Writing of the second candle, the second candle, the Bethlehem candle, represents the preparations being made to receive it and cradle the Christ child. Remember during the second week of Advent the birth of Jesus in the stable, such a simple place for our Lord and Savior to be born. Let's script your readings from Mark 10, verse 35 to 45. Then James and John, the sons of Sevedi, came to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you, he asked? They replied, let one of us bid at your right and the other at your left and your glory. You don't know what you were asking, Jesus said. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can, the answer. Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. When the 10 heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their high officials exercised authority over them. Not so with you, instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slaves of all. For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The word of the Lord. Who is greater in the kingdom? Is it Tony Rose or Molly Carter? Is it Tony Lann or Tara Hawks? Who is greater if you are to rank? Actually, who is greater? Sam Andriatus or Tim Keller? That's an important question. Well, I'm going to give you the answer to both those questions in this very sermon, so pay attention. Mark structures this section of scripture that we're reading from this morning. It's a journey to Jerusalem that's being made here. And along this journey to Jerusalem there's a re-education program that's going on. Jesus is re-educating the disciples. He's the teacher. He's the spelling ignorant. And Mark structures this whole section here of the journey to Jerusalem around three predictions that Jesus makes about what's going to happen when they get to Jerusalem. We call them passion predictions. He's saying, you know, we're going to get to Jerusalem. I'm going to die. And he tells us this three times, tells us once in chapter 8, once in chapter 9, once in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Mark. And our section here, our passage, particular passage, forms the climax along with the next story of this last prediction. Because after each prediction that Jesus makes, there's a parallel show of ignorance by the disciples. And this one is where it comes to a hilt. There's an increasingly poignant ignorance that's demonstrated here in the request of James and John, along with the next request which we didn't read about, which is the quest of blind Bartimaus. It forms the climax of this educational journey, occurring right after Jesus' third passion prediction. And Jesus' answer gets to the heart of the matter, really, just how is this kingdom of God, with all the honor and glory it means for its participants, and it does mean that. How is it to be achieved? And in verse 38, the teacher must charge them that in requesting greatness in the kingdom, they don't understand what they're asking. The disciples do know something, and that forms a kind of contrast, a juxtaposition in the second little storylet between what they know and what they don't know. They know about the rulers of this world. They know how it operates. They know you can identify greatness visibly. I took a taxi ride this week, and I was talking to the guy about where he was from, and he was telling me how he came to America because he fled the corruption in his own government, and how it is that these rulers come into power, and they live like kings, and while the people are starving. This particular guy's country was Nigeria, but after enough of these cab rides, the story all starts to sound the same, because the city cab drivers from all over, from a lot of different countries, and you talk to them enough, you start to hear the same things over and over again about the corruption of particular governments or dictatorships. They get into power, and meanwhile the people are starving. They power rule, they dominate the people for their own advantage. That's what the disciples know about, but what they know does not translate into the kingdom. The disciples don't seem to comprehend yet how differently the kingdom of which they are apart operates. Now, you want to know how different the kingdom is from the empires that you see around you. Let me show you how different. Let me ask you a question. Does the teacher grant their request? Does the teacher grant the request of James and John? This is not a trick question. Shake your head at the preacher. No, right. No. Okay, a little bit harder question. Does the teacher deny them their request? Does he deny them their request? No. He doesn't deny them either. See, the teacher is very careful not to deny James and John their request, nor to grant it. He tells them essentially that he simply doesn't know. This is Jesus talking. You want to explore the mystery of the incarnation here it is. This is Jesus saying, I don't know. It's not my prerogative. It's not mine to grant. To those, it's for those for whom it is prepared. I join miles, though, is where that speaks a future time when things will be consummated, when all will be evident. So the final positioning of his disciples in his kingdom, this is the king talking, is unknown even to Jesus. Well, if then, even those whom he knew best, Jesus could not rank before the consummation of his kingdom, then it must mean that his followers cannot discern a ranking beforehand either. It must mean that. So who is greater, Tony Rosenmolly Carter, the correct answer to that question is, I don't know. Tony doesn't know, Molly doesn't know, I don't know. Same with Tim and Sam. We don't know. I love that. You might think you know, but you don't know. Why? Because only the father really knows our circumstances, only the father really knows individually what we've been giving, what we've been giving, what we've been given, only he knows our obstacle, the personal obstacle, only he really knows. And this ignorance that we have provides the force of many of the assertions that Jesus makes along this journey. You know, he says anyone who would be first, he must be last and servant of all. He says many that are first will be last and the last first and here he says, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. So you see, in these sayings, the teacher is advocating, regardless of the status of anyone before the last day, a deliberate suspension of judgment, even expectation of a reversal of visible status. That's what made it a risky move for me to go into vocational ministry, a risky move for my spiritual life, because there's even an expectation, not in all cases, but in many cases of a reversal of status from things visibly up there. So final ranking is impossible before the end and his followers are called to live mindful of that ignorance. But what they lacked in knowledge, the disciples made up for in desire, maybe you can identify, desire is a key idea in the import of Mark's message to us here. Asking and wishing and requesting and desiring, I'll figure prominently in these two little storylets. Now let me ask you this question, were James and John wrong to make their request? What's your answer to that? Now step carefully with me here, because there's a gap between training and the platform, their first request, let's just look at their first request. We want you to do for us whatever we ask. Let me just ask you about that, was this the wrong thing to say? We want you to do for us whatever we ask. Well, you know, Jesus is teaching on petitioning God is well documented in all the gospels. Ask and you will receive. You have not because you asked not. In the very next chapter in Mark, we get the formula from Jesus, whatever you ask for in faith, you will receive. Same construction, whatever you ask. So far in this passage, James and John are simply embodying the New Testament understanding of God's divine openness to his people. The Father delights to give good things to children, he delights in their proactive pursuit of them. In fact, if you compare Jesus's first response to them here with the response he gives to the blind man in the next story, you'll find no difference. There's no discernible difference. Between what they're saying and then the blind man saying that Jesus says to both of them, well, what do you want? He gives the same response. So there's no difference in Jesus's response to them and let's not there, let there not be an hour either towards James and John here. All this first exchange reveals that Christ had created an environment in which his followers felt comfortable approaching him with the request. He welcomed their request. Let's move to the second request on to the next verse, in verse 35 through 37, and it's really the heart's desire of the two disciples. We're moving to the principal statement because their request in verse 35 through 37 and his response in verse 38 through 40, center on this desire to sit with him and glory in the second place of the kingdom. We may certainly I think discern surprise in Jesus's reaction to their desire, but may we discern criticism? If you're being critical of them, we're the words of James and John outrageous to Jesus. Well, let me point out some things to you. First of all, the New Testament didn't just drop out of the sky. The New Testament is following in a fulfillment of, and Jesus says that he's a fulfillment of, old Testament background of God dealing with Israel. So our interpretation must be sensitive to the promises for restoration of the Davidic kingdom for which the disciples did rightly hope. The Old Testament background against which we must understand the disciples' expectations, and Jesus' heralding of the kingdom of God is Israel's history of victory, exile, and promised restoration. That's the that's the meta narrative of what's going on here. So the disciples didn't err in expecting a physical kingdom over all the earth. They didn't err in thinking that. It's just that they need to learn that on this Jerusalem journey, this reeducation program, that by divine design, it was going to come about by a very different route. Kind of a roundabout route. So secondly, far from discouraging the desire for greatness in this kingdom, the teacher here, if you read it, is actually encouraging it. He says, they say, I wish to do this, and he says, well, if anyone wishes to be great, they must become servants of one another. Well, obviously the teacher wants us all to be servants of one another, so that can only mean that he's encouraging by this promise the desire to be great. In fact, the teacher's immediate answer to them puts them on the same path that he's walking. You will indeed drink a cup. You will indeed be baptized. And the path that he's walking to is one of glory and power, ultimately. You know, he's been teaching them about that glory all through the Jerusalem journey. Okay, he promises to come in chapter 8 and the glory of his father with his holy angels. You know, he lets them glimpse that glory first hand on the mount of transfiguration. Okay, so that's what he's promising them. And actually, if you read a kind of similar account of this conversation in Luke's Gospel in Luke chapter 22, we find that Jesus is also teaching them that they're going to be sitting on thrones. That place, he actually says, outright, you will be sitting on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus is all-in-out saying, you are going to be sitting on thrones. So if this kind of teaching has been going on along this Jerusalem journey, then is a request for particular thrones that wrong to make. And before you condemn James and John and their thirst for thrones, you should also note a few other things than the points that Mark makes about them. And that is these two, James and John, along with Simon Peter, were afforded special privileges by Jesus. Okay, these three were, well, they were the only ones that were permitted to witness the raising of Cyrus's daughter. They were the only three that were invited up to the transfiguration. Later on the Gospel, these are the three that, you know, are with Jesus closely and during his agony in the garden. So these three definitely had a privileged position. They had a privileged place among Jesus's disciples. There's no question about that. So their request then, rather than being out of line, in light of these things, is really exactly in accord with the privileges Jesus had afforded them. And also the teaching he had been giving them and the medianic expectation that he had been encouraging in them. So the teacher's wide response here is to work with their desire for greatness, not against it. Okay, now I know if you're in here and you're a non-Christian, you're an unbeliever. You're sitting there saying, well, yeah, okay, okay. You know, why are you going on and on like this? Why do you actually have to prove it? Well, it's because, you know, there are a lot of Christians in here as well. This is a church. And you got to understand something. Christians have this real terror of the P word. Okay. Five letters where the P word is pride. In fact, it's a good rule of thumb. You want to be able to tell a difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. Just bring up the word pride in conversation. Okay. To a non-Christian, the word pride is something good. To a Christian, the word pride is something bad. And so just see a reaction. It's a good kind of down and dirty way to tell. Why is this? Why is this? Because when someone becomes a Christian, it's a process of a realization that there's this. Christian comes to a conclusion that there's been this monster in their living room all along and this monster is this desire to be God. Non-Christian doesn't think about this at all. Okay. The Christian thinks about this all the time. And so the very suspicious of anything that might signal that that monster is around. What I'm trying to say to you here is that Jesus doesn't identify the desire for greatness with this monster called pride. And developing this, I'm developing this carefully because many of you came to New York with a desire to be great in something. So you came here. You came to be great many of you. Now one thing that you won't get from this pulpit is a condemnation of that desire because I don't see Jesus condemning James and John here for their desire for greatness. That in itself is not a bad thing. If you're willing to be taught by Jesus as James and John were about the way to really achieve greatness, then you are on the right track. So Jesus is not condemning the two disciples in his response here and what's he doing? Okay. The problem again is this reeducation thing promise ignorance of God's ways and Jesus' adjustments here is a mezianic vision. They need to learn certain facts about the way the kingdom of God is coming. Okay. And Jesus' introduction to his answer, you know, you don't know what you're talking about is kind of saying that. Right. Now really, let me just bring out three steps on the road to greatness. You want to be great, three things you got to think about. Suffering sacrifice and service. Okay. I would put it this way. Okay. The road to greatness lies in this phase of the kingdom. Greatness is linked to suffering. The suffering will be a sacrifice for many and that sacrifice will take the form of service. Okay. First of all, yes, it's linked to suffering. Greatness is. You know, Jesus' words to them are kind of startling. They are asking about greatness. He responds to the warning about suffering. He says, are you able to drink their cup? Are you able to receive the baptism? And the cup that Jesus is talking about is a cup of suffering. He uses this imagery again in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he says, oh, Father, you know, if this cup can pass from me, let it pass. What's he talking about? A cup of the cross. A cup of his suffering. And similarly, I appreciated this, the author by Ryan because the imagery of baptism is also one of being overwhelmed in trouble. A lot of people don't think about that when they think about baptism, but that's also an imagery of going through trouble. Okay. And Jesus uses it in another place. He clearly is saying he's referring it to the cross. This is baptism. I have to go through. So at the very least, then, we can discern in his immediate reaction that in Jesus' mind, greatness is linked to suffering. And Mark spends a lot of time describing the suffering of Christ. And you put it all together. It conveys the overall message of the teacher has really chosen this road to suffering. And his followers should be prepared to do the same. And irony, really, of the three crucifixions at the end of the story shouldn't escape us. Okay. Mark is very deliberate, you know, saying when they crucified Jesus, they crucified two robbers. One in his right hand, one in his left. So at the climax of this educational journey to Jerusalem, you see the visions proposed by the disciples were two glorious thrones, but what actually accompanies the king on the climax of his passion in Jerusalem are two crosses of shame, one in his right, one in his left. Such as the road to glory is what we're saying. So we often rail on James and John here because it seems to me that they took in just what Jesus said and they proved it the rest of their lives. Okay. If you look at their history, these men did become great in the sacrifices that they made. Okay. The teacher's prophecy over the two favorite disciples here came true. They did indeed drink. Acts 12 tells us that James, you know, after many sacrifices, met a violent death of martyrdom at the hand of Herod. And John also certainly was not exempt from persecution, lived a long life of sacrifice. So this suffering is not simply any suffering. These images that Jesus uses, if we develop them, we could see that they were their images of divinely appointed judgment. And so he's saying that the Messiah's suffering is a drinking of God's wrath. He's more explicit here at the very end, verse 45. He says it's a suffering of the Son of Man as a sacrifice in which he gives his life in the place of many. But Jesus doesn't call his followers to that experience since it's been done, but through union with him and because of that, his followers do partake of a greatness suffering in a sacrifice for many. Okay. By connecting his own experience with that of James and John in verse 38 through 39, Jesus teaches that our path to greatness is like his in this way that it will involve a sacrifice for many. Now, from Mark's audience, okay, that involved persecution in our country, even in our city, you know, we don't get persecuted yet. But the Jesus is telling us we can still achieve greatness. Who are the many for which the kingdom, the great of the kingdom sufferer. And he explains it when he says, you know, it's those in our community. Okay. The great of them shall be the servants of them. The greatest among you shall be your servant. And we can understand his words and two spheres, I think, church and work. Okay. Greatness and church. You know, that's what we're doing today before we really get into the incarnation in the next three weeks. Is we're looking at these deconcandidates who come before us. And that's why we can say quite clear that they're taking a step of greatness because they're taking a step to multiply the number of people that they're serving. That's going to involve sacrifice. And more, you can serve the greater that you are in this kingdom. So that's why we know these folks, we honor them and cherish them who are taking this step because we know it's a step of greatness. And please note that this kind of greatness in this kingdom can only be achieved in community. Right. The verb here really means when it says, you know, how people rule over others in the visible kingdoms around you. It really gives a sense of the lordship over people to their disadvantage and to one's own advantage. It's a kind of ruling that separates you from the people. And this kingdom greatness that Jesus is talking about can't be achieved alone. It can't be achieved by separating you from the people outside the believing community or in distinction from it. Because greatness comes through sacrificial service to that community. You cannot achieve greatness alone because the path to greatness involves serving other people. Sorry. So that's what's happening here at church. But you know, does this mean that if you want to be great in Christ kingdom, you need to quit your job and go into vocational ministry? Is that what it means? Absolutely not. Let's dispel that misconception. You can be great in Christ kingdom in your work. But if you really want to achieve true greatness in the work that you're doing in your job or in your industry, you're going to have to, according to Jesus, come to terms with some important dynamics about how it's going to work. First of all, you have to reconsieve of your job as a service to many. It's a way you have to begin to think about it. Doing it right may involve pain because of the way the world works and the current phase of the kingdom. You will inevitably be going against the grain of things at some point. But you know, that's the way things are set up right now. That's this era of the kingdom. This is the era of adventures. We're on the way to Rivendell. We haven't got there yet. We're not at the place of rest. Now, this is essentially Jesus formula. The formula is essentially the greater the greatness desired, the greater the suffering required, the greater the service inspired. You might be thinking, well, I don't understand how to conceive of my job that I do as a service to others. Well, that's a great question for this Q&A time that we have after the service. We gather back here about 10 minutes after the service. We go for about 20 minutes and you can ask questions like that. Now, as you know, I'm having a blast doing this Q&A. Last week someone asked, why are parts of the Bible so boring? Then someone else asked, what's wrong with the gospel according to Thomas? Why don't we use that? Why are we just limiting our knowledge of Jesus to these four? What's up with that? There are these questions that it's really a no-hold barred kind of discussion. We find that there's that line of question. There's also a line of question and people's mind that seems to be, you know, I understand what you're saying. How do I get that into my life? How do I, you know, turn radical into a prayer? How do I become more like Jesus in this way? And those are also wonderful questions to try to explore. Things are being stirred in you and you want to continue that. That's something we do there as well. So, Jesus formula is the greater the greatness desire, the greater the suffering required, the greater the service inspired. Now, why is the kingdom like this? Why is it like this? This is something you've got to get because otherwise, you know, your sacrifice, your suffering doesn't mean anything. And, you know, some of you might be saying, well, you know, you lost me back there when you started talking about suffering. No, I'm not into that. No thanks. How is it that you've become excited about this, about Jesus's path to the kingdom? Because, you know, Mark is making a contrast here, surely, in the way he's telling the story. He's contrasting the disciples who are holding back during this journey. They're amazed, they're afraid. Whereas, Jesus is striding forward toward his demise, interversely. How are they changed into these people of greatness that they became? Well, while Mark is certainly making a contrast, Jesus, when he talks about the disciples, he doesn't make a contrast, he makes a comparison, not a contrast. Perhaps the two most important words in this passage are the ones that begin in verse 45. For even, you see the argument of the second little storylet there is really made on those two words. The pivot is, it is not so among you, he says. But in verse 45, the teacher explains why they behave in this way. It's the logic of the good news of Jesus Christ that can tell his comparison between the students and the teachers. It's not so in this kingdom because of the king. See, even in Jesus' initial response to James and John, he emphasizes himself as the key to what they want. It's the king who makes the sacrifice that makes the kingdom a place to sacrifice. Now, he uses this word ransom, meaning that his sacrifice is going to pay for them. It's very explicit Jesus has been here about what he came to do and what's going to happen on the cross. There has been so much written on this verse, verse 45, probably more than any other verse in Mark's Gospel. And there's been a great deal of debate about what it means as far as I can tell because people don't like what it says. It's very explicit here, and he actually uses a preposition in Greek that means in the place of. He is giving his life in the place of the many. As of Ransom, right there in the grammar. So, as usual, this, you know, theologically immense idea is brought up to support a practical point about life. How do you become this great person for even the son of man must give his life as a ransom for many? That's why it works that way among you as well. The kingdom is like this because the king, the greatest one, will suffer and sacrifice and serve in an ultimate way. So, suffering service divinely ordained, therefore, is what seekers of greatness in the messianic kingdom can expect. We're ignorance of the rank in the kingdom that we have, but he welcomes the desire to seek it, to seek the highest throne for which we're fit by suffering in the service of the many in the kingdom because the son of man has suffered for us. And it's our union with him. So, what I'd like to do to conclude here, actually, let's conclude right there. Let's go to the table. The reason I wanted to go to the table here is because these two images that Jesus uses of suffering, the cup and baptism actually become our two sacraments in the church. And it's the way we identify with what Christ has done for us. It's the way we celebrate. That isn't an Lord's sufferer. We're going to do a celebrate the Lord's sufferer, the Eucharist. And when I start by saying that the Eucharist is the family meal of Christians, we invite all committed followers of Jesus Christ for take of this sacrament. Those who are baptized members under the care and oversight of congregation, which proclaims the gospel, who are at peace with God and their neighbor, who seek the strength to live more faithfully for Christ. If you're not a Christian or if you are unprepared, excuse me, to share in this meal, we encourage you to spend this time in prayer using the prayers that follow as guidelines. We hope that this time is helpful to you as you consider your relationship with Jesus Christ and with his people, the church. Please stand and let's say a great Thanksgiving. The Lord be with you and also with you. Lift up your heart. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks to praise. It is indeed right. It is our duty and our joy at all times in all places to give you thanks and praise Holy Father, Heavenly King Almighty and Eternal God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. And now we give you thanks because you raised him gloriously from the dead. For he is the true Paschal Lamb who has suffered for us to take away the sin of the world. By his death he has destroyed death by his rising again.