Welcome to Kindergarten

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but 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.”

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 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. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

You KNOW James and John tried this same thing on their dad Zebedee back in the day.  “Dad, we want you to say yes.”  “Say yes to what?” replies dad, not having just fallen off the turnip truck.  “Just say yes and then we’ll tell you!”  How do I know they tried it?  Because we’ve ALL tried it!  And how often does it work?  Right!!  It NEVER works!  So why were James and John trying this kindergarten trick on Jesus?

My guess is that’s all they had left!  This little exchange, you see, is happening right after Jesus has told them… not once… not twice… but three times now that the Kingdom of God was not happening the way they expected.  Jesus would NOT be raising an army, kicking out the Romans, and becoming a King like David.  The Kingdom of God was coming in one way, and one way only… by way of death and resurrection.  But no matter how many time Jesus said it, they just stuck their fingers in their ears and said, “LALALA, I can’t hear you.”  The first time Jesus told them he was changing from a “king style” Messiah to a "death and resurrection" style Messiah, Peter spoke for the group and said, “By no means!”  The second time, the disciples just changed the subject and talked about who among them was the greatest.  This last time James and John just started working on the seating chart for the new throne room!  

You see, what Jesus was telling them was NOT how they wanted it to happen!  It wasn’t how they were taught it would happen!  How on earth could this crazy “death and resurrection” idea possibly work!  Jesus!  What are you thinking?  Jesus!  You’re not doing it right!  Jesus!  I don’t LIKE this!  Jesus!  This is scary!  Jesus!  THIS IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD!  And you know what?  A year and a half into a never ending pandemic, I’ve found a new appreciation for James and John.  Jesus I don’t like pandemic church!  Jesus this isn’t how I was taught church should be.  Jesus, I can’t even plan for next week let alone Christmas!  Jesus, this is HARD!  

And do you know why all of this was so hard for James and John and feels so exhausting and hard for you and me?  Because all of it is really hard and exhausting!  Everything that had been one way, is now tossing and turning and churning in the middle of changing into what it will eventually be!  And it’s been like that for a year and a half now!  Just like James and John had NO IDEA what Jesus was talking about when he went on about being “raised from the dead”… You and I have NO IDEA what church, our town, this country, our world will all look like when this overloaded, off balance, never ending spin cycle of life finally winds down and God pulls us out on the other side.  

But wait!  RIGHT THERE… that’s it isn’t it?  That’s the piece James and John were missing!  That’s the part we too often miss too!   GOD ALWAYS PULLS US OUT!  James and John, you and me, we all tend to forget that when we’re in the middle of the mess.  But GOD’S thing, going WAY back, IS getting God's people through to the other side.  It’s easy to forget that in the midst of it.  And in the middle of this latest spin cycle of life, I want to insist that God tell me HOW it’s going to happen!  But that's just as kindergarten as saying, “Hey Jesus, do whatever I ask!” isn’t it?

The truth is, when James and John where in the middle of it… when you and I are in the middle of it… even when we can’t see a plan or any possible end… God is always at work, for our benefit and not our harm, in ways we can never even begin to wrap our minds around.  When James and John heard “Resurrection”.  REALLY!?  It had never been done!  But then, there it was!  And the same is true for us!  As we continue to tumble, rinse and spin through pandemic cycle after cycle, we get to be (understandably) just like James and John… unable to even begin to image how God will get us through.  

To James and John it seemed impossible!  To you and me… all this seems impossible!  And yet… story after story reminds us that God’s thing is seeing God’s people into the impossible… Abraham and Sarah having a child.  Dry land in the middle of the Red Sea.  Manna in the wilderness.  A Promised Land.  Loaves and Fish.  A Camel through the eye of a needle.  All these stories remind us of God’s remarkable track record of working with the least likely sorts of people in the most impossible situations to accomplish the most wonderful and miraculous things!

  

James and John were looking into an impossible future… a future that included the death of the One they gave up everything to follow… from a present where resurrection was an unheard of fantasy.  They did the best they could in that moment.  It was kindergarten level to be sure, but sometimes, kindergarten is the best we can manage!  On many more days than I’d like, we too look into an impossible seeming future… frightening, unpredictable, exhausting and strange.  Sometimes the best WE can do is kindergarten level stuff, no better than James or John.  And it turns out… that’s okay.  Because it wasn’t James or John that saw to it that Jesus was raised from the dead and it won’t be me or you who ends this endless pandemic.  It always has been and it always will be, the One who splits seas, rains manna, makes the blind see, pulls camels through the eyes of needles and raises the dead who will do THIS impossible thing as well!  

Today it was James and John’s turn to remind us of that.  Tomorrow, if you’re able, take a turn reminding someone else who’s finding it hard to remember… someone whose best has been reduced to only kindergarten moves.  Remind them today and then take a turn yourself tomorrow when you’re having a James and John sort of day… that God’s way is to reach through needles and pull out camels and reach into tombs and pull out abundant life!  Amen.