SCRIPTURE: Mark 10:35-45
TEXT: 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” THEME: Freed to live as a benefit for others. INTRODUCTION In this passage, there is no mention of sin, no mention of a debt, no mention of a sacrifice worthy enough to pay our debt of sin. We bring these templates with us to interpret this passage. When we hear the words ransom it draws us to a 11th century feudal concept of original sin and a substitution are payment for our atonement. A theological theory where Jesus’ death on the cross satisfies our debt of sin, resulting in our acceptance before God. In this theory, Jesus’ death become a transactional payment to satisfy the penalties incurred by human sin. Mat Skinner from Sermon Brainwave gives this understanding of ransom taken from the Greek word “Lytron”. This is God’s acting to deliver people, a liberation wrought by divine strength. Divine strength powerful enough to ransom us from social, political, and demonic powers. Divine strength powerful enough to deliver us from death, cultural traditions and our own fears. Divine strength powerful enough to liberate us to live as members of God’s community. SCRIPTURE This passage mentions a renewed relationship with God and others. Hints are found in the attitude, preceding this passage, that welcomes children as part of the Kingdom of God. The focus of the Kingdom of God is not on ourselves, but upon others. It is not about our greatness, but on serving others. Jesus is a different kind of Messiah. He does not want to be king in the usual sense and his power is not political. It is difficult for us to get over our preconceived notions of Kingdom, Eternal Life and Messiah, for ‘the something New’ that Jesus is teaching and becoming. We see this first with Peter on the way to Caesarea Philippi, at one moment Peter is proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, while Jesus warns of his suffering, arrest, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. It is evident again, as the disciples, James and John ask for places of honor in Jesus’ kingdom in glory. When did these fishermen begin to aspire to be rulers? They are thinking about what is ‘good’ for them and not about the common good found in the reign of God. Their thinking has not shifted from their own personal wealth, towards the wealth of all people of being in the community of God. Their hearts have not shifted from; time with children being just as important as time with adults, the rich, tax collectors, or religious officials. Jesus welcomes those who need to be cared for, not just those who are contributing members of society but the outcast, the marginalized, the ignored, the ostracized as those seen seated at the table with Jesus. This image of Jesus eating with all of humanity is what the Kingdom of God looks like. We have been captured by our notions of the world’s success, accomplishments, rules, possibilities, power and greed, that keeps us from living into Jesus’ vision of the world. Jesus has been moving us beyond Judaism, beyond tradition, beyond money, beyond status, beyond power, to contentment, peace, relationships, caring, life, healing, love and joy. This is the captivity we saw in the story of the rich person who could not give up wealth for a shift in focus upon relationships. Do we look out for our bottom line of profits, or do we build communities? This is what happened with Briggs and Stratton, in 1980 when a profit charged management strategy, moved their production of lawn mowers from the U.S. to Juarez, Mexico. This gutted the profit communities around four Milwaukee plants as countless families, businesses, social structures, and lives were economically destroyed. Greater profits over lively hood of a community of neighbors. Capitalism over communities, Money over people politics. Power over the common good. We see this again in Minnesota, with Rawling moving its production of baseball helmets to China, and John Deer not wanting to share its 2.75-billion-dollar profits from last year, by increasing their workers’ compensations. It wasn’t that long ago that James and John had seen the rich young ruler who had everything, but lacked a loving relationship with God and others. I am not asking you to give up your ransom theories of sin, but the ransoming in this passage is not about sin, it is a ransoming from the lives that have held us captive from God. God’s divine strength liberates us to live in a new way with God, not focusing on ourselves, but upon helping others. APPLICATION God has never stopped loving us even when we have sinned or behaved poorly. We get it wrong when we think that sin is more powerful than love or that sin is unbreachable and prevents God from loving us. Love is what bridges the gaps caused by sin as it says, “For God so loved the world…” Love forgives our sin, what life are we being ransomed from, to be liberated to live? Since James and John wanted seats of honor next to Jesus in Glory, I wanted to answer this question by thinking about, what seats have we been ransomed from in this world, and what new seats can we occupy. We can give up the seat at the head table, to sit next to Aunty to help her sew leis. We can give up a seat in our churches in person service, to sit on the couch with my family to worship from home. We can give up the seat in a fancy restaurant, to sit next to someone and share a meal at the shelter dinner. We can give up a seat on the bus, for someone else to sit. We can give up our freedom to sit anywhere we want, to sit next to a health care worker who gives us a vaccination. We can give up a seat in the waiting room, for a seat from our car to text a prayer, or Marco Polo a greeting. We can give up sitting in a new chair for a seat in the same old chair so our staff can be adequately paid. We can give up our chair at the table, to sit on the floor to engage with a preschooler. We can give up a seat on a pew, for something new to happen in our worship space. CONCLUSION We do not have a messiah who lords over us, but submits, in order to serve us love. Jesus ransoms us from the life we are stuck in for the something new that God has for us. Nurturing Communities over profits, Generous compensations over banner year. What’s good for others over what is good for myself. I was watching New Amsterdam. A progressive hospital that thinks outside of the box to accomplish quality care for those who need it. They go out of their way to do what is best for the patient. This is mainly due to their outside of the box Hospital Administrator. He announced that he is leaving to move out of country with his girlfriend. In the remaining 5 weeks that he has, he wants to secure the forward-thinking medical care that he has established despite the undoing threats of his small thinking, control freak successor. His time as administrator has accomplished amazing things, at the cost of the Hospital’s bottom line. In this last episode, the Hospital has a 10-million-dollar vacant lot. They surveyed the people in the community to see what their needs are over and above what they think would make the greatest profits. Instead of building a new wing for the hospital, they discerned what the community sorely needed was for a grocery store to improve the nutrition of the neighborhood, away from fast foods. Fictitious, but an example of service over profits. Jesus doesn’t ask us to sit. But to be constantly moving, making sure those around us are seen and well cared for. It doesn’t matter who they are, courteousness love is extended to everyone, ransoming our lives to something new with God.
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