Year A Lent 2 WED 2023 A Different Way

 Year A Lent 2 WEDNESDAY, 8 March 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“A Different Way”

Collect: O God, you so loved the world that you gave your only- begotten Son to reconcile earth with heaven: Grant that we, loving you above all things, may love our friends in you, and our enemies for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 20:17–28

While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

In the Gospel’s we call Jesus’ phrase, “The last shall be first and the first last,” the Great Reversal. And in today’s text we have two examples of the Great Reversal playing out.

We have Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, and three of his closest witness his Transfiguration. We see that Jesus is, to them at least, the Anointed One. The Chosen Messiah long-awaited. And then Jesus comes out with this.

“[The Religious Leaders] will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.”

Come on, Jesus, that is not how things are supposed to go. Don’t even joke like that. Of course God would never let that happen. Heck, we would never let that happen. We would defend you! We would fight for you! We would die for you!

We see all that come up in the coming weeks, and still he repeats this prediction of his crucifixion and third day resuscitation. Does Jesus not get it? What is up with this doom and gloom?

But still he repeats it.

The Triumphal Procession that we call Palm Sunday makes it even more confusing for those closest to him. That is what they expected, spontaneous applause and resounding approval. But they did not expect what Jesus kept telling them was going to be the case.

How often do we do the same?

The Last shall be first, and the First last. The Great Reversal.

And then we get the second story where James and John’s mom sidles up to Jesus to make sure her boys are numbers 1 & 2 in Jesus coming kingdom. 

In Jesus’ own way he asks the question, “Do you even know what you are asking about?” His version, “Can you drink from the same cup as me?” They think so. Ignorance, they say, is bliss.

But then Jesus assures them that even though the world may work this way, the Kingdom of God does not. It does not even work that way for Jesus.

“...whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Nobody, not a one of us is to rest on our laurels, or our birthright, or on who we know. Service is the key to the way it works in the Kingdom.

The Last, to the world, is first, and the First, to the world, is last. The Great Reversal. 

In Jesus’ modeling for us, we see a different way to not just operate, but to be. As hard as it is to navigate this life, it is in giving our best to all that is the path Jesus calls us to follow. And he went before us, showing us the way. 

This is not easy or obvious. But the longer I live the more I see it to be true. Thank your for your attempts to live the Great Reversal. Pray for me, as I pray for you, that we all may “see more clearly, love more dearly, and follow more nearly day by day.” Amen