josephholubsermons


 

October 18, 2009 -  Pentecost 20
Mark 10:35-45

 When Being  #1  Is Finishing Last!

 "…whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant."  - Mark 10:36-38

 The Rockies lost this past week!  How many of you know that?  How many of you were sad?  How many were slightly upset?   ow many really don't careHow many really don't care or give
a ...?" 

 A good friend of mine’s spouse is an avid Rockies fan.  Perhaps “avid” does not adequately describe her sentiments.  A better word to describe her feelings about the Rockies might be “fanatic.”  The dictionary definition of fanatic is: “a person with extreme or uncritical enthusiasm.”  Yes, that’s it!  Anyway, my friend emailed me a tongue-in-cheek email the day following the Rockies loss that eliminated them from the playoffs. He said, “(My wife) is still in a deep state of depression. I've been pushing Prozac on her all day with no effect. I'm afraid her depression will last until next spring.”

 I have read commentary of the sports columnists with mild interest over the past few days.  It was just a couple of weeks ago that everyone was singing the praises of the Rockies, their players and their manger, for a great year; a great comeback after a slow start to the season, but over the last few days the tone has changed.  Some of the commentary has been harsh and critical – as if anything that really matters in life ultimately hung on the Rockies winning or losing.  Some are calling into question certain moves the manger made or didn’t make – calling to trade away those players who did not sufficiently produce fruitful results in the playoff series and more.

 It intrigues me that so many of us make such a huge emotional and psychological investment into the success or failure of a particular professional sports team, and I include myself in that description. I must confess that I grew up on the Chicago Cubs, and for a long time was an obsessive/compulsive Cub fan, but all of that changed in NLCS of 2003 when the Cubs came within five outs of going to the World Series and then it all unraveled.  With the Cubs leading 3-0 in the eighth inning, a fan reached for a foul ball interfering with the Cub fielder trying to catch it. That precipitated a series of events resulting in a Cubs loss and Florida Marlins victory.  

 I remember how devastated I felt after they lost, which, in turn, caused me to begin to reflect upon the whole business.  I realized that the word “fan,” defined as a sports devotee, is derived from the word “fanatic.”  I also realized that sports fanaticism appeals to ingrained tribal instincts buried deep in the human psyche, harkening back to a time in pre-history when humans banded together in tribes for the purpose of survival, self-preservation and identity.  

 Many of the rituals that surround sports fanaticism are very much tribal in nature whether it be the clothing worn bearing the emblems of our favorite team or players; certain cheers and rituals that are employed; and of course the perception that other tribes are the enemy; other tribes are adversaries that must be defeated.  The need for the prescribed tribe to win can be so deeply emotionally imbedded that it can even express itself in various forms of violence win or lose.

 I will never forget an incident of many years ago in the mid-1980’s, when a man from the church I was serving invited me to a Denver Nuggets basketball game.  It sounded like a fun way to spend an evening.  Little did I know that this nice man who was a member of the congregation, who weekly  worshipped with his wife, this man who loved gospel music would literally transform into a foul-mouthed, profane, obnoxious, monstrous, out of control fan fanatic screaming at the players, referees, and coaches; conflicting with people sitting around us.  It may have been one of the most awkward and embarrassing experiences of my life – for sure it was the longest evening ever! 

 An underlying cultural value that sports and fan fanaticism unmasks is that our culture doesn't tolerate losers. We want winners. We are obsessed with winning, not merely at sports, but at everything.  We attach self-importance, self-esteem, community and national pride with coming out #1 ahead of everyone else; defeating others.  It's even deeper than that.  Psychologists tell us that many live their lives vicariously through the players on the field, or the star on the TV or theater screen, or the rock star, or the political figure.  If those figure don't win or live up to our expectations, we can feel terribly betrayed, and even experience genuine grief. 

 The fan that interfered with the ball that the Cub fielder tried to catch in 2003, for a lengthy period afterward, needed around the clock police protection because of threats on his life. What's that all about?  What it's about is the same thing that sometimes happens on our little league playing fields when an over-the-top parent is stalking the sidelines chastising coaches, referees and players.  It’s about the obsession to be #1 and to find fulfillment throughing deafeating another, no matter what the cost.

 One of the most refreshing things I've heard in awhile came from one of our confirmation youth a few weeks ago.  We were sharing "highs and lows" from our week around the dinner table, and one of the youth said her "high" was a soccer game her team lost!  I was intrigued by her statement so I said, “Tell me more about that. I am curious how a loss was a high.”  She said, “Oh yes we lost, but we played well against the best team in the league."

How refreshing is that?  Big time by the way I look at things!  They lost, but her self-esteem is still in tack!  They lost but she didn't emotionally disintegrate. 

 In this morning’s gospel we see that James and John were grasping at being #1 in the Kingdom of God.  They wanted Jesus to support and bless their power grabbing scheme of privilege and prestige.  But we must remember, all they were doing was parroting the established values of the prevalent domination system of the culture around them.  They were assuming that the Kingdom of God pretty much operated by the same system of values as the kingdoms of the world: by power, influence, prestige, relative importance, hierarchy, status, leverage, by attaining the status of #1. They bought into the whole power paradigm and merely assumed the Kingdom of God must operate by the same set of values and principles.  They even thought they could mold and shape Jesus to fit into their scheme of power and influence: "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."  Of course, James and John metaphorically represent the ways of a world dedicated to driving and defining all things in terms of power - even faith in God.  

One thing that drives me nuts is when some professional athletes go through the ritual of pointing at the sky, especially when they hit a home run, score a touchdown, or do something great on the athletic field at the expense of their opponent .  The implication is that God really cares about who wins the game or how a player perfoms; as if God gives a rip when millions upon hundreds of millions, somethng like 1/5 of the planet, are either starving to death or grossly undernourished.  The other implication is that God is a kind of warrior God on the side on my particular tribe empowering me to be victorious over my adversary tribe. I experience the ritual to be distasteful and even nauseating.  

 Allow me to take us on a short journey into history for just a moment.  I believe an argument can be made that one of the worst things that ever happened to Christianity was when Emperor Constantine was baptized into Christianity in the year 320, and then finally under Justinian, Christianity became the official and favored religion of the Roman Empire.  It was seemingly an answer to a million prayers.  But was it?  It quickly turned into a nightmare and had a paradoxical effect.  It didn't take long and the long oppressed became the oppressors, and Christians were about the business of persecuting pagans, Jews, and other Christians depending on the theological disposition of the current emperor. 

 They took the figure of Jesus whose entire life was critical of the royal domination system of power and privilege, and recast Jesus into a prototype Roman Emperor.  The same community who had refused to worship the emperor transformed Jesus into a similar kind of oppressive emperor-like figure.

 It is no accident that it was during this time in history that we see the rise of monasticism.  What was monasticism but a reaction against imperialistic, power grabbing Christianity, retreating into the desert to reclaim the humility of Jesus and the servant-hood ministry of Jesus.

 Those early monastic communities lived with the spirit of humility.  They saw Jesus in one another. They believed that Jesus was reflected in every person; not only inside their community but outside as well.  So, they served the communities and people around them regardless: serving peasants, beggars, thieves and prostitutes.   Because they believed Christ was reflected in each person in a particular way, they resisted standing in condemnation and contempt of one another – even those very different who lived outside of prescribed tribal boundaries.

 The Jesus of Mark’s gospel, and the Jesus we see engaging his disciples in this gospel text for today is a Jesus who invited them and invites us into a new consciousness of human life.  Jesus saw past and beyond the traditional consciousness of tribal boundaries drawn for the purposes of security and exclusivity.   In word and action time after time all throughout the gospels Jesus pointed to a reality and a way of living that the disciples never knew existed, and he invited them into it and to live it.  He invited them to step beyond tribal consciousness that up until that point had defined, and limited human life – and to step into a new reality called the Kingdom of God.

• He stepped over boundaries that denigrated the worth of others to give his       followers a vision of a new humanity, and in that vision no one is diminished. 

·         He stepped across boundaries that separated males and females and invited women into full discipleship. 

·         He embraced the rotting flesh of lepers and gave them back their humanity and affirmed in many other encounters that no one was repulsive and no sinful deed made anyone ultimately rejectable.

·         He declared that even sacred religious rules, laws and practices were not ultimate especially when they were used as leverage to marginalize others. 

 And in today’s gospel he challenges his followers to let go of the world’s paradigms of power and prestige, and become God-bearers to one another by serving one another; by assuming a posture of servant-hood.    

 Jesus invites us into a new vision of humanity and consciousness, not based on strict and confining tribal boundaries, or self-serving attitudes, or being #1 as the world’s defines it.   He embodies this new human consciousness in his own life and teachings:  The gospels are vivid pictures of Jesus leading his followers into this new consciousness.    

·         He lifted up the downcast, and humbled those who trusted in power and leverage. (Luke 1:51)

·         He valued the contributions equally of those who had only labored one hour and those who had labored the whole day. (Matthew 20:1-6)

·         He proclaimed that half-breed heretic Samaritans, when they showed compassion to those in need, were more children of Abraham than were the priest and Levite who passed indifferently by the man in the ditch without showing compassion. (Luke10:29-37)

·         He honored the prodigal son because he came to himself and returned home, and Jesus made him equal to the elder brother who never ventured from home or duty. (Luke 15:11ff)

·         He ordered the outcasts and marginalized from the highways and by-ways to come in and enjoy the great banquet of God. (Luke 14:12-24)

·         He placed as great a value on a single sheep lost as on an the entire flock that wasn't lost. (Luke 15:4)

·         He expanded the concept of humanity to include both our enemies and those who are objects of our prejudice and scorn. (Luke 17:16)

·         He even called on his followers to love their enemies  (Matthew 5:43)

 Jesus entered humanity deeply and profoundly; gave his life away and love away freely and lavishly; radically expanded the concept of what it means to be fully and completely human, so much so, that he became, for many, the medium through which the reality of God is expereinced in human history and human life. 

 The more I spend time with this radical Jesus of the gospels, I see that buried in every story, and  evident every text, and revealed in every encounter is an invitation and a challenge to follow Jesus into a new consciousness of humanity and a new way of living and loving. 

 What it gets down to is,  "Are we willing to follow and trust this Jesus?  Are you willing to live with a servant heart and mind?  Am I - where we live, where we work, and even where we play?