July 16, 2023

Mark 10:42-45

Broadway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Columbia, MO

 We’re spending three weeks reflecting on Broadway’s Values: Broad Hearts. Broad Minds. Broad Reach. Last week, Broad Hearts. This week, Broad Reach. Somebody says, “Hey, wait a minute. You’re out of order. You skipped over Broad Minds.” To which I say, “I know. I know. Here’s why. We had guests from Kenya during Discipleship Hour tell us about the Partners for Care ministry supported by Broadway’s broad reach way over in East Africa with special music to come from David and Sammy. And we had a week of VBS during which one of the stops the kids made every day was to learn about mission: Broadway’s reach to El Salvador far off, to the food insecure and homeless near at hand, and through CareLink to one another. And when Kate and Sarah invited the kids to bring an offering to be given to the Center for Early Learning North, our box of balls, jump ropes and outdoor toys runneth over by day three, so broad was the reach of our youngest disciples. You can’t go a day at Broadway and not be aware of the broad reach of this church to each other within these walls and beyond them to others near and far.

The value is Broad Reach. The word is service. The model is Jesus. The website says We embody the reach of Christ through love and service to all. Luci read Jesus’ words to his first disciples that yet speak to us: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Mark 10:45). If discipleship is about following Jesus in order to become like Jesus, then serving like Jesus served is the telltale sign of a bona fide disciple of Christ. If you want to know whether it’s a real diamond or a sparkling fake, you may need to have a jeweler take a look at it with a jeweler’s monocle.  If you want to know whether it’s a genuine $20 dollar bill or a forgery, a yellow marker will reveal a watermark if it’s the real thing. And if you want to know if the person who says “I’m a Christian” really is one, the litmus test is a servant’s heart – a broad reach.

By contrast, Mark’s gospel tells us James and John went to Jesus one day not seeking to serve but to be served. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you” (Mark 10:35). Now, I don’t know about you, but I hear that and I think, Red flag! Here’s what I mean. If your child sidles up to you and says, “Mommy/Daddy, would you do for me whatever I ask?” Look out!  Or, if your beloved puts on his or her sweet-talkin’ tone of voice and says, “Darlin’, would you do me a little favor?” Beware!  I wonder how many of our prayers sound to God like, “Lord, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you.”  

Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:36) and James and John responded, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Now, I understand that mindset. We are, after all, ramping up to primary season in politics. (Sheesh. I can hardly wait.) Each candidate will be surrounded by campaign workers who hope their candidate wins so they’ll be rewarded. That’s how it works, right? The people who work hard tromping all over Iowa, New Hampshire, and beyond may get appointed to privileged positions on their candidate’s right and left hand sides when they come into power. Well, James and John saw Jesus as running for Messiah on the Kingdom of God ticket and were willing to campaign with him from Galilee to Samaria to Judea. They saw their candidate picking up some momentum, said, Jerusalem D.C. here we come! and asked Jesus, “When you win, we’d like cabinet positions — one of us at your right hand and one at your left.” But don’t roll your eyes at James and John. After all ­– be honest – it’s possible to think to yourself, If I’m doing all this for God now, it’d better pay off later. I deserve something for sitting through all these worship services, all those meetings, giving all that offering. When you come into your glory, Lord, would you let me sit at your right hand? We, too, may secretly hope the Lord will do us a favor for following faithfully.

But Jesus said to James and John, “You don’t know what you are asking” (Mark 10:38). The RSV translation of the Bible – the Revised Shirey Version – translates Jesus’ response as, “You two are clueless. You just don’t get it, do you?” Then, with his broad reach, Jesus put his arms around James and John, his two wannabe disciples and said, “You want to be great, do you? Be servants.” Hard stop. Mic drop. Class dismissed. Be servants.

Jesus practiced what he preached. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” Think about the trajectory of Jesus’ life: from heaven down to earth, down into the muddy Jordan for baptism, down to his knees to wash his disciples’ feet, and at last laid down in a stone-cold tomb. In the Apostle Paul’s words, “Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death— even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8) Said the late Henri Nouwen, Jesus chose to lead a life of downward mobility.

Several years ago, a church received a notice from Publisher's Clearinghouse. Since those mailings are form letters computers “personalize” by inserting recipients’ names into a salutation – Dear So-and-So – some computer scanned an Assemblies of God congregation’s mailing address and sent a letter that read:

Dear God, Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the finalists in the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes. This is your chance, God!  Great fortune and a fabulous future await you. But you must come forward now, God.

Well, God has come forward. And as Scripture makes clear, it was not to claim a sweepstakes prize, but to claim a life of servanthood. Jesus was a Savior with his sleeves rolled up.  Equal parts inspiration and perspiration. As his followers, we’re to aspire to the same: not to be served, but to serve. We’re to be a people of broad reach. 

Which raises a question: How might we serve in ways that would broaden our reach? Now, it’s not like Broadway has its arms at its side, its hands in its pockets, failing in serving. Far from it! You tithe your budget – 10% to mission – and ask dear old M.O.M. (Mission and Outreach Ministries) to reach out broadly with those gifts to serve near and far. Bravo! You’ve called forth new Priority Action Teams to deepen and broaden your reach to several communities including our LGBTQIA+, Racial/Ethnic, and Every Ability Flourishes brothers and sisters. You’re reaching out to all creation through Green Chalice. And that’s just scratching the surface of your reach as a congregation.

But I’m wondering if there’s room for broader reaches on a personal level. Ask yourself this morning the question I asked myself this week: Who, specifically, is Jesus calling me to reach out to that would broaden my reach? One of the beauties of Bob Goff’s book that we’re reading together, Everybody, Always, are all the specific ways that fool for Christ concocts to love particular people in particular circumstances. You see, it’s one thing to wax eloquently about love in general, but it’s another thing to show love in particular. One guy said, “I love people in general, it’s particular human beings I can’t stand!” So who are particular people Jesus calls you to reach out to that would s-t-r-e-t-c-h your reach?

For some of us, maybe our charity needs to begin at home. I can just kick myself sometimes when I realize how I can be my best around perfect strangers and my worst at home. Is there someone in your family or extended family it’s time for you to reach out to? 

Or someone at work? In the office, things get tangled in a vortex of who does what how to the point that staffs and coworkers can end up in a knot of sharp elbows and tart tongues. Is your workplace someplace with someone you need to reach out to? 

Or how about your church family?  I’ve never witnessed it myself in my forty years of ministry, but I’ve heard about rare and isolated incidents in which fellow church members, rather than reaching out, have a falling out over everything from something the pastor said to the something the other person said or did or didn’t say or do to the color of the paint in the restrooms. Maybe somebody has had a falling out with a brother or sister in Christ that begs for a reaching out.

Maybe you have a neighbor you need to reach out to. Somebody heard Jesus’ words “Love your neighbor as yourself” and muttered, “Jesus must not know my neighbors!” Yes he does and his mandate remains: “Love them.”

With VBS just completed, I’m mindful Jesus listed children as neighbors deserving his disciples’ reach. Years ago, I read that for children and youth’s sense of self-worth and esteem to develop in a healthy way, they need to hear themselves called by name by at least seven non-parental adults each week. A teacher. A coach. A neighbor. Someone at church. Do you know some of Broadway’s children and youth by name to where you can greet them with sincerity and enthusiasm? 

The bottom line is this: James and John wanted a cushy position at Jesus’ right and left hands, but he aspired to kneel and wash their right and left feet. “Whoever would be great among you,” he told them, “must be your servant.” By that definition of greatness, Ella was a great woman who was a member of the church I served in St. Louis years ago. Ella visited everybody in that church regularly – hospitalized, homebound, brokenhearted, lonely – Ella would visit them. She told me once it was the least she could do for the Lord to look after the older folks. She was 86 at the time. Every few weeks, she’d go out to nursing homes, kneel down, and trim residents’ toenails. When she told me that the first time, I scrunched up my nose. Eew! And she said, “David, do you know that story about Jesus kneeling down at his disciples’ feet and washing them?” I nodded.  Then she got a faraway look in her eyes and said, “When I’m down on my knees doing nails, I feel really close to Jesus.” What a great woman! I want to be like her when I grow up because Albert Schweitzer, the great humanitarian, theologian, musician, and medical missionary wrote, “I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” 

Would you come with me for a moment, please? Be James to my John. Let’s go and ask Jesus a question: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you … Teach us to serve.” 

Let all who aspire to a broad reach say, AMEN.