The rules of the road

Job 38:1-7, 34-41 & Mark 10:35-45

Bob Dylan once said...

"The rules of the road have been lodged, It’s people's games you've got to dodge."

Let’s hold onto that thought.

James and John said “Teacher, we want you to do something for us if we ask you."(v35).

It is the lack of vision which extends to the 12 disciples and causes James and John to be singled out and to ask for front row seats in the corporate box.

Every parent and person of authority has heard or been asked "will you do something for me?"...no wise parent agrees without first determining what is being asked...yet we often become wise after being bitten the first time.

Jesus responded, "What do you want me to do for you?"(36).

Perhaps they thought he had taken the bait as they responded eagerly..."Grant us to sit, one at your right-hand and one at your left-hand, in your glory."

Now we need to consider the verses leading up to this request...in verses 33 and 34 Jesus has given the third prediction of his impending death...He tells them that they are going up to Jerusalem...where he will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes... who will condemn him to death...hand him over to the Gentiles...mock him and spit upon him...flog him...kill him...after three days he will rise again. (33-34).

Most of us have attended some sort of gathering in which the leader sits at the head of the table...James and John wanted to be Jesus’ right and left-hand men.

Teacher, "we want you to do something for us if we ask you."

In other words Jesus we know your word is your word...so please agree and we will fill in the details later...now that's a pretty bold request...but Jesus wants to read the small print before he agrees on the deal.

“James...John what was it you wanted...tell me again so that I know”..."Hey Jesus we want to be second and third in command."

We want people to see how much we mean to you...we want them to see how important we are...in fact we don't mind if they envy us a little bit.

Please sign on the dotted line Jesus.

But Jesus had a question for them...and James and John didn't treat it very seriously...they were so focused on sitting in a privileged place that they would agree to anything...it was then that Jesus asked them... "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I'm baptised with?"

A rapid response can mean we are not listening carefully...there was scarcely a millisecond of delay before they responded, "For sure!" Jesus said..."you will drink of the cup I drink and be baptised with the Baptism I'm baptised with...but to sit at my right hand or left is not for me to grant."

From our vantage point...we can sense the peril in Jesus’ response...his baptism was the cup of suffering...we know the story of the crucifixion...we can visualise Jesus hanging in agony on the cross. We know Jesus’ road to glory led him through the valley of the shadow of death...but James and John didn't have a clue...they just wanted to be seen to be important...we know that it meant they would become full partners in his ministry...full partners in his suffering...Acts chapter 12 tells us that King Herod had James killed with a sword (verse 2).

James and John were bold...in "talking the talk."...now Jesus called them..."to walk the walk."

The thing that occurs to me from studying these verses is that we need to be careful what we ask God...because he just might give it to us. Getting what we ask for can be a mixed blessing...what if..."You get to the top of the ladder...and then find it has not been leaning against the right wall."

Could this be the disciple’s prayer... “Wonderful Father of our incredibly unbelievable experience...we like to feel assured that we may always come to you when we feel like it...and now...dear Lord, we want quite naturally and simply and just in a word to ask you very frankly...to give us our hearts desire...you are the Comforter...as the old story puts it...and so you are our friend...for we are very fond of comfort.

Is your prayer...the disciple’s prayer?

The text is relevant to us today because it easily bridges into our culture...it allows us to see our own pettiness mirrored in the pettiness of these disciples. They wanted a place of honour...they just didn't know what a can of worms they were opening...because they just didn't understand that Jesus place of ministry was a cross.

God sees more clearly than we do...he sees which way the ladder is leaning. If we are willing...and many the time we're not...we just want to get to the top so badly... no matter what...God sometimes let’s us do that. We find having it our own way...instead of God's way...that we can find ourselves stranded precariously.

Archbishop William Temple said..."If your prayer is selfish, the answer will be something that will rebuke your selfishness. You may not recognise the answer as having come at all, but it is sure to be there."

Jesus gave us a great example of prayer in the most extreme crisis of his life...in the garden of Gethsemane when he would have liked to run and hide. He would have liked to escape...do you remember his prayer...was it...Father save me from the cross?

Listen again to Jesus’ prayer when he faced a horrible death..."Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done." (Luke 22:42).

Jesus was saying..."Father, if there is another way to accomplish this work, please do it that way...but, if my death is the only way to make your love fully known on earth...then your will be done."

God's will for us is that which is good...

God's will for us is that we will be his children...that we shine like we were created in his image...because that is what he intended.

God’s will for us is that we love him and serve him...so that he can bring his joy and peace into our hearts.

God’s will for us is that we love and serve our fellow human beings...so that through us...he can bring his joy and his peace into their hearts.

God’s will for us is not that we become people of high position...but that we become great servants.

God’s will for us is that when we get to the top of the ladder...we will find it facing the right wall.

God’s will for us is that we might finally join him in his Heavenly Kingdom...not necessarily in places of great honour...but certainly in places of great service...let us not hide our face or our hearts from God...let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness...so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Remembering all the while that we are enslaved and that it is impossible for us ever to pay for our own freedom...someone else must pay. Jesus’ death was no tragic accident...or a courageous act of martyrdom rather it was a supreme act of sacrifice for all humankind.

In putting right our situation with God...Jesus has paid with his life the infinite debt owed by humankind and through it has delivered us from our captivity to sin.

The apostle Paul reminds us...“you are not your own, you were bought with a price and having been ransomed by Christ, we belong entirely to him. Don’t be misled by others, remember the rules of the road have been lodged.

Let us pray.

Dear God, Your will...nothing more...nothing less... nothing else. Amen.