The Upside-Down Kingdom

As someone who has been asked to preach on very short notice, I like to look at the lectionary passages for the upcoming Sunday. This coming week, the Gospel passage is Mark 10:35–45. This passage is James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asking Jesus to place them at his right and left sides when he comes into his kingdom. I have the text below, but this passage highlights how the disciples got the kingdom wrong even as they experienced the ministry of Jesus. Before we discuss what it means and comparing this telling to the Gospel of Matthew, let’s look at the scripture.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:35–45 NRSVue)

The difference has always fascinated me in this account and the one in the Gospel of Matthew. The account in Matthew has the mother of James and John making this request. The Gospel of Mark does not let the brothers off the hook so easily. In the context of the Gospel of Mark, this makes sense. This Gospel is most concerned with the theological idea that the Christ is a martyr whose witness of God is dangerous and threatens the religious and political powers. If you wish to dig into this aspect of Mark, I suggest the book, To Share in the Body by Craig Hovey. In the context of a martyrial ministry, the brothers coming directly to Jesus highlights the isolation of the faithful martyr. Not only are those who are threatened by his ministry against him, the very people he has called to walk with him in ministry keep missing the point. But we can forgive them because their experience of who God is and who Messiah should be has been shaped by the powerful or the zealous for centuries. Their vision of Jesus, even after countless evidence to the contrary, is of a violent and retributive Messiah bringing pain to the oppressors. In their request to be in places of power, the brothers Zebedee are simply living out there assumed purpose of the Messiah. Jesus tells them that they will drink the cup he will drink and be baptized with a coming baptism, but the ability to place them at his right and left is not his to grant. In hindsight, we see foreshadowing of Jesus crucified between two criminals. But then Jesus uses the anger of the rest of his disciples toward James and John to teach about his Kingdom again.

This passage has deep truth about the ways of power in the world. Jesus reminds them that the gentiles recognize leaders as power wielding tyrants. They would see this as the opposition to the structures of power. Rime claimed to bring peace and did. But that peace was only held as far as Rome’s might and violence were feared. Jesus lays out the truth of the upside-down kingdom of God. The ways of this world’s power are not that of Jesus follows. Instead, Jesus tells the disciples that among them, the ones who become great will be those who are like servants. He even claims that those who wish to become great must become as slaves to all. Jesus compares this to his own mission. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 NRSVue) The Gospel of Mark gives us no time to really soak this in until we see a picture of this almost immediately following this story. Because we have the healing of blind Bartimaeus and then Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The narrative is quickening toward the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders and he enters the city, not as a conquering hero, but as a martyr on a donkey.

I have heard this passage preached and taught, and often there is a tendency to see the request of James and John as something we would never do. Yet, I see those in the Church make similar decisions as if we were still in a right side up Kingdom where the great are powerful tyrants. Maybe it is because we still get God wrong; even after we have the example of who God truly is within the revelation of Jesus. If we see God as hating those we hate, being aligned with our partisan political parties, or as destroyer of people and things we do not like, are we not living in old creation? Does this not sound more like Jesus' example of the great among the gentiles of tyrants? We replace the perfect anthropomorphic example of God in Jesus, with our own desire to have God be the god we would be. New creation demands something different. New creation is more concerned with bringing the Kingdom come than with continuing to create the kingdom done. While it is understandable to make decisions out of fear, Christians should be the last people whose decisions are ruled by fear and the talk of the powerful. Yet, many continue to seek the truth in political partisanship and dualistic good and evil tropes as ways to embrace the false peace and hope of Empire rather than the perfect peace and love which casts out fear.

No matter who is in power, Jesus is still Lord of all. Maybe we should act like we believe that. No matter which party or ideology holds sway in a nation, the Church should remain a prophetic voice. We must be willing to speak the truth regardless of whether we agree with the partisan in power. If that person makes bad decisions or ones that harm humanity, we should speak against those decisions. We must unshackle ourselves from the partisan ways of the world and show a better way of living in new creation. The truth is that all human forms of government are rooted in the power of the world. It has always been this way. We just miss the point because of the idea that things must be this way. The people of Israel once demanded an earthly king. The prophet Samuel told them the warning of God of what would happen with an earthly king. Every one of those things happened over and over. The stories of Israel’s kings is a story of what happens when the powers rule. Read 1 Samuel 8 and then consider the rest of the stories of Israel following. It is stories of a people torn asunder by power both domestic and foreign. The prophets spoke into this reality and yet the people kept missing the point of who God is and what God requires. The overall theme is mercy, not sacrifice. The disciples missed it, James and John missed it in a big way. But they all missed it because they still viewed God and salvation in the terms of earthly power.

No matter the outcome of the U.S. election upcoming, the Church needs to seek the Lordship of Christ. This means rejecting the halls of power as a location for the Church. To fully be the incarnate body of Christ, the Church, should be living outside those halls in order to be with those who are in need and do not have the power. We must reflect the image of Jesus rather than the powers. We must reject the idea that our battle is with flesh and blood so we can confront the powers with the love of God. I am not going to tell people how to vote, but I will say that the minute we ascribe good and evil as dualistic black and white choices between candidates or parties, we miss the point that both have good and evil. It is the mission of the Church to show a more excellent way that lives into the love of God and neighbor. This mission remains regardless of the government we live under. Caesar always claims the ability to bring peace, but that is only present in Christ. Live in the reality of an upside-down kingdom.