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Based on the Gospel of the Day - Mark 10 – 35-45
"And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to listen to him, and said to him , "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.... ..Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory"
We may well think that James and John were a tad cheeky – asking Jesus “for a favour”. Of course it gets worse, when we realise exactly what they were asking for. But it's not so far away from what we often do ourselves – asking God for favours – isn’t that what often passes for prayer? Oh God if only you could do this or fix that or help so and so to get better. Oh God, do me a favour….and help me to write this homily! There’s nothing wrong with all of that, providing, it is not our only kind of prayer. The favour that the sons of Zebedee ask for, somewhat backfires on them because Jesus then goes out of his way to make it clear to them that what he expects of his disciples is quite the contrary. I suppose if that outrageous favour had been granted, then the next argument would be, which one of them would be on the right and which on the left – I know what brothers are like, I’ve got one and I am one! And what Jesus expects of his disciples, he expects of us. We sometimes say that we should be careful what we wish for…we also need to be careful what we pray for. In the sense that any prayer which is based on our own personal ambition or self aggrandisement will probably end up being a humbling experience for us. Such favours, we are told, are not the Lord’s to grant.
As followers of Christ, I suspect that our real problem is not so much that we ask God for two many favours or even the wrong kind of favour. It is that we forget who has the authority to give and to create. If we follow through the self-Importance route taken up by James and John, we end up feeling that it is us who are doing God a favour.
“Dear God you are so very lucky that I’ve come here to worship you today, that I’ve taken an hour out of my very busy schedule when I could have been doing so many other interesting and exciting things. And I give thanks that I’m not like those other people who only want to get their children into the right school. The people around me think that I’m really quite important – so it’s kind of good that they can see that I come to church and make some time for you. Anyway Lord, you can see I’ve made the effort but I may have to leave a bit early today, after all, Sunday is the only day I can shop, but I’m sure you’ll understand. Not quite sure about next week yet – doesn’t seem to be a Mass that will fit my schedule, but I’m really pleased to be able to be here for you this week!”
Of course that is a caricature, but it seems to me that organised religion can so easily focus on what we can do for God rather than what God has already done for us and what God continues to do in, with and for us.
One of the weekday prefaces prayers expresses this very succinctly:
You have no need of our praise,
Yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.
Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness
But makes us grow in your grace,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord…
In other words, we can never do God a favour, God doesn’t need our thanks or praise, but somehow we’re better off for having offered it.
In a sense, James and John could be forgiven for not realising what Jesus was about to do for them. The full drama of the cup and baptism he talks about had not yet been fully played out. We have the benefit of two thousand years of tradition which convinces us of the truth of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The only favour we really need from God is the one we have already been given; forgiveness and redemption. The son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. If we concentrate on what’s in it for us then it is remarkably easy to forget or block out that call to service or sacrifice. James and John have in fact, done us all a great favour themselves, because for us, their request immediately appears as absurd and their understanding of what Jesus is about seems seriously flawed. Until that is, we hold up the Gospel to our own lives and test ourselves against the same standard. A throne of glory may not be on offer, but a little kudos here and there wouldn’t go amiss for most of us!
This story then, brings us back to earth. It helps us once again to be grounded in God’s truth and not our own subjective interpretation of it. Nothing we can do can add to God’s glory, but what God has already done can add to ours – if only we let it. And we don’t have to try too hard. The atheist philosopher, Nietzsche once famously said, that 'the trouble with you Christians is you don’t even look redeemed!' That’s what happens when we spend too much time trying to convince God that he’s lucky to have us as his creatures. We simply don’t enjoy being part of God’s plan and we spend our time working against it rather than resting with it. That’s why religion can seem to be such hard work – its really quite difficult trying to improve God’s self image all the time! The latest ad campaign for a well known German car manufacturer give the impression that joy can be bought – well it doesn’t do it for me because as you know – I prefer Italian cars! Real joy can only be caught by accepting God’s invitation to the truth.
If we spend more time rejoicing in our freedom and in the favour from God that we call grace, then we might begin to realise what it is and who it is we have been set free to do and to be.
It is often said that the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. Never more so than in the suffering servant song from Isaiah. The servant who gives his life to justify many is the same one who calls his followers to serve each other and to show that by doing so, the Kingdom starts here.In the Kingdom we won’t need any favours from God and he certainly won’t want any from us!