For the last several weeks,
We have been traveling through Mark’s Gospel:
And learning lot about discipleship.

The stories we’ve been hearing have been about what it means to be called, and
to follow Jesus.

And we heard some stories about people that you would THINK would be ideal
candidates for good discipleship.
In order to understand today’s story:
We have to review the stories from the last few weeks.

Remember that story a few weeks ago?
A young man comes to Jesus.
He’s eager to learn.
HE’s wealthy.
He knew the law: he followed all of the ten commandments.

This guy was eager, well-read, and well-resourced:
(We would want this guy to join our church!)

But Jesus calls him to give up everything:
To recognize that eternal life does not come from having it all:

But rather about giving yourself fully over to Jesus:
Letting Jesus determine everything about how life is lived.
The man walked away in deep, deep sadness:
Because he just couldn’t give up the things that separated him from God.

When at first he appeared to be the perfect candidate for discipleship:
It turned out, he wasn’t.

Then least week, we heard about James and John:
The sons of Zebedee.
They too appeared to be the perfect candidates for discipleship.
After all, they already HAD given up everything to follow Jesus.
They were spending all of their time with him.

And yet:
When they reveal their desire for fame and glory:
It’s clear that they haven’t really heard what Jesus was teaching.
They sort of thought that they were hedging their bets:
By giving up everything to later get that power and glory.

Two followers of Jesus:
Who appear to be the perfect candidates for discipleship:
Turn out to fall quite short of the task.

And then Mark:

The Gospel writer:
Takes us to this story today.
Right before Jesus enters Jerusalem to suffer and die on the cross,
He encounters this blind man.
Not only a blind man:
But a beggar.

You’ve seen beggars:
Panhandlers on the street.
This guy is hardly one that anyone would consider an ideal disciple.

He’s on the outside:
Quite literally:
On the side of the road:
Outside of the city.

And here’s a really important point:
In Jesus’ time:
This blind beggar, was not only an outsider:
It also would’ve been assumed that he::
Or his family: were great sinners.

People assumed that’s where blindness came from:
As a punishment for sin.

So all in all, this man is the lowest of the low.

At first glance, no one would expect this man to be a model for discipleship:
But that’s exactly what he is.

In the story,
He recognizes that Jesus is the son of David,
And calls out to him.
He doesn’t call out for anything in particular:
Just for mercy.
A pretty solid disciple.

He doesn’t come to Jesus until Jesus calls him.
So he recognizes the authority of Jesus’ call.
Another characteristic of a true disciple.

And in coming to Jesus:
He leaves behind his cloak:
His only possession:
Something that represented him doing what that rich young man could not.

He gives up ALL he has to come to Jesus:
And this isn’t just an issue of “he’ll come back for the cloak after he’s healed.”
Because at this moment in the story:
Jesus is on the notoriously dangerous road from Jericho to Jerusalem:

The same road referenced in that story of the Good Samaritan:
Where the road was full of murderers and thieves.

This blind beggar is not ever going to see that cloak again.

And when he finally gets to Jesus,
He doesn’t not ask for power or wealth.
He doesn’t ask to have the glory seat in eternity.
He asks to have his sight back:
So that he might be able to follow Jesus further.
An unlikely model disciple.

The point seems to be that when we think that we’re the disciples:
we should be awfully careful.
Because things aren’t always as they first seem.

Real disciples beg for mercy:
Like this blind beggar.
Disciples are prepared to repent of our failures:
And put following Jesus as truly the highest good.

And we should also expect examples of discipleship to come in the most
unexpected places:
Among those on the outside:
Among the truly lowest of the low:

And among those least likely in our minds to be disciples.

But there’s one more twist to this unexpected reality.
(Mark likes to put little subtle ‘twists’ into his gospel)

Mark portrays this blind beggar as the model disciple:
Although unexpected.
He’s more of a disciple than those who are actually CALLED Jesus’ disciples (like
those brothers of Zebedee, or all the wacky times that Peter just doesn’t get it.)

Even this model disciple falls short in the end.
We know this:
Because at the end:
At the cross:
Every one of these disciples abandons Jesus.
(Except for some women, of course.)

And remember how the blind beggar called Jesus “The son of David?”
That was a marker of conquering, earthly power.
The direct opposite of what Jesus called himself, which was “son of man.”
Even Blind Bartimaeus thought that Jesus should be more glamourous, glorious
and powerful than the lowly “suffering savior” on the cross.

The cross challenges and destroys all our expectations:
Even the expectations of the best disciples.

Jesus calls us to give up everything to follow him:
To follow him all the way to the cross.
And here’s the thing:
No matter how good or bad we are:
We will fail at it.

We will have to:
As the baptismal covenant reminds us:
“repent an return to Christ.”
Even if we’re model disciples.

But don’t worry:
There’s great hope:
Indeed, GOOD news.

There’s good news for the disciples who followed Jesus (like James and John)
There’s good news for the blind beggar,
And there’s even good news for the rich young man.

There’s good news for ALL of us:
That even when we fail at discipleship:
We are always able to repent and return.
Begging for mercy:
We will receive it.
Amen.

Jesus said: 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.

How many times have we heard this throughout our lives?
Or some form of it?
Like: The last shall be first, and the first shall be last?

For the son of Man came not to be served, but TO Serve?

We’ve heard this teaching so many times that sometimes it’s almost lost on us.
We don’t really know what it means:

Except for that maybe the end of the line is the best place to be?
Those who serve are luckier than those in power?
And lovers of God get less status and not more?
Or that the lowliest job is the one to covet?

But that’s pretty weird too:
The idea that we’re still wanting:
Still coveting something:
In order to get the great reward at the end.

The famous preacher Barbara Brown Taylor likens this idea to an “intermediate
stage”
Like a boot camp, or limbo, or parole:
Where you do your time as a servant with no whining and then in the end you
WIN the game: you get eternal life,
and if you do it better than every one else, you might even win the best seats in
the house.

But that’s just the thing.
It’s not a game.
There is no winning.
And whenever you try to be the “best:”
even if you’re trying to be the “Best servant”
You’re still missing the point.

And Jesus himself is proof of this.
Jesus is not pretending to be a servant until the time comes for him to rip of his
disguise and climb onto a golden throne.
He is a servant through and through.
Forever and Ever, Amen.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
Famously ask Jesus to let them sit at his right and left hands in glory:
(Like:
at the end of the “game” :

The end of this earthly life:
they want to be crowned next to Jesus at the top.)

And Jesus famously says back to them: “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not
mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

If Jesus is the servant:
Through and through:
Forever and ever amen,
Then the winning seats are not his to give.
He doesn’t even have one himself.
Because there’s no winning.
Because it’s not a game.

Jesus isn’t in it for a trophy.
He isn’t in it for a reward.

He IS in it for the love God:
Which promises him nothing.
(Except for the opportunity to give himself away.)

And more than that: When Jesus says “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not
mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared,”

He isn’t speaking about glory or reward at all.

He’s doing the exact opposite, and alluding to his death.

He’s pointing toward the moment where the best seat he’s going to get is the
throne of a cross:
With splinters, and blood, and agony.

And it wont be the Zebedee brothers at his side:
It wont be any of his disciples.
Instead, It will be two unnamed criminals:
One at his left and one at his right.

The glory seat next to Jesus:
(if you can even call it the glory seat)
Was the seat of execution:
With the literal lowest of the low on each side.

Like: Literally.
These guys weren’t trying to be the lowest in order to get the reward at the end.
They weren’t even PRETENDING to be the lowest.
They literally were the lowest of the low:

The kind of people nobody wants to be next to:
The kind of people nobody wants to hang out with:
Let alone, share a throne with.

Now: I’m obviously not saying that we should all become criminals in order to
gain the reward.

Because AGAIN:
Then we’d still doing something:
Trying to become something that we’re not:
In order to just win the reward.

What I AM saying:
Is that just when we think we’ve got it figured out:
Just when we think we know that we have to be less to be most:
Or to be servants in order to win:
We’ve already lost.

Because we’ve still made it about us.
(even under the guise of “service of others”)

When we serve others in order to ultimately serve ourselves,
It’s not really service.

If our eyes are always on the prize:
The trophy at the end of the game:
Then our eyes are not really on God.

When Jesus says that he came not to be served, but TO serve:

The emphasis is on the ongoing action:
Not the endgame.

When James and John ask Jesus to let them sit next to him in his glory, Jesus says
some important words that we often forget:
“The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am
baptized, you will be baptized.”

It’s not about what’s at the end.
It’s about the whole process:
The whole journey.

It’s about the actions:
Drinking from the same cup as Jesus:
Being baptized with the same water and spirit.

So The next time you participate in an act of service:
Pay attention to what happens:
Pay attention to what happens within you:
And around you:
In the whole process:
Not just how it “feels at the end.”

Focus not on the reward:
But on the act itself.

And when you come to the altar today:
And drink from the cup:
And taste the bread on your tongue:
Focus on that action:
Eating and Drinking the bread and wine of Jesus:
Not as a reward:
But in the action itself.

Revel in that moment.
Taste.
See.
Smell.
Hear.
Pay attention to it all.

Not for the endgame:
But for the love of God offered to you at this very moment.

Amen.

Did you hear the collect for today?
That’s the prayer that the priest says right before the reading of the lessons.
A collect is a prayer that “collects” the thoughts.

It comes at the end of other prayers:
Or in the case of the “collect for the day”
It collects the intentions for the day together.

Today’s collect addresses God saying:
“God, who art always more ready to hear:
than we to pray.”

It’s SO insightful.
God is always more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray.

But what does that have to do with the rest of our lessons for today?
Especially in our gospel reading today:
Which has two (somewhat) separate teachings.

An uncomfortable teaching against divorce:
And a rather comforting teaching on the welcome of little children.

And we might feel this tension:
The uncomfortable and the comforting.

At first glance:
It appears that there’s not much commonality with these two teachings.
But I think there is.
I think Jesus’ concern here is on valuing community:
Valuing our need to be in relationship:
And valuing our need to be healed.

And for all of that:
We need God’s help.

Jesus: always more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray.

So first:
Let me address Jesus’ welcome of children.
I mentioned last week that this isn’t some sweet adorable story that we’ve come
to expect.
There are real actual implications of this teaching from Jesus.
It’s a SHOCKING:
Counter cultural assertion that God’s kingdom belongs to it’s weakest members.

It’s an assertion that even children have something important and meaningful to
both say and to offer.

So maybe: We should listen to them….
To CHILDREN:
Because, we:
Unlike God: who’s ALWAYS more ready to hear:

We are often: quicker to speak:
Than to hear….
Sometimes quicker to judge…
Than listen…
Sometimes quicker to fix…..
Than to pray….

Jesus urges us to listen:
With open and welcoming hearts.

Jesus urges us to be willing to hear:
To learn:
To grow:
And sometimes even change because of what we have seen, heard, and
witnessed.

Too often:

Our world and society:
Revolves around fixing, judging, taking control:
And normalizing the “breaking of relationships”

Our culture teaches us to turn others away:
Especially others who think differently than us.

But here’s Jesus:
Our gospel tells us that he was INDIGNANT:
Toward the disciples who spoke sternly to the children:
Turning them away.

And at the SAME TIME:
Jesus continues to welcome his disciples:
Just as he welcomes the little children.

And this, too: is our task.
But a hard and complicated task it is.

Because, as humans we are prone to break relationships:
We are prone to be quick to anger:
Prone to be quick to judge.

And in today’s world of fast paced news:

Social Media:
And instant declaration of our beliefs and political viewpoints:
We are more prone than ever to broken relationships.

We are more prone than ever to hurt one another through our words:
And Jesus knew this.

Jesus KNEW how easy it is for us to break relationships:
To refuse healing:
To refuse forgiving:
To refuse to listen to one another.

But Jesus names this brokenness:
And STILL, at the same time, He willingly associates with us:
the broken:
The hurting and the vulnerable of all kinds:
Including children,
The divorced,
And the unjustly wronged.

And as the Letter to the Hebrews says:
Even in our brokenness:
“Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.”
Even in our brokenness: God is ALWAYS more ready to hear:

Than we are to pray.

DESPITE our brokenness:
DESPITE our broken relationships:
“Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.”

How can we, too, live unashamed:
Unashamed to call one another brothers and sisters?
Whether we agree or disagree?
Even if we have been hurt or wronged?

Jesus’ teaching on divorce is not merely about divorce.
Marriage is just ONE place where humans have the OPPORTUNITY to live out their
baptisms:
To serve God and God’s people in meaningful relationship:
To Serve:
To listen:
To speak truth:
But to speak it with compassion.

Jesus is talking about more than divorce:
He’s talking about ALL our relationships.
And ALL relationship failures are hurtful tragedies:
Spaces of unrealized hopes:
Whether its friend and friend,

Husband and wife,
Child and parent…

Because our relationships are meant to be the places where we live out God’s
mission:
Where we live out the Good News:
Where we honor the Creators image in ourselves,
And in each other.

God has given us the gift of community:
The gift of being together.

And this gift is one that humanity longs for:
That humanity desperately needs.
And we have to accept this gift.
We have to say YES: to this gift of being together in relationship and community.

And let me be clear:
To be in community with each other:
Does not mean that we need to agree on everything.
(Do a husband and wife ever agree on EVERYTHING?)

When we’re striving to be in relationship with one another:
We do not need to agree.
But we do need to listen to each other:

And we need to find those places:
Where we can be unashamed to call one another brothers and sisters.
Whether we’re in crisis, or in blessed joy.

And if that’s not enough:
May we remind ourselves that God is ALWAYS more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray….
Even in our brokenness:
Even in our failures:
Jesus is not ashamed, to call us brothers and sisters:
And may we strive for the same:
To pray,
To hear,
And to Listen.

Amen.