October 19, 2024 – Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Who will you serve?

I don’t know if you were uneasy when I asked that or you let it slip over you quickly enough not to notice how much it runs against our culture. So let me ask it again: Who will you serve?

Our culture – our humanity – tends to prize freedom. Accomplishment. Autonomy. Self-determination. The list could continue for a few minutes as we list other things that we value. Which is why – if we just slow down and really think about the question – we’ll recognize how much it goes against our deeply held beliefs and culturally-formed ideals.

But I think one of the most dangerous false impressions of our culture is that we are indeed free, autonomous beings who can live independently from all bonds of loyalty and service. We spend SO much time and energy trying to prove to ourselves that we don’t have to serve anyone!

The truth that we will always serve something or someone – whether we know it or not – is at the very heart of today’s Gospel passage from Mark. But really, not just today’s passage but much of Mark’s Gospel. If we look at chapters 8-10 as a whole, we see Mark’s carefully literary structuring of Jesus’ march to Jerusalem and his three announcements of his impending death.

Way back in chapter 8, Jesus cures a blind man at Bethsaida, but it really doesn’t seem to take at first. It takes a bit of time for the man to regain his full sight. Then, Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, and Jesus announces for the first time that he is going to die. But Peter doesn’t get it and rebukes Jesus, who in turn rebukes him right back.

In chapter 9, Jesus repeats his declaration that he will die in Jerusalem, the prospect of which terrifies his disciples enough that they are silent … until they begin arguing with one another about who is the greatest. Because, of course, they don’t get it. Jesus’ words take time to sink in, so he puts a child before them and tells them that leadership and greatness are about welcoming the vulnerable.

Now in chapter 10, Jesus says once more (in verses 32-34, directly preceding today’s reading) that he is going to Jerusalem to die. And again, the disciples don’t get it. First, James and John ask for special places of honor, and then the rest of the disciples resent their pushiness. Jesus’ words still haven’t sunken in or taken hold, so he says as plainly and clearly as possible that to be great is to serve others and that to be first is to be last. Chapter 10 closes with another healing, this time of a blind man, Bartimaeus.

It’s interesting here that these healings of blindness bracket Jesus’ three declarations of his impending death, the disciples’ failure to understand, and ongoing teachings about what constitutes being great. Mark has chosen to tell this story in a specific way. Do you think it might be because Jesus’ life is played out in a way contrary to our natural tendency to think about power, leadership, and life according to the terms of culture, and it all takes time to sink in?

In today’s reading, James and John think that greatness comes from status and power. And in response, Jesus points out that there is no way to escape service. It’s why we have a committee that focuses solely on outreach and how we as a church can be of service to others. You will either willingly (joyfully?) serve others, or you will become a slave to illusions that you can be free and secure your future through status, power, wealth, youth, fame, possessions, etc.

Who will you serve? The voices of the culture that say you can – rather, must – be free on your own and at any cost, or the voice of Jesus who calls you to find your freedom through service to neighbor? As you have heard me say over and over, we humans are made to be in relationship with one another, and we discover our whole selves only as we join ourselves with those around us. God delights in our relationships at home, at school, at work, in the community; we discover our identity as people as we see ourselves inextricably linked with those around us.

Jesus’ description of giving his life as “a ransom for many” might be best interpreted as Jesus rescuing us from our delusion that we are somehow self-sufficient, independent, self-made people of God. From this point, his whole life challenges not only our assumptions, but the establishment with the surprising and life-giving revelation that as we lose ourselves in service, we find ourselves living more fully than ever before. It’s a sacrifice validated in the resurrection and in our own experience as we give ourselves away in service and love, only to find a quality of life we’d never before imagined or experienced.

So… Who WILL you serve? As God’s children, this is part of our freedom. We are set free by God’s promise and power to serve others, and in doing so, find ourselves.