblical criticism can understand) that Jesus meant his words "figuratively."
James and John, like the other disciples, are people of at least average intelligence and some street smarts-who haven't yet experienced the gestalt shift, the radical change of view, that enables them to make sense of concepts like a suffering Messiah and servant leaders. If Jesus is going to be king, somebody's got to be prime minister and treasury secretary. Let's get our resumes in.
No doubt some work will be involved, but they're sure they're up to it. The response of James and John to Jesus' challenges, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" is instructive. In our English translation it sounds a bit formal, as if they'd given a lot of consideration to the matter: "We are able." In the Greek it's just one word-dynametha. Maybe "Sure" would be an American equivalent. No problem, as we say.
But there is a problem-and it points to at least one thing that differentiates between the request of James and John and the later one of Bartimaeus: "You do not know what you are asking," Jesus says. (And James and John might have gotten a clue from that that they were in over their heads.)
"You do not know what you are asking." Our requests often have just short-term goals in mind. There are plenty of stories, like that of King Midas, of people who ask for things that in the short run look great, but whose further consequences can be disastrous.
Even less are we able to make requests that are really best for us if we are unable or unwilling to take into account the change of view that Jesus calls for.
The request of Bartimaeus, on the other hand-well, is it totally different? His petition, like that of James and John, is for himself. He isn't praying for other people who are blind or otherwise handicapped but "Let me see again." So what's the difference?
Well, there are several. In the first place, he does know what he is asking for. And, second, he isn't asking for a special position of honor above others but only for what is proper for human beings-to be able to see. If Jesus is indeed the Messiah, "Son of David," "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped" (Isaiah 35:5).
(Some comment on my use of the word "handicapped" may be in order. Today we are rightly sensitive to the concerns of the blind or deaf that they not be considered second class persons or unable to live valuable lives because of their inability to see or hear. We ought to be careful about using blindness or deafness as metaphors for spiritual states. Some would insist that these conditions not be considered handicaps, and there have been extreme arguments that deaf people shouldn't even try to make use of technologies that would enable them to hear. Jesus didn't go that far. If he had, when Bartimaeus asked, "Let me see again," Jesus would have said, "Why?")
But perhaps one of the most important things about Bartimaeus' request is what he bases it on. He appeals to Jesus as Son of David and, as I noted above, it could be expected that restoration of sight would come in the messianic age. But that isn't all. "Son of David, have mercy on me." He recognizes that what he asks isn't simply a "right" of those in the messianic age, much less a privilege for which he needs to get his request in ahead of others. It is, rather, something that depends on God's mercy-on the fundamental belief that God is merciful.
We have taken that over into the Christian liturgy. Many of our services begin with a spoken or sung Kyrie with more or less elaboration-"Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy." Sometimes it's even in Greek that takes us back to the early church: "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison." That reminds us that we are part of a community that goes back to the time of Bartimaeus (and indeed of James and John, who did finally grasp what Jesus was about) whose appeals are made with confidence, but can be confident because they trust in the mercy of God.
Carter Shelley responds: Carlos, I think you have nailed one of the most central points of the Gospel in your insights this week. The quote about "ordinary difficulties that accompany the life of discipleship" is a particularly helpful reminder in this week following the amazing election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man never known to share credit for his accomplishments with God or anyone else. In the United States of America self-promotion is almost a national habit. Who has ever head Donald Trump utter anything but a self-congratulatory word? Style, or should I say fame and pectoral muscles, win out over substance not only in California but in the hallways of middle schools and high schools, and in professional advancement. Occasionally, some hard-working, humble, and devout individual will win an award for her work against land mines, medical research, or years of service in a third world country, but it never leads to a People magazine cover.
Jesus' Passion, as you note, colors everything else that takes place in the Gospels. What's interesting as we work our way through the teaching and miracles of Jesus is that we too easily overlook what lies ahead for Jesus and his followers. Isn't it interesting how none of the Gospels begins with the Passion? None are written in a flashback mode, the way a film director might present it or Harold Pinter might write it (the play Betrayal is an example). Yet all four Gospels are written in retrospect. It would be interesting to have one Gospel written as news coverage in which the author neither sees nor knows the Passion is coming at the end of Jesus' ministry. I don't know that such a fifth Gospel would alter any of our understanding of the call to servanthood and the rejection of self-promotion and selfishness, but it's intriguing to think about.
A parent with a child will often say "No" to a child who wants a third or fourth cookie from the cookie jar. The parent knows giving the child limitless access to cookies can have detrimental consequences: no appetite for a well-balanced healthy supper later, addiction to sugar, a physical high that may make sleep more difficult for the child, and, particularly in the United States today, a tendency to overeat leading to future problems with excessive weight, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The young child knows none of these consequences. She only knows she likes cookies and wants more of them. Left alone with the cookie jar a child might eat her fill and then become nauseous and literally sick, just as most first-time smokers hack and cough their way into the habit. The body sends strong messages about what is and is not good for us to consume; Jesus acts in a similar way with the disciples. Jesus knows what is ultimately good for James, John, and the rest of the gang. The men themselves do not.
When my sister Jenny was four years old, my father caught her seated up on the kitchen counter with one hand in the cookie jar and a fist full of cookies in the other.
"Jenny," my father said, "I don't want to see you in that cookie jar again!"
To which she practically replied, "Well, Daddy, don't look!"
Sometimes we say to Abba, Our Father/Mother God, "Don't look!"
When are we as citizens of this country going to say "No" to our president and legislators? When will we say "No!" to our arrogant approach to the United Nations? When will we say "No!" to labeling Syria, Iran, and North Korea as "Axis of Evil," when we ourselves possess nuclear arms and are the one nation who has actually used atomic weapons in war? When will we say "No!" to under-supported and under-supplied school teachers and students in favor of taxes to add substance to our current "No child left behind" program, in which penalties are imposed on teachers and schools without any concrete monetary or resource support from state and federal governments? When will we say "No" to elected officials who spout words of faith and piety yet live lives of self-promotion with political stances based upon the latest polls rather than internal ideals and conviction.
When will we say "No" to poverty at home and abroad? When will we say "No!" to shallow assumptions about the religious faith and character of women and men living in the Middle East and our equally shallow solutions to their current volatile situation? When will we say "No" to ourselves when offered that third glass of wine, to that second dessert at the church covered dish supper, to even more cable TV channels for just $19.95, to the legal tax loophole, to that spontaneous and unnecessary purchase? When will we say "No" to that which is not of God or from God and "Yes!" to all that God offers to us in Jesus Christ our Lord?
There's a wonderful country music song in which the woman who sings the lyrics addresses a man who is harassing her, "What part of 'No' don't you understand?"
Related Illustrations
On Prideful Ambition
"At the feast of ego, everyone leaves hungry."
-Anonymous
***
"Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with."
-Prayer of Peter Marshall
***
Pride is "the complete anti-God state of mind."
-C. S. Lewis
***
"There is, deep down within all of us, an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct-a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first....
"What was the answer that Jesus gave James and John? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, 'You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?'
"But that isn't what Jesus did. He did something altogether different. He said in substance, 'Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be.' But he reordered priorities. And he said, 'Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.' ...
"By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve...."
-Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon, "The Drum Major Instinct," preached February 4, 1968, at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church
***
"We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
-President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
On Prayer
Letters to God End up in Jerusalem
Jerusalem: Ever felt your prayers went unanswered? Send a letter to God and chances are it will end up-as many do each year-at an Israeli post office in Jerusalem, to be read and sent on to the holy Western Wall.
The letters come from all over the world in a host of languages. The elderly ask for good health. Others seek heavenly remedies for debts, relationship assistance, or help finding jobs. Children mainly ask God to spring them from homework assignments. The trickle of requests turns into a flood around Christmas and the Jewish holidays. "We have hundreds and thousands of letters sent to either God or Jesus Christ, and for some unknown reason they all come to Jerusalem," said Yitzhak Rabihiya, a postal spokesman.
As long as anyone at the host office can remember, the letters to God have turned up at the Postal Authority's center for undeliverable mail. A worker started taking them to the Western Wall.
-Associated Press article, published in the Asbury Park Press (N.J.), 10/2/03.
***
Kathleen Norris, in her book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead, 1998), writes about her own struggle with prayer and what she has learned: "Sometimes people will say things like, 'Your prayers didn't work, but thanks,' as if a person could be praying for only one thing. A miracle. A cure. But in the hardest situations, all one can do is to ask for God's mercy: 'Let my friend die at home ... Let her go quickly, God, and with her loved ones present.' ... I have learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. To be made more grateful, more able to see the good in what you have been given instead of always grieving for what might have been. People who are in the habit of praying-and they include the mystics of the Christian tradition-know that when a prayer is answered, it is never in a way that you expect. But prayer stumbles over modern self-consciousness and self-reliance, (we stumble over) a remarkably ingenuous belief in our ability to set goals and attain them as quickly as possible ... (we have an) addiction to self-help and 'how-to.' No wonder we have difficulty with prayer, for the best 'how-to' I know is from Psalm 46: 'Be still and know that I am God.'"
***
"Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and your heart has turned to stone."
-Thomas Merton
***
Newspaper cartoon: a little boy, hands folded and head bowed beside his bed, shouts out to everyone else in the house: "I'm about to say my prayers, does anybody want anything?"
***
"For the first two or three years after my conversion, I used to ask for specific things. Now I ask for God. Supposing there is a tree full of fruits-you will have to go and buy or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree. Every day you would have to go for one or two fruits. But if you can make the tree your own property, then all the fruits will be your own. In the same way, if God is your own, then all things in Heaven and on earth will be your own, because He is your Father and is everything to you; otherwise you will have to go and ask like a beggar for certain things. When they are used up, you will have to ask again. So ask not for gifts but for the Giver of Gifts: not for life but for the Giver of Life-then life and the things needed for life will be added unto you."
-Sundar Singh
***
In prayer the stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
-Madeline L'Engle, quoted by Martin Marty in Context, 3/15/96, p. 4.
***
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."
-Karl Barth
Worship Resources
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: O Lord, we need to worship!
PEOPLE: We need to get clean.
LEADER: We need to shake off the crust of this world.
PEOPLE: We need our emptiness filled.
LEADER: Our dryness relieved,
PEOPLE: Our deadness revived.
LEADER: So we come here,
PEOPLE: To this humble place,
LEADER: With these fellow travelers,
PEOPLE: To drink of the living waters,
LEADER: And have our thirst quenched;
PEOPLE: To have you bring order out of our chaos.
LEADER: Come, let us worship and bow down,
PEOPLE: Before the Lord our God,
LEADER: Our maker!
PEOPLE: Amen.
Here is an alternative Call to Worship based on the psalm for this week, Ps. 104:1-9. You may want to have this one read by several readers rather than doing it responsively.
READER 1: Praise the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
READER 2: You clothe yourself with the sunlight;
You stretch out the heavens like a tent.
You laid the foundation of your palace on the ocean's depths.
READER 3: You make the clouds your chariot,
And ride on the wings of the wind,
Making the wind your messenger, and fire your servant.
READER 1: You set the earth on its foundations;
It can never be moved.
READER 2: You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
READER 3: But at your rebuke the waters fled,
At the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
They flowed over the mountains,
They went down into the valleys,
To the place you assigned for them.
READER 1: You set a boundary they cannot cross;
Never again will they cover the earth.
READER 2: O Lord, how amazing are your works.
With great wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
READER 3: Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: Lord, you call us to love others as you have loved us.
PEOPLE: We ignore your selfless example.
LEADER: You call us to turn the other cheek.
PEOPLE: We seek revenge.
LEADER: You call us to love our enemies.
PEOPLE: We hate them.
LEADER: You taught us that the world will know you by our love for
one another.
PEOPLE: We bicker with each other over the smallest matters.
LEADER: You remind us to speak the truth in love.
PEOPLE: We gossip unkindly behind others' backs.
LEADER: Loving Lord, forgive our penchant for knocking others down
in order to lift ourselves up.
PEOPLE: And continue to teach us
LEADER: That your love is not based on our status
PEOPLE: Or our earthly performance
LEADER: Or success,
PEOPLE: But only on the fact
LEADER: That you are God and Father of all.
PEOPLE: Help us to live in that love
LEADER: And to love others with that love.
PEOPLE: Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Real love-God's love-is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, and the most wonderful line in that description is verse 7, which says, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things ... love never ends."
This is how God loves us. His love bears all our sins away, believes in us even when we don't believe in ourselves, hopes even when the evidence points to despair, endures every time we turn away from the Way, and never ends.
This is good news, great news, news that can get no better. You are beloved-by God.
Let us rejoice!
HYMN
"He Touched Me"
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
As Jesus calmed the storm, Lord calm now our hearts and minds that we might hear eternal truth as your word is read and preached. Amen.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee. Deepen our knowledge that all we claim to be ours is most truly yours, for you have given the gifts that enable us to earn, and you have placed us in this culture of prosperity.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Most awesome and powerful God, we live in a culture of power. We shun weakness, but you tell us that when we are weak only then are we truly strong. Teach us this paradoxical truth that when we are weak we can become strong in you; that when we surrender to you we gain the victory; that when we trust in you rather than in our own strength we can be more than conquerors. For those who find themselves in conditions of weakness today, hear now our prayers ....
BENEDICTION
The Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Fear not your weakness, for in it God's power is displayed and perfected.
HYMNS AND SONGS
"Because He Lives"
"Greater Is He That Is in Me"
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
"'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"
The above hymns are all found in The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1986).
"Shifting Sands" is a marvelous song for soloist or group. Its theme is dependence on God's grace. It can be found on a CD by a group called Caedmon's Call.
"Ascribe Greatness" is another excellent song for soloist or for congregational singing. It can be found on the first "City on a Hill" CD.
You might also consider the following worship choruses
"Change My Heart, O God"
"Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord"
"Majesty"
"Awesome God"
A Children's Sermon
by Wesley T. Runk
Mark 10:35-45
Text: "But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all." (vv. 43-44)
Object: a light switch and a beautiful lamp
Good morning, boys and girls. Today I brought along a couple of friends with me to help me tell a story. First I would like to introduce you to my friend Larry the Lamp. Larry thinks he is very special. He told me the other day that he can light up a whole room. Of course he does not stay lit all of the time. During the day, Larry stands over there by a big chair and kind of snoozes.
Now I have another friend and this friend is hardly noticed. If you go into a room during the daytime, you may not notice him at all. He is almost part of the wall. You can't see most of him, just a little part of him. We call him Sam the Switch. Sam just hangs out waiting to be used. Most of the time people leave Sam completely alone until they need him. Larry the Lamp needs him. Without Sam the Switch, Larry the Lamp could not even make a small glow. When people come into a room, they just give Sam the Switch a little flip and Larry the Lamp comes on. People talk all of the time about how good-looking Larry the Lamp is, but they never say anything about Sam the Switch.
The reason I tell you that story is because it reminds me of a time when Jesus' disciples got into an argument over who should be the most important. A couple of them even asked Jesus if they could not have a special privilege and sit on either side of Jesus when they were all in heaven. This kind of talk made the other disciples upset and they told James and John how they felt. But Jesus stepped in and told them things would be different for Christians. Jesus said the most important people are the people who serve other people. The important people are like Sam the Switch. Larry doesn't want to hear about it, but Sam the Switch is pleased to be a servant. He likes helping people have a better life. He doesn't mind sending the power to Larry the Lamp so there can be light. Not at all! Sam the Switch is a servant and a friend of Jesus.
The next time you think about what kind of a person you want to be, you will remember that you have a choice. You can tell everyone how important you are and want to be, or you can be like Sam the Switch and help others have a better life. If you choose to be like Sam the Switch, Jesus will call you a faithful servant.
The Immediate Word, October 19, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
Two requests of Jesus from characters in the Gospel readings assigned in the lectionary for this Sunday and the next dominate this issue of The Immediate Word. The request of James and John for places of honor beside Jesus in his time of glory is typical of the self-aggrandizement that is so prized in contemporary life. But Bartimaeus' prayer, "Lord, have mercy on me," has much less appeal to many.
In our lead article Carlos Wilton contrasts these two kinds of requests, linking them to several recent and current events and making clear at the same time the stark difference between the enduring foibles of human nature and the higher calling to which Jesus directs his first followers and us. The tension between self-promotion and the needs of others will be familiar to our parishioners; it is an issue that deserves repeated attention.
Additional resources and perspective are provided by team responses, illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon, all related to the Gospel for the day.
WHEN JESUS SAYS "NO"
by Carlos E. Wilton
Mark 10:35-45 (with further reference to 10:46-52)
The Message on a Postcard
Winners and losers have been much in the news lately. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been elected Governor of California in an unprecedented recall election, sending his incumbent opponent, Gray Davis (himself a winner just months ago), into defeat. On the baseball diamond, two longtime "lovable loser" teams-the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs-have made it into the playoffs. As of this writing, sportswriters are speculating about the rare treat of an underdog World Series, should both teams make it that far. At the same time, Los Angeles Lakers basketball superstar Kobe Bryant is facing sexual-assault charges that, if sustained, will summarily unseat him from the exalted place of honor American society accords to its sports heroes.
In this week's Gospel reading, James and John aspire to be winners. They ask Jesus to assign them the places of greatest honor, but their Master turns them down flat. Then, in the very next pericope (the lectionary reading for next week, October 26), Jesus just as abruptly grants the request of another petitioner: blind Bartimaeus, who desires healing.
Sometimes the artificial divisions imposed by the lectionary are best set aside in order to glimpse the larger sweep of the narrative. Taking the Gospel readings for this week and next week together, it becomes apparent that in both episodes Jesus is posing the very same question: "What would you like me to do for you?" To the first request he answers, "No"; to the second, "Yes." Not every prayer receives the answer we desire or expect-and Jesus seems particularly averse to fulfilling the dreams of self-promoters.
Some Words on the Word
These two encounters-between Jesus and his upwardly mobile disciples James and John on the one hand, and between Jesus and blind Bartimaeus on the other-must be seen in light of Jesus' prediction of his own passion in 10:32-34. The lectionary skips over this passion prediction, so it may be necessary to remind our listeners it's there, just prior to today's passage.
Eduard Schweizer points out that this story demonstrates "the completely incomprehensible manner in which God's call runs counter to all human thinking" (The Gospel According to Mark; trans. Donald H. Madvig [Atlanta: John Knox, 1970], p. 220). No sooner has Jesus explained the grueling ordeal ahead than James and John pop up with a totally irrelevant request. In one of his books Thomas Long has portrayed it as though it were an old war movie. Jesus is the tough, battle-hardened sergeant about to order his men into combat. They're in the trenches, and the bullets are whizzing overhead. The only problem is that his soldiers are Moe, Larry, and Curly. Just as their leader valiantly cries, "OK, boys, over the top!" and begins to climb out of the trench, one of them pulls on his uniform jacket, asking with a goofy grin, "We have matching ties and blazers, can we sit on either side of you?" Seen in the larger biblical context, James' and John's request is ridiculous to the point of absurdity.
As it will turn out, of course, the only ones who will occupy places of "honor" on Jesus' right and left are the two thieves, crucified beside him on Calvary. James and John know not what they ask (as Jesus himself remarks in v. 38).
As Lamar Williamson puts it, "...despite Jesus' rebuke of Peter and despite his teaching about denying self, taking up one's cross and losing one's life (8:34-37); despite his rebuke of the squabble over greatness by the example of the child and his words about being last of all and servant of all (9:35-36); and finally despite his threefold prediction of his own suffering and death at the end of this road, James and John are still fantasizing about the coming glory and scheming for positions of privilege" (Mark; Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983], p. 192).
In verse 41 we learn the other disciples are angry with James and John. What makes them angry? Probably not the fact that their two dim-witted colleagues have missed the point of their Lord's passion prediction. No, they're angry because they wish they'd gotten to Jesus first! Jesus rebukes them all, teaching that servanthood-not self-exaltation-is the example his followers must emulate.
As for the story of blind Bartimaeus' healing that follows, D. E. Nineham points out that "it contains the first public and unrebuked recognition of Jesus as Messiah. Hitherto only the demons and the disciples had recognized him as such, and they had been forbidden to speak of it; but now the secret seems to have leaked out, and a blind beggar hails Jesus as Son of David" (Saint Mark [New York: Penguin, 1963], p. 282).
In both cases, Jesus has asked, "What can I do for you?" Only in Bartimaeus' case, however, does the Lord make good on the promise implied in that question. In his naive and wholehearted enthusiasm, Bartimaeus springs up, casting off his cloak, to shout out the one thing that is his heart's desire-that Jesus may have mercy on him and heal him. Jesus rewards this beggar's childlike enthusiasm and single-minded faith by doing what he asks. It's a visual parable, enacting his wisdom saying of verse 44: the last (Bartimaeus) shall be first, and the first (James and John) shall be last.
A Map of the Message
A sermon on this passage could begin with a reflection on the "winners and losers" theme that has dominated the headlines in the past week or so. American society loves a winner. We idolize those who seem strong, self-assured, ambitious. The voters of California have elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor, a mostly inexperienced outsider to the political process, who seems to have succeeded mainly on the strength of his movie persona. Even Ronald Reagan, Arnold's predecessor on the political walk of fame between Hollywood and Sacramento, had some prior leadership experience as president of the Hollywood actors' union, the Screen Actors Guild. Until now, Schwarzenegger has never been elected to anything.
But he does have ambition, and plenty of it. This governor-elect would undoubtedly relate personally to James' and John's gutsy bid for power and glory: and most of the world would join him in applauding such initiative.
Most of the world would do so ... but not Jesus. For him, "the last shall be first, and the first shall be last."
There's a certain strain within contemporary Christian preaching that tends to soft-pedal the ordinary difficulties that accompany the life of discipleship. Many such "feel-good religion" sermons can be boiled down to the subtext, "You, too, can be a winner-and God wants to make you one!" Based on this passage from Mark, Lamar Williamson suggests extreme caution to any who may be tempted to deliver such a message:
Today the gospel is often presented as a no-risk offer, and persons sometimes follow Jesus in order to stay out of trouble.... The text offers a jolting challenge to any simplistic, self-centered understanding of discipleship. Getting right with God by coming to Jesus is not simply a basic factor in an orderly life. Discipleship will mean more trouble, not less. Though it may be palliative in some respects, following Jesus is likely to be disruptive in others. True discipleship is characterized by a costly pouring out of one's life for another, whether it be an aging parent, a difficult spouse, a special child, another member of the Christian fellowship who has unusual needs, or any person whose situation elicits neighborly service at personal cost. Jesus came to serve and to give his life. Anyone who contemplates following Jesus without fear and trembling has not understood true discipleship, according to Mark. (Mark, p. 194)
Besides a message on servanthood, this passage could also provide the basis for a sermon on prayer. Considering today's passage alongside next week's story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus-and focusing on the "What would you like me to do for you?" question Jesus asks in both situations-a preacher could address the fundamental purpose of prayer. Bartimaeus' wish is fulfilled instantly, while James' and John's is denied. What's the difference?
To speculate on the will of God is always a daunting endeavor, but in light of the whole Gospel witness we could venture to assert that God gives less credence to calculating, self-serving prayers, and more to those that are simply heartfelt cries for help. James and John sidle up to Jesus and demand, "Make us great." Bartimaeus, on the other hand, cries out from the heart, "Lord, have mercy."
That's not to say, of course, that every prayer of desperation is answered in the affirmative. (No pastoral ministry veteran, speaking honestly, would dare pretend that's the case.) Is the fundamental purpose of prayer to change things-or is it to change the heart of the person praying? Is it to make our desires known to God, so (like a cosmic vending-machine) God can answer them? Or is prayer's purpose to encounter the divine, communicating deeply about our most heartfelt needs and desires? Jesus' brusque response to two of his best friends reminds us just how hard it is to predict the will of God, when it comes to answered prayer.
Team Comments
George L. Murphy responds: The inability of Jesus' disciples to understand who he is and what he's about is a major feature of Mark's Gospel-and one that Matthew and Luke modify in some ways. The disciples tend to be not quite so dense in the later Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew's version of the request for the chief places in the kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28), it isn't James and John themselves but their mother who makes the request. Perhaps we're supposed to see the disciples as being a bit embarrassed by her pushiness! ("Aw, Mom, don't!") But in Mark they're the ones who ask.
And in a way-in the way that we usually operate in the world-it's a reasonable request. We should be careful, I think, not to equate the lack of spiritual understanding of the disciples with a lack of ordinary intelligence. In hindsight it's easy enough for us to understand the statements about Jesus' suffering and death like the one that just precedes this story. We have the advantage of knowing about Good Friday and Easter.
And, in fact, the passion predictions in the Gospels are probably framed in part by a similar post-resurrection understanding of the early church. Before those events, whatever Jesus said about what would happen to him in Jerusalem (and it really wouldn't have required supernatural knowledge to know what was likely to happen if he confronted the religious leaders and Roman occupation there) must have been very hard to grasp by those who thought that Jesus was going to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. What could that have had to do with being crucified? Often we just don't hear the things that don't fit into our picture of the world. Or perhaps the disciples thought (as those familiar with biblical criticism can understand) that Jesus meant his words "figuratively."
James and John, like the other disciples, are people of at least average intelligence and some street smarts-who haven't yet experienced the gestalt shift, the radical change of view, that enables them to make sense of concepts like a suffering Messiah and servant leaders. If Jesus is going to be king, somebody's got to be prime minister and treasury secretary. Let's get our resumes in.
No doubt some work will be involved, but they're sure they're up to it. The response of James and John to Jesus' challenges, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" is instructive. In our English translation it sounds a bit formal, as if they'd given a lot of consideration to the matter: "We are able." In the Greek it's just one word-dynametha. Maybe "Sure" would be an American equivalent. No problem, as we say.
But there is a problem-and it points to at least one thing that differentiates between the request of James and John and the later one of Bartimaeus: "You do not know what you are asking," Jesus says. (And James and John might have gotten a clue from that that they were in over their heads.)
"You do not know what you are asking." Our requests often have just short-term goals in mind. There are plenty of stories, like that of King Midas, of people who ask for things that in the short run look great, but whose further consequences can be disastrous.
Even less are we able to make requests that are really best for us if we are unable or unwilling to take into account the change of view that Jesus calls for.
The request of Bartimaeus, on the other hand-well, is it totally different? His petition, like that of James and John, is for himself. He isn't praying for other people who are blind or otherwise handicapped but "Let me see again." So what's the difference?
Well, there are several. In the first place, he does know what he is asking for. And, second, he isn't asking for a special position of honor above others but only for what is proper for human beings-to be able to see. If Jesus is indeed the Messiah, "Son of David," "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped" (Isaiah 35:5).
(Some comment on my use of the word "handicapped" may be in order. Today we are rightly sensitive to the concerns of the blind or deaf that they not be considered second class persons or unable to live valuable lives because of their inability to see or hear. We ought to be careful about using blindness or deafness as metaphors for spiritual states. Some would insist that these conditions not be considered handicaps, and there have been extreme arguments that deaf people shouldn't even try to make use of technologies that would enable them to hear. Jesus didn't go that far. If he had, when Bartimaeus asked, "Let me see again," Jesus would have said, "Why?")
But perhaps one of the most important things about Bartimaeus' request is what he bases it on. He appeals to Jesus as Son of David and, as I noted above, it could be expected that restoration of sight would come in the messianic age. But that isn't all. "Son of David, have mercy on me." He recognizes that what he asks isn't simply a "right" of those in the messianic age, much less a privilege for which he needs to get his request in ahead of others. It is, rather, something that depends on God's mercy-on the fundamental belief that God is merciful.
We have taken that over into the Christian liturgy. Many of our services begin with a spoken or sung Kyrie with more or less elaboration-"Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy." Sometimes it's even in Greek that takes us back to the early church: "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison." That reminds us that we are part of a community that goes back to the time of Bartimaeus (and indeed of James and John, who did finally grasp what Jesus was about) whose appeals are made with confidence, but can be confident because they trust in the mercy of God.
Carter Shelley responds: Carlos, I think you have nailed one of the most central points of the Gospel in your insights this week. The quote about "ordinary difficulties that accompany the life of discipleship" is a particularly helpful reminder in this week following the amazing election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man never known to share credit for his accomplishments with God or anyone else. In the United States of America self-promotion is almost a national habit. Who has ever head Donald Trump utter anything but a self-congratulatory word? Style, or should I say fame and pectoral muscles, win out over substance not only in California but in the hallways of middle schools and high schools, and in professional advancement. Occasionally, some hard-working, humble, and devout individual will win an award for her work against land mines, medical research, or years of service in a third world country, but it never leads to a People magazine cover.
Jesus' Passion, as you note, colors everything else that takes place in the Gospels. What's interesting as we work our way through the teaching and miracles of Jesus is that we too easily overlook what lies ahead for Jesus and his followers. Isn't it interesting how none of the Gospels begins with the Passion? None are written in a flashback mode, the way a film director might present it or Harold Pinter might write it (the play Betrayal is an example). Yet all four Gospels are written in retrospect. It would be interesting to have one Gospel written as news coverage in which the author neither sees nor knows the Passion is coming at the end of Jesus' ministry. I don't know that such a fifth Gospel would alter any of our understanding of the call to servanthood and the rejection of self-promotion and selfishness, but it's intriguing to think about.
A parent with a child will often say "No" to a child who wants a third or fourth cookie from the cookie jar. The parent knows giving the child limitless access to cookies can have detrimental consequences: no appetite for a well-balanced healthy supper later, addiction to sugar, a physical high that may make sleep more difficult for the child, and, particularly in the United States today, a tendency to overeat leading to future problems with excessive weight, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The young child knows none of these consequences. She only knows she likes cookies and wants more of them. Left alone with the cookie jar a child might eat her fill and then become nauseous and literally sick, just as most first-time smokers hack and cough their way into the habit. The body sends strong messages about what is and is not good for us to consume; Jesus acts in a similar way with the disciples. Jesus knows what is ultimately good for James, John, and the rest of the gang. The men themselves do not.
When my sister Jenny was four years old, my father caught her seated up on the kitchen counter with one hand in the cookie jar and a fist full of cookies in the other.
"Jenny," my father said, "I don't want to see you in that cookie jar again!"
To which she practically replied, "Well, Daddy, don't look!"
Sometimes we say to Abba, Our Father/Mother God, "Don't look!"
When are we as citizens of this country going to say "No" to our president and legislators? When will we say "No!" to our arrogant approach to the United Nations? When will we say "No!" to labeling Syria, Iran, and North Korea as "Axis of Evil," when we ourselves possess nuclear arms and are the one nation who has actually used atomic weapons in war? When will we say "No!" to under-supported and under-supplied school teachers and students in favor of taxes to add substance to our current "No child left behind" program, in which penalties are imposed on teachers and schools without any concrete monetary or resource support from state and federal governments? When will we say "No" to elected officials who spout words of faith and piety yet live lives of self-promotion with political stances based upon the latest polls rather than internal ideals and conviction.
When will we say "No" to poverty at home and abroad? When will we say "No!" to shallow assumptions about the religious faith and character of women and men living in the Middle East and our equally shallow solutions to their current volatile situation? When will we say "No" to ourselves when offered that third glass of wine, to that second dessert at the church covered dish supper, to even more cable TV channels for just $19.95, to the legal tax loophole, to that spontaneous and unnecessary purchase? When will we say "No" to that which is not of God or from God and "Yes!" to all that God offers to us in Jesus Christ our Lord?
There's a wonderful country music song in which the woman who sings the lyrics addresses a man who is harassing her, "What part of 'No' don't you understand?"
Related Illustrations
On Prideful Ambition
"At the feast of ego, everyone leaves hungry."
-Anonymous
***
"Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with."
-Prayer of Peter Marshall
***
Pride is "the complete anti-God state of mind."
-C. S. Lewis
***
"There is, deep down within all of us, an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct-a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first....
"What was the answer that Jesus gave James and John? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, 'You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?'
"But that isn't what Jesus did. He did something altogether different. He said in substance, 'Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be.' But he reordered priorities. And he said, 'Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.' ...
"By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve...."
-Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon, "The Drum Major Instinct," preached February 4, 1968, at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church
***
"We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
-President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
On Prayer
Letters to God End up in Jerusalem
Jerusalem: Ever felt your prayers went unanswered? Send a letter to God and chances are it will end up-as many do each year-at an Israeli post office in Jerusalem, to be read and sent on to the holy Western Wall.
The letters come from all over the world in a host of languages. The elderly ask for good health. Others seek heavenly remedies for debts, relationship assistance, or help finding jobs. Children mainly ask God to spring them from homework assignments. The trickle of requests turns into a flood around Christmas and the Jewish holidays. "We have hundreds and thousands of letters sent to either God or Jesus Christ, and for some unknown reason they all come to Jerusalem," said Yitzhak Rabihiya, a postal spokesman.
As long as anyone at the host office can remember, the letters to God have turned up at the Postal Authority's center for undeliverable mail. A worker started taking them to the Western Wall.
-Associated Press article, published in the Asbury Park Press (N.J.), 10/2/03.
***
Kathleen Norris, in her book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead, 1998), writes about her own struggle with prayer and what she has learned: "Sometimes people will say things like, 'Your prayers didn't work, but thanks,' as if a person could be praying for only one thing. A miracle. A cure. But in the hardest situations, all one can do is to ask for God's mercy: 'Let my friend die at home ... Let her go quickly, God, and with her loved ones present.' ... I have learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. To be made more grateful, more able to see the good in what you have been given instead of always grieving for what might have been. People who are in the habit of praying-and they include the mystics of the Christian tradition-know that when a prayer is answered, it is never in a way that you expect. But prayer stumbles over modern self-consciousness and self-reliance, (we stumble over) a remarkably ingenuous belief in our ability to set goals and attain them as quickly as possible ... (we have an) addiction to self-help and 'how-to.' No wonder we have difficulty with prayer, for the best 'how-to' I know is from Psalm 46: 'Be still and know that I am God.'"
***
"Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and your heart has turned to stone."
-Thomas Merton
***
Newspaper cartoon: a little boy, hands folded and head bowed beside his bed, shouts out to everyone else in the house: "I'm about to say my prayers, does anybody want anything?"
***
"For the first two or three years after my conversion, I used to ask for specific things. Now I ask for God. Supposing there is a tree full of fruits-you will have to go and buy or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree. Every day you would have to go for one or two fruits. But if you can make the tree your own property, then all the fruits will be your own. In the same way, if God is your own, then all things in Heaven and on earth will be your own, because He is your Father and is everything to you; otherwise you will have to go and ask like a beggar for certain things. When they are used up, you will have to ask again. So ask not for gifts but for the Giver of Gifts: not for life but for the Giver of Life-then life and the things needed for life will be added unto you."
-Sundar Singh
***
In prayer the stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
-Madeline L'Engle, quoted by Martin Marty in Context, 3/15/96, p. 4.
***
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."
-Karl Barth
Worship Resources
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: O Lord, we need to worship!
PEOPLE: We need to get clean.
LEADER: We need to shake off the crust of this world.
PEOPLE: We need our emptiness filled.
LEADER: Our dryness relieved,
PEOPLE: Our deadness revived.
LEADER: So we come here,
PEOPLE: To this humble place,
LEADER: With these fellow travelers,
PEOPLE: To drink of the living waters,
LEADER: And have our thirst quenched;
PEOPLE: To have you bring order out of our chaos.
LEADER: Come, let us worship and bow down,
PEOPLE: Before the Lord our God,
LEADER: Our maker!
PEOPLE: Amen.
Here is an alternative Call to Worship based on the psalm for this week, Ps. 104:1-9. You may want to have this one read by several readers rather than doing it responsively.
READER 1: Praise the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
READER 2: You clothe yourself with the sunlight;
You stretch out the heavens like a tent.
You laid the foundation of your palace on the ocean's depths.
READER 3: You make the clouds your chariot,
And ride on the wings of the wind,
Making the wind your messenger, and fire your servant.
READER 1: You set the earth on its foundations;
It can never be moved.
READER 2: You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
READER 3: But at your rebuke the waters fled,
At the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
They flowed over the mountains,
They went down into the valleys,
To the place you assigned for them.
READER 1: You set a boundary they cannot cross;
Never again will they cover the earth.
READER 2: O Lord, how amazing are your works.
With great wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
READER 3: Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: Lord, you call us to love others as you have loved us.
PEOPLE: We ignore your selfless example.
LEADER: You call us to turn the other cheek.
PEOPLE: We seek revenge.
LEADER: You call us to love our enemies.
PEOPLE: We hate them.
LEADER: You taught us that the world will know you by our love for
one another.
PEOPLE: We bicker with each other over the smallest matters.
LEADER: You remind us to speak the truth in love.
PEOPLE: We gossip unkindly behind others' backs.
LEADER: Loving Lord, forgive our penchant for knocking others down
in order to lift ourselves up.
PEOPLE: And continue to teach us
LEADER: That your love is not based on our status
PEOPLE: Or our earthly performance
LEADER: Or success,
PEOPLE: But only on the fact
LEADER: That you are God and Father of all.
PEOPLE: Help us to live in that love
LEADER: And to love others with that love.
PEOPLE: Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Real love-God's love-is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, and the most wonderful line in that description is verse 7, which says, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things ... love never ends."
This is how God loves us. His love bears all our sins away, believes in us even when we don't believe in ourselves, hopes even when the evidence points to despair, endures every time we turn away from the Way, and never ends.
This is good news, great news, news that can get no better. You are beloved-by God.
Let us rejoice!
HYMN
"He Touched Me"
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
As Jesus calmed the storm, Lord calm now our hearts and minds that we might hear eternal truth as your word is read and preached. Amen.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee. Deepen our knowledge that all we claim to be ours is most truly yours, for you have given the gifts that enable us to earn, and you have placed us in this culture of prosperity.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Most awesome and powerful God, we live in a culture of power. We shun weakness, but you tell us that when we are weak only then are we truly strong. Teach us this paradoxical truth that when we are weak we can become strong in you; that when we surrender to you we gain the victory; that when we trust in you rather than in our own strength we can be more than conquerors. For those who find themselves in conditions of weakness today, hear now our prayers ....
BENEDICTION
The Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Fear not your weakness, for in it God's power is displayed and perfected.
HYMNS AND SONGS
"Because He Lives"
"Greater Is He That Is in Me"
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
"'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"
The above hymns are all found in The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1986).
"Shifting Sands" is a marvelous song for soloist or group. Its theme is dependence on God's grace. It can be found on a CD by a group called Caedmon's Call.
"Ascribe Greatness" is another excellent song for soloist or for congregational singing. It can be found on the first "City on a Hill" CD.
You might also consider the following worship choruses
"Change My Heart, O God"
"Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord"
"Majesty"
"Awesome God"
A Children's Sermon
by Wesley T. Runk
Mark 10:35-45
Text: "But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all." (vv. 43-44)
Object: a light switch and a beautiful lamp
Good morning, boys and girls. Today I brought along a couple of friends with me to help me tell a story. First I would like to introduce you to my friend Larry the Lamp. Larry thinks he is very special. He told me the other day that he can light up a whole room. Of course he does not stay lit all of the time. During the day, Larry stands over there by a big chair and kind of snoozes.
Now I have another friend and this friend is hardly noticed. If you go into a room during the daytime, you may not notice him at all. He is almost part of the wall. You can't see most of him, just a little part of him. We call him Sam the Switch. Sam just hangs out waiting to be used. Most of the time people leave Sam completely alone until they need him. Larry the Lamp needs him. Without Sam the Switch, Larry the Lamp could not even make a small glow. When people come into a room, they just give Sam the Switch a little flip and Larry the Lamp comes on. People talk all of the time about how good-looking Larry the Lamp is, but they never say anything about Sam the Switch.
The reason I tell you that story is because it reminds me of a time when Jesus' disciples got into an argument over who should be the most important. A couple of them even asked Jesus if they could not have a special privilege and sit on either side of Jesus when they were all in heaven. This kind of talk made the other disciples upset and they told James and John how they felt. But Jesus stepped in and told them things would be different for Christians. Jesus said the most important people are the people who serve other people. The important people are like Sam the Switch. Larry doesn't want to hear about it, but Sam the Switch is pleased to be a servant. He likes helping people have a better life. He doesn't mind sending the power to Larry the Lamp so there can be light. Not at all! Sam the Switch is a servant and a friend of Jesus.
The next time you think about what kind of a person you want to be, you will remember that you have a choice. You can tell everyone how important you are and want to be, or you can be like Sam the Switch and help others have a better life. If you choose to be like Sam the Switch, Jesus will call you a faithful servant.
The Immediate Word, October 19, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
