Word to the Wise
Friday, July 25, 2008 - St. James, apostle
[2 Corinthians 4:7-15 and Matthew 20:20-28]We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, butnot driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.....
Obviously, Mama Zebedee and her two boys didn't have St. Paul's job description in mind when they approached Jesus about a privileged place in his "kingdom." When Jesus speaks of the "cup" he must drink from, the boys don't hesitate to say they'll drink from it too, but there is no indication that they know what it will mean! Jesus assures them, perhaps wryly or sadly, that they will indeed drink from his cup. However the rest of the story in the gospel is basically what St. Paul speaks of from his own experience. Discipleship means service and sometimes the service will be dangerous. It will mean being the least powerful in the career ladder! "Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his ife as a ransom for many." Ambition can be a good motivator or a bad one. It is the stuff of drama, as great Greek and Shakespearean plays have shown. It is, unfortunately, a constant challenge in the church, and the gospel today demonstrates that the problem began early! Jesus' admonition is that the only ambition permitted in the gospel is the ambition to be of service. Even though James and his brother, John, along with Peter, seemed to form a kind of inner circle for Jesus, it is clear that this wasn't enough for James and John. Power is often the goal of ambition and Jesus' consistently makes it the least valuable goal. One could wish that this particular scripture, along with St. Paul's words, were read more often by those in church work, especially ordained ministers. But my pastoral experience tells me that almost any church organization suffers from the same human foibles of ambition. So, we can't just say, "Oh, Jesus was talking about the official ministers!" He's speaking to us all! AMEN