Proper 20 B (22 October 2006)

Isaiah 53:4-12 & Mark 10:35-45

Pr. George L. Murphy

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Akron OH

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES

James and John want the places of honor in the kingdom of God, sitting closest to Christ, “one at your right hand and one on your left, in your glory.” Like the other disciples, they haven’t understood what Jesus has been telling them about his own path to glory. Just before our text he told them for the third time that he would be condemned, humiliated, killed – and would rise again. He tells them that they will follow the same path, that they will drink his cup and be baptized with his baptism. But the places at his right and left aren’t his to give. They are “for those for whom it has been prepared.”

So who will be in those places of honor in the kingdom of God? Have you ever thought about that? How about Mary and Peter – the Mother of our Lord and the Prince of the Apostles. That sounds reasonable. Perhaps it will be two others of the twelve who are better qualified than James and John. Or maybe Jesus means two of the great saints of the Old Testament, like Abraham and David. Who will be at the right and left of the Messiah when he is enthroned?

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified [Jesus]. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” And with

Him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus dies in bad company, among criminals. He was, after all, condemned as a criminal. And one of the things about him that offended the religious people was that he often associated with notorious sinners, with tax collectors and prostitutes. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” they’d ask disapprovingly. So on one level it isn’t at all surprising that he died among sinners. That’s where he spent a lot of time during his life.

On another level it’s very surprising. We’re not just talking about some carpenter and itinerant preacher who liked to hang out with people on the fringes of polite society. We’re talking about the Holy One of God, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And why does he die as one of them?

But maybe this is something we should have expected. That old text from Isaiah that was our First Lesson says that the servant of the Lord “was numbered with the transgressors” and “they made his grave with the wicked.” Apparently there is something appropriate – even something necessary – about Christ being found in bad company. It’s what his being the servant of the Lord was all about.

The other ten disciples are upset with James and John – they’re probably mad that they didn’t think of getting their requests in first! But all of them have failed to grasp what Jesus has been telling them: Being in the places of honor means being there for others. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” Christ came to be among sinners because he came to save sinners – not just to give them a little help but to save them. He came to exchange their sin for his perfect righteousness. God “made him to be sin who knew no sin,” St. Paul says, “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus’ association with sinners wasn’t a matter of religious slumming but an essential aspect of his mission. When he ate with tax collectors and prostitutes, he wasn’t sitting at a separate table. He was with them, being one of them. And when the police sweep comes to round up the troublemakers , he allows himself to be taken with them.

Christ comes to be with sinners – both the respectable law-abiding sinners and the dregs of society jailbird sinners. And on the other hand, those who want to be with Christ have to be willing to be counted as sinners. High class or bums, it makes no differences. He came “to call not the righteous but sinners.”

So what does this mean for good churchgoing folks like us? In order to be part of Jesus’ fellowship, do we have to become sinners? No, of course we don’t have to become sinners – because we already are.

We don’t have to pretend that we’re sinners because we simply are. “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” We said that in the general confession a few minutes ago and it pretty much sums up what we’re capable of on our own. Any righteousness that we have as our own possession amounts to a few fragments of half-hearted attempts to be good people and stay out of trouble.

Oh, we may be a bit better than average in terms of everyday up and down the street morality. St. Paul’s is a pretty respectable church and most of us have been able to stay out of jail. But that makes it easier for us to fool ourselves about our own condition, like the religious people in Jesus’ time. The tax collectors and prostitutes, on the other hand, didn’t have any illusions about themselves.

You are sinners. And if you put your trust in Christ you are saints, clothed with his righteousness. That’s what it means for us now to be in the presence of Christ. We can be realistic and honest about ourselves, knowing that every day we fall short of perfection but still having confidence that we are loved and accepted by God. That is because we don’t have to rely on our attempts at righteousness but on the perfect righteousness of Christ. It is always something that is being given to us, not something that we can claim as our own private property, and for that very reason something we can trust, in a way in which we can’t trust in our own achievements.

To say this – that Christians are both sinners and saints, both unrighteous and justified - is not a putdown. It shouldn’t be a reason to continually beat ourselves up for our failings or think that we’re unable to do anything good. Because we are given the righteousness of Christ, we can be sure that we are accepted by God and are his people – in spite of our failings. We don’t have to worry about whether we’ve done enough to satisfy God. We haven’t and it doesn’t matter. It is Christ who is our righteousness before God.

And because of that we are free to serve God and our neighbor without worrying about whether or not what we do is going to earn any gold stars from God. You can do your best to treat other people as you would like to be treated, and support the work of the church, and contribute your time and money to causes that you think will improve the world, and work for what you think are the best candidates and issues in the upcoming election, because of what you perceive as the needs of your neighbor and of God’s world.

And in doing all of that you will be following the pattern that was laid down by Christ,

who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”