& sent me out in vain to find

a cross to high for you to climb

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark!

Where do you stand? 

Whether you like it or not, this is a question life will put to you in so many ways. What shape are your savings in? Where do you work and what’s your position? How old are you? What’s your income? Are you employed? What’s your marital status? What kind of shape are you in? How much volunteer work do you do? What extracurriculars are your kids in? What kind of grades do you get?

And on, and on, and on…

In one way or another, this life is always putting the question to you; ‘where do you stand.’ It is a question we all wonder about, a question we all try to figure out the answer to, ourselves.

It’s a question the Brothers Zebedee have on their mind, too; you know…

In today’s Gospel we see them come up to Jesus, and ask where they stand. 

In fact, they ask Jesus to promise and grant them the position of second-in-command when Jesus inevitably comes into his glory…

In fact, not only do these two want to know where they stand, if they can manage it, they’d like to climb up a spot or two in the ranks, or at least assure their good standing…

Well, of course the rest of the disciples are irked when they find out about James & John’s ploy, their grasp for power. Although, let’s be honest, the only real reason they’re probably upset is because they didn’t think to do the same thing first…

They all think Jesus’ mission is just more of the same ‘ol, same ‘ol; only now the tables will be turned in their favor…
What the whole lot of them fails to grasp, though; and so we must consider that we ourselves are prone to fail to grasp, too; is that Jesus’ mission isn’t just more of the same ‘ol.
Jesus isn’t merely turning the tables, he’s overturning them altogether.

All the disciples, and so let’s be honest, ourselves too, fail to grasp that God’s will isn’t for us to climb the social ladder, it isn’t about getting as close to God as we can manage, it isn’t about any kind glory or honor at all actually. In fact, doing God’s will is likely to invite the opposite outcome!

Keep this in mind: James and John’s request, it comes immediately after Jesus has made his third, and final, and most explicit prediction of his upcoming death and subsequent resurrection. 

That James and John even request to be next to him in his glory, betrays the very fact that they have totally failed to actually hear what Jesus has just told them. 

Jesus replies that these two don’t know what they’re asking for, that they’re not able to drink the cup he will drink or be baptized in the baptism that he’s baptized in. Still utterly failing to actually listen to what Jesus is telling them, though, they just shrug their shoulders and insist they can drink from Jesus cup, undergo his baptism…

Now let’s just stop for a second. What is the cup that Jesus drinks from?

It is the very one he prays God would take from him at Gethsemane; the cup of tribulation. 

And what is Jesus’ baptism?

His baptism is baptism in none other than baptism in the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that shoves Jesus out into the wilderness for his trials, the same Spirit that sends Jesus out on his mission, his mission that puts him at odds with the very forces that will crucify him.

And that, that is finally what’s at stake with James and John’s request. 

It isn’t simply that it’s misguided; it is that they have fundamentally failed to grasp what God is up to in Jesus, that they don’t have the slightest idea of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, that they don’t have an inkling of what it means to do God’s will in a world that refuses to acknowledge God as sovereign.

See, the disciples, and let’s be honest, us too; think our lives are only a matter of getting the best spot we can in the pecking order, of figuring out where we stand, of doing what we can to get a better spot if at all possible whether it be with God or our peers.

So when James and John come, wanting to know where they stand, Jesus tells them they don’t have any legs to stand on.

They don’t have any legs to stand on, not because they’re being greedy (although they are), and not because they will prove to be unwilling to follow Jesus to his glory, to the cross (although they will). 

No, they don’t have any legs to stand upon because their life of climbing up the ladder, in him, is over…

What they don’t know, and what Jesus is telling them, is that it’s too late for the Brothers Zebedee to get a seat of honor. It’s too late for them because they’re already dead!

Sure, Jesus grants them, that in the world, the point of life is to figure out where you stand, to get as high as you can in the pecking order and then let those under you have it. 

The thing that these two, the disciples, and us all fail to trust is that, in Jesus, we don’t live to that world any more!

Jesus has ransomed us from that world. We don’t belong to it anymore. We’re dead to it. 

However you put it; we don’t have any standing whatsoever in that world. In fact, the world has no use for folks like us, for folks unwilling to take whatever we can, and the expense of whoever gets in our way. The world has no use for folks who will put away the rat-race and do something as unproductive as worship God.

Want to know where you stand?

Think you already know where you stand?

Well, think again.

Believe me, you don’t get off the hook because you’re not James or John, or any of the other disciples for that matter. You don’t even get off the hook because you’re just a lutheran. Why, you don’t get off the hook because you don’t dare to ask James and John’s question, either. 

No, you’re not off the hook because, what Jesus told James and John, is true for you. Jesus tell us, “you know, come to think of it, you will, (or more than likely already have been) baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized in. You will, (or perhaps already have) share the cup that Jesus drank at his crucifixion.

That’s what’s in store for every disciple; it isn’t climbing the ladder in the company or with God, it isn’t figuring out where we stand with our boss or with the Boss (and I’m not talking about Bruce Springsteen). 

No, the life of a disciple, is having God’s will done to us, of having our lives shaped by God into the shape of the cross. This is done in baptism, when the church claims as as a child of God forever. This is done, when our obedience doesn’t get us praise or honor, but trails and suffering. 

Like James and John, we all want to know where we stand. The thing, though, is that in Jesus, we don’t stand on our own anymore. We don’t run on our own steam.

Your life, the life of a follower of Jesus, is hidden in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. There isn’t any need for you to figure out where you stand.

You don’t need to figure out where you stand because you, you’re buried with Jesus. And because that is true there isn’t any higher, or lower for that matter, that you can make it. 

You’ve already gotten as far as possible in God’s great pecking order. In fact, you’ve already been given all that a follower of Jesus is ever promised, his baptism and a share in Jesus’ cup.

Now, this life of being dead to the world and alive to Jesus, is frightening. It’s enough to make any confirmand think twice about the promises she’s about to make. 

But let’s be honest. It’s also a great adventure. 

That our live is found, not in climbing the ladder, but of living in Jesus, makes us all into more than we would have ever been if we were left to our own devices. That our life is found, not in making it as high as we can, but living amongst the rest of God’s people, put us into contact with people who make us more interesting than we would be on our own. 

Thanks be to God, Jesus has gotten to us, that Jesus refuses to let us think for one moment we stand on our own.

Want to know where you stand?
Look to the cross.