Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 29) October 17, 2021

Prayer
Maker and author of life, in Jesus we have found the path to wisdom.  Let us, therefore, be bold to approach you, not seeking privilege but asking mercy.  Let us live among on another, not seeking to be served but to serve.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Mark 10:35-45


"Within our hearts are both humility and arrogance, respect for others and a desire to outshine them, a desire to serve and a craving to be served. The one you feed wins."

"Stupid Disciple Tricks," Alyce M. McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos, 2012.

"Maybe Jesus 'buys us back' by showing us a way out of the devastating cycle of looking for glory, joy, and peace on the world's terms by teaching and showing us how to receive by giving, how to lead by serving, and how to find our lives by losing them for the sake of the people around us that God loves so much."

"Glory, Glory," David Lose, Working Preacher, 2012.

"As his disciples flee into the darkness with their swords, he is dragged away by Caesar?s men who come after him with the sword. The sacrificial victim of "civilization as we know it," he bids us to let go."

"On Being a Survivor," William Willimon, The Christian Century, 1986. At Religion Online.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

So we begin our text with a wonderful interchange between James, John, and Jesus.  I imagine that their response is due to their excitement about his resurrection and the prospect of a new dominion that is about to burst forth from the empty tomb; humans always personalizing the possibilities as they relate to themselves.  Jesus answers twice: what they ask is not his to grant; moreover, the way of discipleship in the new dominion of God is a way of service.

I am so grateful to Joel Marcus for drawing my attention to Daniel 4:17; 7:9ff; 12:2; and Isaiah 53:11ff.  The Gospel theme of sharing the Good News is one always tempered, not by majesty, but by service.  God gives power to the lowliest, and they serve like the Son of Man.  Just as he gives his life for many, bearing their iniquities, so too they are to be like him and serve.  (Joel Marcus, Mark, vol 2, 752ff)

Henri Nouwen wrote: 

Can you drink the cup? Can you empty it to the dregs? Can you taste all the sorrows and joys? Can you live your life to the full whatever it will bring? I realized these were our questions. 

But why should we drink this cup?  There is so much pain, so mcuh anguish, so much violence, Why should we drink the cup?  Wouldn't it be a lot easier to live normal lives with a minimum of pain and a maximum of pleasure? 

After the reading, I spontaneously grabbed one of the large glass cups standing on the table in front of me and looking at those around me -- some of whom could hardly walk, speak, hear, or see -- I said: 'Can we hold the cup of life in our hands? Can we lift it up for others to see, and can we drink it to the full?  Drinking the cup is much more than gulping down whatever happens to be in there, jsut as breaking the bread is much more than tearing a loaf apart. Drinking the cup of life involves holding, lifting, and drinking.  It is the full celebration of being human. 

...Just letting that question sink in made me feel very uncomfortable.  But I knew I had to start living with it. (Can you Drink The Cup, Ave Maria Press, 1996)

For Jesus, this cup is one marked not by the empty power of worldly leaders but is marked by the service of others: the holding of others in one's arm like the children; the lifting of others like those  who brought the sick to Jesus; and the drinking with others who no one would dare to drink with because of their uncleanness.  Jesus "radicalizes" his statement, he makes is a horrific idea by using the word "slave".  He offers this radical work of being bound to another as the image of servitude.  Jesus is bound to humanity, he is bound to serve, we are (if we are to be measured and counted followers of Jesus) to be bound to the neighbor and other in our life.

And, in his last words Jesus reminds them that he is bound to them and gives his life as a ransom.  He gives of himself to hostile powers in order that others may be freed from death.  I the dominion of God, in the kingdom of heaven,  life is given to the other and service is the mark of discipleship.  Citizenship is marked by service to others, Jesus teaches. 

So it is that our tradition embraces the understanding that it is important to share the Good News of God's service to his people, his love, and his grace.  It is essential to impart to others the reality of our belief that God in Christ Jesus gives completely of himself for the world and in so doing frees us.  AND, while we share the good news of new life we are also committed to giving people new life through our own service and mission.

Hebrews 5:1-10

"In actuality, the history of the high priesthood was an inglorious one, the office having become highly politicized, especially in the Maccabean and Roman periods that led into the time of Jesus. Opposition to the corrupt priesthood was one of the factors that led to the formation of the dissident Qumran community, locus of the Dead Sea Scrolls."

Commentary, Hebrews 5:1-10, Susan Hedahl, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Why does salvation depend on a high priest who is subject to weakness, who prays in crisis, who learns what the human lot is like? Why does Jesus' service as high priest require his identification with us?"

Commentary, Hebrews 5:1-10, Pentecost 21, Bryan J. Whitfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

The author of hebrews continues in this passage with his metaphor of the high priest of Israel and Temple being supplanted by the high priest we have in Jesus.

It is Christ Jesus who is appointed by God to be the one who enters in the gulf between humans and God, he is the bridge, the gate, the shepherd to lead us from our earthly habitation into God's habitation.  Jesus is for the author the one appointed to help us in our weakness. Not unlike the priest of the Temple in Jesus' own day where the priest was the intermediary for the people to God, the author of Hebrews sees Jesus in a similar role.

Rooted in the author's own tradition we inherit in Hebrews the understanding that Jesus in his baptism is appointed for this work of reconciliation.  Like Melchizedek he is a priest forever. Interesting because Melchizedek was an ancient but faithful high priest of the the Canaanite people who comes and blesses Abram.

I would say that knowing what humans do to other humans, and especially to prophets, God in Christ Jesus is faithful even unto the death which is given him. Out of our sin, our greed, our human desire to have us stand in God's place (to be our own high priest) we execute the other - in this case the Son of God. God though uses this and does not allow death and sin to have the last word but instead is faithful to his own cause which is the binding of heaven and earth together - so it is that God redeems us and redeems our actions. In so doing then Christ is raised as a new high priest. 

I think it is important for the author of Hebrews to note that Christ becomes lower than God and the angels to undertake this work; moreover, that Christ is humble and lowly. All of this is in contrast to the priesthood of humans. 

Some Thoughts on Job 38:1-41

"In a universe created by God and in which humans live, the challenge is how to hold these two aspects together -- 1) the world is orderly and 2) tragedy doesn't always have a reason."
Commentary, Job 38:1-7 [34-41], Karla Suomala, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"We can't learn the lesson of Job until we experience the spiritual descent ourselves, and that only happens when we're ready."
"Falling Down, Letting Go: The Triumph of Job," Anna Shirey, The Labyrinth Way, 2015.


"While we may dislike our inability to penetrate the mysteries of God, at some point we are better off if we accept the reality of our human limitations."
Commentary, Job 38:1-11, Walter C. Bouzard, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"As for the children he had lost when the house blew down, not to mention all his employees, he never got an explanation about them because he never asked for one, and the reason he never asked for one was that he knew that even if God gave him one that made splendid sense out of all the pain and suffering that had ever been since the world began, it was no longer splendid sense that he needed because with his own eyes he had beheld, and not as a stranger, the one who in the end clothed all things, no matter how small or confused or in pain, with his own splendor. And that was more than sufficient."
"Job," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV Text



Two weeks ago I did an in depth piece on Girard and Job and will use that perspective as we approach Job 38:1-41 in this week's blog.

As you well know the passage this week is God's response to Job out of the whirlwind. God reminds us that all things were created by and through God. God set all things in motion and God has given all things life.

Girard believes that this passage is much like the beginning, in that it is part of the old religion that requires violence. God from the whirlwind is creator but answers not much like God of the victims or the God proclaimed by the Christ.

This God intimidates Job into a humble response. Job responds by noting how this is all true. Remember, Job is the faithful one. He answers out of humility. God then turns to Job's frenemies and says that they have not spoken truth about who God is.

Is this passage redeemable by the Gospel? Yes. I do think it is. While it is deeply connected to the other passages with their poorer theology, I do think it has value for the preacher.

God has created and ordered the cosmos. There is great transcendence in this passage. And, what we come to know is that God cares for and watches over creation. It is this God that comes low in the person of Jesus. This God of might, power, who holds back the waves, feeds the raven, and sets the planets in their courses is the same God who becomes lower than the angels.

This God who creates and whose purposes are far beyond us is the same God who dies and becomes one with the victim in Christ Jesus.

I guess that what I am saying is that there is a moment here where one can interpret our reading and the God of the whirlwind as in line with a God who requires religious victimhood. Who might well end the whole narrative with this message to Job's friends, "Good job! Well said." But that is not what God does at all.

So, I would recommend not allowing your hearers to place upon the text their own human hermeneutic that reads this part as agreeing with Job's frenemies. No, this is the God who redeems.

The God of the victims is nothing less than the God who holds back the seas, who commands the morning dawn, and who walks in the recesses of the deep. This god who is crucified and stands with the least, lost, lonely, and afraid is a God who brings rain, snow, and gives life to the desert. The God who tilts the waterskins of the heavens is nothing less than the God who titlts the waterskins of grace and mercy and forgiveness into the world.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 52:7 - 53:12

"The 'watchers' know of this wondrous news as they see the feet of the messenger running towards them. The 'feet' is here used figuratively: beautiful refers not to the feet but to the entire messenger/message."
Commentary, Isaiah 52:7-10, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Because there are numerous 'right' answers to the question of the servant's identity, we look at each one who suffers with new eyes and new attention."
Commentary, Isaiah 53:4-12, Amy Erickson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"It is important...to remember that the salvation of our God that we see focussed in Christ belongs to the ongoing work of God in all times and places, and among all peoples. It is our part in this universal love of God that must lead us to break forth together in singing again this Christmas."
The Old Testament Readings (Isaiah 52:7-10, Christmas Day): Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.

"Even though our passage has many seeming parallels to Jesus' experience, we should not see this passage as a 'prediction' of Jesus' passion. The prophet wrote to the people of his own time, presenting the 'suffering servant' as a means of redemption for the experience of the exile."

Commentary, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (Good Friday), Charles L. Aaron, Jr., Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text 

The passage from Isaiah that we read is very much tied to the nativity story and the story of the crucifixion. We read it at both times of the year.

 It is part of the liturgical recognition of the uniqueness of God in Christ Jesus as the eternal Word. The excitement of the good news of Christ is now once again heralded on the day of the crucifixion.

The passage falls within what most Old Testament scholars call the fourth servant poem. God is speaking in this text to Israel. And, in the context of the Old Testament God is speaking to Israel’s sufferings and God’s ultimate triumph.

Dirk G. Lange, Associate Dean and Chair of Missions and Professor of Worship at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Mn, writes:

Not only is a messenger coming to announce a victory from the battlefield, but God’s self is coming in triumph. The Lord returns! The battlefield is not just any confrontation between two armies but the field of history itself in which God is triumphant, for it is not only Jerusalem that is redeemed but also all the nations. Finally, the watchmen watching for the messenger cannot contain themselves! Even before the messenger arrives they recognize the news and sing it out! 

The news is stated in cosmic terms: “Your God reigns!” Once again, we encounter the realignment of all earthly power and authority. The victory that is proclaimed does not belong to this or that king, to this or that country, to this or that ideology, but to God alone. Psalm 97, one of the psalms appointed for Christmas Day, also echoes this theme in song. (Read more here.)

Reading this on Good Friday the text naturally shifts it to a Christian perspective revealing the “suffering servant” and the servant’s triumph as that of Christ. The suffering is Christ’s suffering on the cross. The servant’s triumph is Christ’s resurrection. The triumph is for the people of Israel but for the Gentiles as well.

Saint Athenasius writes:

They say then: “A man in stripes, and knowing how to bear weakness, for his face is turned away: he was dishonored and held in no account. He bears our sins, and is in pain on our account; and we reckoned him to be in labor, and in stripes, and in ill-usage; but he was wounded for our sins, and made weak for our wickedness. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we were healed.” O marvel at the loving-kindness of the Word, that for our sakes He is dishonored, that we may be brought to honor. “For all we,” it says, “like sheep were gone astray; man had erred in his way; and the Lord delivered him for our sins; and he opens not his mouth, because he hath been evilly entreated. As a sheep was he brought to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before his shearer, so open he not his mouth: in his abasement, his judgment was taken away.” 3. Then lest any should from His suffering conceive Him to be a common man, Holy Writ anticipates the surmises of man, and declares the power (which worked) for Him, and the difference of His nature compared with ourselves, saying: “But who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. From the wickedness of the people was he brought to death. (Read whole text here.)

This text from Isaiah, Richard Hays believes, forms the background of the Good News presented in Mark’s Gospel. It is with an eye to this passage that our first Gospel author sees and understands that God has returned to God’s people in the person of Jesus. (Hays, Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, 30) Here then in the Gospel of Mark the revelation of God’s man is about the incarnation. Mark does not mention the suffering servant at all in the rest of the Gospel – not even in the crucifixion. (Echoes, 86)

For Matthew the image will come alive and dwell throughout the narrative. Keeping the Markan material, by the time Matthew writes it is clear that the correlation between the suffering servant of Israel and Jesus is essential in understanding the work of Jesus upon the cross.

Luke’s Gospel is the one New Testament narrative that draws the most from this passage. Hays points out that every bit of the narrative from the meal onward reveals Jesus as the suffering servant. (Echoes, 216ff) It might be easy to say that the arc of developed theology spans the first 5 decades of Christian writing after Jesus resurrection with an ever more pronounced and definitive understanding of Jesus as the suffering servant. Isaiah’s prophecy speaking beyond the return of the people Israel to their homeland to the defeat of death itself and the doors of heaven being opened to all humanity.

Here in all of this though is an interesting correlation worth exploring homiletically but seems to be outside of most of the discussions I have read. In fact, I have never preached on it before. And that is this: The suffering servant is an image of Israel (God’s people suffering) and God’s triumphant act. It seems a powerful image to play on the notion that Jesus, while on the one hand embodying the image of the suffering servant, also takes on the embodiment of Israel –yes – but all humanity. It seems of the utmost important to understand the catholic (the universal) nature of the suffering servant’s identity as that of the people. The suffering servant of Isaiah reveals the burden of all Israel, the suffering servant of the Gospels (Jesus) is revealed as the vessel in which is poured not the burden of any one people but the burden of the whole world.Sermons Preached on these Passages