Selflessness, Service, and Deep Gladness

Sunday, October 20 2024 – Mark 10:35-45, also Isaiah 53:4-12, Psalm 91:9-16, and Hebrews 5:1-10.

The theme of our readings today is the suffering servant who gives up his own life for the sake of the whole. I have to admit, for good or for ill, I’ve never had to live my life in the service of someone else. Those of you who are parents know much more selflessness than I do. I’ve heard many parents say that when they looked into the eyes of their new baby for the first time, they knew that they’d give up their life for the sake of that child.

I’ve never spent a whole night calming a sick and crying baby with a fever. I’ve never spent day after day tutoring a child in mathematics or science. And I’ve never had to help a teenager navigate their journey through puberty and rollercoaster hormonal changes.

In my own defense, I will say that I’ve been that crying child, I’ve been that student wrestling with new material (well into my adulthood!), and I’ve had to navigate the hellish journey of teenage changes.

But I’ve not had to set aside my own interests for the sake of another on an ongoing basis.

At the same time, I know what it is to want to be of service to some greater purpose and have prayed to be led to that purpose. A theologian named Frederick Buechner once wrote that

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Psychologically, we might say that following the calling of God’s Spirit may be more of a “second half of life” task than one for the first half of life. Psychologist Carl Jung said that in the first half of life we build up a strong ego and focus on establishing our identity in the world – starting a family or building a career. But in the second half of life, our ego is called to bow to the greater Self within us, to the calling that God places on our souls.

When I look at today’s gospel, I see two disciples who are first half of life men. And it’s as if they’ve completely forgotten every blessed thing that Jesus has taught them.

I’ve often pointed out that Jesus was constantly overturning the expectations of the world. Whether it was economic, religious, or political systems, Jesus was showing us that God’s kingdom was not about worldly ideas of power.

It’s actually pretty comedic what James and John, the sons of Zebedee, do.

First, they approach Jesus, the one who has been proclaimed Messiah and son of God, and they say, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” As if Jesus is the big candy machine that will spit out whatever chocolate they desire. Utter foolishness. But Jesus, showing the patience of a saint, responds kindly, saying “What is it that you want me to do for you?” What they want is to sit at the right and left hand of the king.

In other words, they want their leadership positions as disciples of Jesus to award them with power and prestige.

You might remember that last week I spoke of the rich young ruler who hid behind the walls of his money to isolate himself from the suffering of the poor that he may have defrauded. The disciples similarly think that if they seek spiritual power and prestige, they’ll be kept above the suffering hungers of the world and the self-transforming path of crucifixion.

As Bruce Epperly writes,

They see greatness in terms of power and control, and leadership in terms of power over and prestige that separates. They believe leadership places them on a higher spiritual pedestal, distant not only from their fellow disciples but from ordinary humankind. Jesus takes a different path. His relationship with God connects him with human suffering.”

Jesus followed God’s voice. His deep gladness allowed him to set aside his own ego and the world’s expectations and to serve the greater mission that God had in mind to meet the world’s hunger. We at Redeemer are all second half of life people.

So we might be asking, what is the hunger that our deep gladness might meet today? Where is God’s Spirit calling us today?

A Manatee County Health Improvement Plan published just a couple of years ago included these sobering statistics:

• Hospitalization rates for mental disorders among Manatee County residents between 65 and 74 years old were higher than the Florida average in 2018 and suicide rates in Manatee County are higher than the Florida average.
• In 2019, suicide death rates in Manatee County were highest in the 75 and older age cohort, with the second highest rates in the 45-54 age cohort.
• Mothers in Manatee County are under a lot of pressure, especially single moms as the sole care provider for infants and children, and their mental health needs are not being sufficiently addressed. Parents take their stress out on their children and create a cycle of poor mental health.
• Manatee County has higher rates of overweight and obese adults overall and among all races.
• For teens and young adults in Manatee County, the most critical health issues are mental health, substance abuse, obesity/nutrition, and sexually transmitted infections.
• In 2018, almost 10% of students aged 11-17 did something to purposely hurt themselves without wanting to die and over 3,000 students aged 9-17 were considered “seriously emotionally disturbed.”

Our neighbors are suffering and they need our help. Maybe James and John thought that after years of following Jesus, they should be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. That can be a very tempting path.

This church and every other church in America are at a crossroads.

We are facing a decision: will we continue to do what we’ve always done even as that pathway leads us toward slow death or will we allow the Spirit’s winds of change to challenge our habits and ways of thinking? We’ve been here a long time and we love being this Redeemer church and the way it’s been. But have we so strongly identified ourselves with this current way of being that we’re unwilling to discover a new gladness that can meet the hungers that are starving our neighbors, physically, mentally, and emotionally?

Bruce Epperly reminds us that “Our calling as finite creatures, hurtling in space, is to redeem the world in which we live.” I think we can do this when we allow our ego selves to bow to God’s greater calling and grasp that our true well-being is dependent upon the well-being of our larger community. Can we open our eyes, our minds, and our doors to the suffering all around us and live in service to heal that suffering?