"Be the Answer to Your Prayer" A Sermon for 22B Pentecost

 Sometimes... we say things out loud to God when we're feeling crushed by the world.

We demand that God "do something" to make whatever it is we're complaining about be "right." 

And then God does it.... by basically flipping the script on us and saying, "YOU make it right." 

YOU do the thing.

YOU be my hands and feet and heart and soul in this messy, crazy world.

And YOU be prepared for it to lead you where you do not want to go...and that's OK.

Here beginneth the sermon for 22B Pentecost. See what you think.

Text: Mark 10:35-45

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Have you ever had one of those moments where you asked for something out loud…and then realized that thing you asked for was going to require you to do something that maybe was a little bit outside of your comfort zone?

I remember one time…standing at the sink in my kitchen…fuming about a panel discussion that was due to take place with a group of religious leaders in Tallahassee.

It was a monthly event…called “Faith…Food…and Fridays” hosted by this civic organization that likes to engage people of differing opinions in thoughtful dialogue.

There was a “Faith…Food…and Fridays” session coming up…and the so-called “God Squad”…which included the local Jewish rabbi…a Baptist as well as Methodist pastor…and the rector of my Episcopal Church…were going to discuss the topic of same-sex marriage.

This was long before the United States Supreme Court ruling legalizing it…so the topic was still all the rage to talk about.

Every member of the panel was a straight married person.

And they were proposing to talk about whether the likes of me should be allowed to marry.

I want to emphasize that they were going to talk “about.”

Not talk “with.”

That’s often times how things go when you’re in the minority.

People in the majority of any group feel empowered to discuss matters that directly affect a minority group without having to do the work of seeking out said minority and engaging with them… or learning anything about them.

Anyway…I was angry about this panel.

I shook my fist at the ceiling…because of course God is up in the ceiling, right?

I poured out my complaint like a modern-day Job.

“How can they do this? Why are they doing this? Why do you, God, let them speak about us and not with us?”

About an hour or so later…my phone rang.

It was my rector.

He and the head of the sponsoring organization had talked.

They were worried that there was no gay person on the panel.

They had concluded that this wasn’t fair or good or right.

So…he asked me… would I be willing to join the panel to be the representative gay person of faith?

I agreed to do it.

And when I got off the phone…I sheepishly looked back up at the ceiling again.

“Umm…OK. You win, God. You win. Again.”

God hears the cries of the poor…the angry…the frustrated… and sometimes God says, “OK. You be the answer to your prayer!”

James and John go to Jesus…seeking to be the ones chosen to sit at his right and his left “in his glory.”

“In his glory.”

We get the sense that these two…the “Sons of Thunder”… have some sort of expectation that Jesus is going to ride into Jerusalem on a white stallion.

Jesus is going to lead the charge for the greatest battle against the evil Roman Empire…defeating their oppressor once and for all.

They want to have a piece of this moment.

They want to be his First and Second Lieutenants.

The fly guys who get to be right next to Jesus as he ascends to the throne of power.

And Jesus looks at them and says, “Do you know what you’re asking for? Are you ready for this assignment.”

“Oh, yes!” they say eagerly.

But they really weren’t ready.

They haven’t been listening closely to what Jesus has been saying to them.

We talked about this when we were studying and preparing to do the staged reading of Mark’s Gospel.

Jesus tells his band of twelve followers…not once…not twice… but three times that the march into Jerusalem is not going to easy or pretty.

In fact… it’s going to be dangerous…and for him… it will be deadly.

But even though it’s bound to end in his death… Love is still going to prevail.

Because he will rise again.

He doesn’t tell them how that will happen; he only promises that it will happen.

So even though he’s said all of this… and even goes into greater detail each time to prepare the disciples for the difficulties they’re about to encounter… they don’t seem to get it.

They don’t understand that to be in Jesus’ glory means going to the cross… that instrument of Roman torture and death.

And to be on his right and his left?

Well…for those of us who know the story… who are the ones on the right and the left of Jesus as he’s dying on the cross?

Not any of his disciples: they were two criminals.

People who were stripped of everything of worldly value.

James and John don’t know that the glory of Jesus comes to those willing to put their ego and selfish desires aside…and to basically die to the whole idea of “self.”

I sometimes think that gets lost on us too.

I’ve mentioned the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer before…the Lutheran pastor and theologian who was executed by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War II.

Bonhoeffer says there’s a cost to discipleship…something he came to know in a real sense himself.

But that cost doesn’t necessarily mean a literal physical death.

It does mean dying to the idea of living a comfortable… uncomplicated life.

To truly follow Jesus means that we are often led into difficult places… and dealing with tough situations.

It means going to people and sitting with those who aren’t able to give us anything in return for our kindness….and we need to be at peace with that reality.

And that’s hard.

We want to be recognized for the things we do.

We don’t want to give up our own comfort or status.

We get possessive about those things that we believe are ours… or are set up for us… things that we feel that we’ve earned through our hard work.

If we were honest about it…we’re all a little bit selfish…and insecure and little bit possessive about what we perceive as “ours.”

To follow Jesus…and to understand his mission… is to allow ourselves to let go of the need for the stuff in our lives…and to let our hearts get broken by the injustices in the world.

And then to take those broken pieces…and follow in the footsteps of the disciples.

After that mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blew open the hearts and minds and loosened the tongues of those gathered in that Upper Room… the disciples mustered up the courage to go where they needed to go.

James and John… Peter… Phillip and the others went into their communities and beyond their own comfort zones to do the work of Jesus…to free the oppressed and bind up the brokenhearted.

What does that work look like today?

Perhaps it’s the person who tutors a student struggling and having trouble in school.

Maybe that individual with the knowledge of government  who can assist someone with challenges of navigating a bureaucracy.

Or perhaps it’s the person who offers a ride to somebody who is carless.

And even more profoundly…it means we need to examine our prejudices… and to surrender those to God.

To follow Jesus… is to be willing to give up things in our lives that keep us separated from each other…so that we begin to truly love one another as fellow siblings in this big… beautiful body of Christ.

This is God’s dream…

God’s love…

God’s joy…

God’s glory…

For the world.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.