Mark 10:35-45 (NRSV)
Read Mark 10:35-45 on biblegateway.com
Verse 35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Verse 36And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" Verse 37And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Verse 38But 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?" Verse 39They 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; Verse 40but 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."
Verse 41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. Verse 42So 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. Verse 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, Verse 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. Verse 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
Devotion
And so we are getting exposed so easily. And then the infighting begins. It is amazing how good we are at cultivating a fabric of retribution. A culture based on fear and fault finding. Then we quickly squeeze out any possibility for compassion. Then it is more important to point fingers than to look at my own accountability. Then it is easier to shout from within my own self-interests than to give voice to those on the margins.
Until the voice of exposure cuts at it’s deepest with the call for restoration rather than retribution. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” Then we suddenly realize that possibility and belonging are more important than problems and self-interests. Only then can we begin to consider our own accountability as the willingness to care for the whole.
Prayer
Power turns and postures and exhibits. It controls and manages and plots. We participate in it, we benefit from it, we are dazzled by it. Make us women and men of shalom, the kind of welfare you will for our common life. Amen.
(From a Walter Brueggemann class prayer on April 18, 2000.)