Mattthew 20:20-27: Serve with verve!
Well here we go its Mother’s day, it’s a certainty that we all have a mother, some of us get on well, others not well at all, some Mums are now in heaven and some mums are starting on the journey of motherhood. There are those who are Dads who are doing the job of Mum as well. It’s a responsible position and some are great at it and others not so flash. Whoever you are it’s a day for celebrating mothers. One of the mothers who crops up on the gospels is a lady by the name of Salome, Zebedee’s wife and the mother of James and John.
A couple of things about this lady, it is thought that Salome was Jesus mother Mary’s sister, this makes James and John Jesus cousins. She also supported Jesus in his ministry; it is thought she was one of the ladies who travelled with him and his disciples. Being a good mum, this most likely gave her the opportunity to keep an ‘eye on the boys’.
A bit more background, while we have this picture that has been passed down to us of the disciples being in their twenties and thirties and older while they were with Jesus they most likely weren’t. The evidence for this are the verses from Matthew 17:24- 27 (Read). The last verse is about finding a four drachma coin which was enough to pay the temple tax of two people Peter’s and Jesus’. The other disciples were exempt the tax if they were under twenty years old. Most likely they ranged from about seventeen to nineteen with Peter a bit older at the end of Jesus ministry here on Earth.
So here we have James and Johns old mum, who may have only been in her late thirties early forties at this stage, bold as brass bowling up to Jesus and dropping a pearlier of a question.
Probably thinking because she was an Aunty she might have a bit of sway, she asked a fairly substantial question, remember as we hear the question again that it was her belief that Jesus would soon be King of Israel. “She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’”
Was their mum wrong to ask the question? I don’t think she was, when we look at the previous chapter there is a little pointer to why she asked, Matthew 19:28 reads, “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’”
Jesus had already pointed out that the disciples were going to be seated in positions of authority as judges over Israel.
The issue was that they still did not understand that his kingdom was not going to be a bricks and mortar kingdom, with all its pomp and pageantry, its royal weddings with the eight tier wedding cake and the balcony kiss. The kingdom of Jesus, was not to be like that, his kingdom was not to be last Saturdays front page or the Woman’s Weekly Special Edition, that stuff is just so last week. Jesus kingdom was to be eternal and without end, Jesus kingdom is eternal and without end.
The boys and their Mum didn’t understand. You can imagine the scene before they approached Jesus:
James and John talking: (Remember these two men were the sons of thunder) I had two boys from the youth group and a Mum from the Corps act this play out.
James: What do you reckon I’m sure that he’ll be King soon and I want to sit on my throne at his right hand!
John: You can’t sit there!
James: Why not?
John: Because that’s where I’ll be sitting!
James: That’s what you think; I tell you what, I’ll fight you for it! I’ll fight you for it!
John: You’re on then!
Their Mum: Ohi cut that out, now what’s all this about boys?
James and John together: He said he was going to sit at Jesus right hand when he becomes king.
Their Mum: For crying out loud! One of you can sit at his right and the other at his left, if you’ll just zip it for five minutes we’ll go ask him who is going to be sitting where. Once he’s made up his mind I don’t want to hear another word and that’s final.
So what was it Jesus said to them? “You don’t know what you are asking. Then Jesus’ next question was addressed to the Disciples James and John, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
Totally unaware of what the cup was, his suffering and death on the cross, the answer was, “we can”.
Jesus agreed that they would both suffer; James went on to be the first of the disciples martyred and John suffered banishment to the Island of Patmos, and then reportedly returned to Ephesus where he lived out his days.
Jesus told them that they would indeed suffer, but the positioning in the Kingdom was not up to him, it was his Heavenly Fathers place to say and indeed the Father had prepared those places.
Now when the ten other disciples heard about this they were indignant, now there’s an interesting word what does indignant mean? Watch this, to be indignant means to be pained, angry, vexed. The New Zealandese we would say they were ‘cheesed off’ if not something just a tad stronger, that would depend on personality types, and they were ‘cheesed off’ because they all wanted those seats too. They all wanted to be Jesus right or left hand man.
Jesus sees this and of course this is a classic teaching moment. This is almost the same as when God was telling the people of Israel that if they want a king he will give them a king. Jesus words are “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.”
This is how the disciples thought it was going to be, they had it wrong and Jesus was putting them straight.
There is something that can be learnt in this and that as Christians we will find a lot in understanding this.
What did Jesus say next listen again “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.” Then Jesus uses these words; “not so with you.”
I bet there was a few ‘eh’s’ and ‘what’s’ muttered under twelve breaths. ‘Eh …what, what does he mean I can’t lord it over, what does he mean, no authority over them, he’s told me I’m going to have a throne?!’
“Whosoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus is using the term ‘Son of Man’ to refer to himself, Jesus gave us the ultimate example of service and sacrifice, he ransomed ‘us’ from the grave he paid the price for ‘our’ sins. True greatness in Jesus kingdom comes through service to others.
James and John didn’t see it at the time, the rest of the disciples didn’t see it at the time. Jesus made the point as blunt as he could.
• You want to be great– serve.
• You want to be first – be a slave to others.
Jesus was telling the disciples this. All those blokes excepting Judas Iscariot gained the new first name of Saint. These men gained their sainthoods through sacrifice and service; all but one of them was killed because of that service, because they put others and God’s kingdom before self, and John who didn’t get killed suffered as well.
So where does that leave us, what is it that we can learn from this passage?
1)( A bit tongue in cheek) Don’t leave the hard questions to your Mum, nothing should ever get to that stage, ask the hard questions yourself. Mum’s like to serve their kids but don’t ever take your Mum for granted.
2) Jesus made it quite clear that in his kingdom it’s not the person with the biggest cheque book, latest model car, the newest stove, or the private jet who will be great. The great people in God’s kingdom serve.
I guess that for most of us that’s good news as we were not likely to have those things any way.
The other thing is that Jesus lead from the base line up, he didn’t Lord it over those who followed him, he taught with humility and a servant heart.
This is an example to those of us who would lead in the Christian church that we are to be servant leaders. If you want to be number one the call is to go a step further in that service and be a slave, completely sold out to those you serve. The great people in God’s kingdom serve (SBI).
3) This isn’t about being God’s servant, though in doing so you will be. Let’s have another look at Jesus words and remember who Jesus is addressing. “…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant”. This passage of scripture is about serving one another, not controlling or bossing about, but serving. That does not negate the need for the odd bit of serious leadership and required direction of some who are lead.
The thing is that the great people in God’s kingdom are those that serve or have served other people.
Serving people can be demanding, because people are, it can be messy because people are, it can be thankless because people don’t always thank. It can also be joyful when you see the outcome of your labour, when lives are changed, when souls are saved for eternity and life change occurs here on earth, when people are on that journey to being all they can be before God.
Some may say “I don’t like to serve, it demeans me”, tough really, get over it! Jesus served and he’s our greatest example. I know that there’s people I’ve met who wear bracelets and have a way of looking at things as to ‘What would Jesus do?’ What would Jesus do, he would serve, the great people in God’s kingdom serve and he is the greatest.
There’s plenty of ways to serve, volunteer for something and while I’m at it thanks to the volunteers here at the Corps and the volunteers who do their bit for our Community Ministries, if you don’t want to volunteer at the Salvation Army, your loss but check out the web sites of other Volunteer organisations, they have allsorts of positions including tutoring English as a second language too volunteer plumbers.
Mow your neighbours lawn, do their groceries, we have plenty of people in and associated with the Corps who have mobility issues occasionally and that becomes a burden getting to the shops or appointments, we could do with a list of volunteers we could ring to get people about. The thing is no matter which area you are able to, serve, if you are walking the walk and talking the talk, the kingdom walk and talk, the next part is to serve with verve (vitality, vigour). Check behind me for a dictionary definition. For the great ones in God’s kingdom are servants.Serve with verve!
Benediction:
May you leave here today,
In the knowledge that Jesus came to serve,
And that his service has set you free,
That because of his great example,
You too can be great,
As you serve one another,
For his kingdoms sake!
Amen
If you've taken the time to read this sermon could you please rate it, Ta Andrew.
