His ways or yours?

Sermon based upon Mark 10:32-45
Blessings to you as we prepare to enter Holy Week. This coming Sunday, will be Palm Sunday; The day Christ entered into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Our God, riding on the back of a donkey. Who would have ever thought that? On a stallion, or better yet a man drawn carriage with all the finest linens and cloths lining it’s plush interior. Now that’s how a god should travel. But that isn’t how it happened. Nope, that’s not Jesus. As we will hear shortly, Jesus came for another reason, a reason neither His disciples really understood nor the those waving the palm branches.
Just prior to their journey to Jerusalem, we read that a rich young man came to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, a rather rare commodity. Jesus tells Him follow the commandments. The young man tells the Christ, I have. Jesus tells the young man you lack one thing. Go sell all you have and give it to the poor, for you will have treasures in Heaven. And after you have done all this, come follow me. The young man walks away dejected and sorrowful. Moral of this story is that money is a tool to serve those in need, and Christ himself is our treasure in heaven.
The disciples are amazed at this teaching. These were not the ways of the world. In this world, the rich have the power. The weak do not. But as we know from St. Matthew in the kingdom of heaven the first will be last and the last will be first. It’s no wonder His disciples were amazed. This didn’t make any sense to them.
And yet while amazed, they were also afraid. Possibly, they remembered hearing that the Son of Man would be handed over and killed in Jerusalem. Jesus reiterates this to them again, explaining “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” They had every reason to be afraid. But, this was to be done for us. Jesus followed the will of the Father. He did not come to be served but to serve.
You would have thought that Zebedee’s boys, James and John would have figured this out. They had been traveling with Him for nearly 3 years, and they and the other disciples didn’t quite yet see this. We know this by what James and John did next, they came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” That’s their flesh talking. The same sinful flesh we live with today.
Let me ask you, do you think Jesus’ torture and death, his ransom for their sins, ever crossed their mind? No, I think not. They were seeking what the world seeks. They were looking out for #1-themselves. They wanted the top spots in Jesus’ kingdom. And as sinners, who wouldn’t. I mean, these 2 men had been served by Jesus, for the last 3 years with all their needs provided for, but they still wanted more. They were blinded by their flesh and could not see this.
We are taught in this world that we better take care of ourselves first, because no one else will.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ that is a lie, a lie that can only come from the mouth of the great deceiver himself, Satan. And we can find this type of nonsense being preached all over the television by evangelists and other church personalities. They tell us that all we need to do is to seek what is good or best for us, and pursue it, as this is the only way to happiness. Rubbish! Don’t permit your ears to hear such drivel. That’s not our way, Jesus’ way. We are different.
We are baptized! Baptized into Jesus, into His death and resurrection. We need only to hear His words and see what He has done. Our Lord did what you and I are powerless to do. He died for the forgiveness of all our sins and rose for our justification before God. Satan offered Him this world and all its power. But Jesus followed His Fathers will, the will to send His Son for us, as a servant, as a Savior. Our Lord tells the boys that they don’t know what they are asking. A side note: notice that Jesus doesn’t reprimand them for their request, because He knows our human weakness. But, Jesus strengthens them by telling them that they too will drink from the cup He would drink and the baptism that He was baptized with, namely that they too will be tortured and killed. Yet they will never know the true death that was due them, because Jesus knew it for them, just as a loving servant would do.
Know after the other 10 disciples catch wind of what Zebedee’s sons are up to, our Lord explains to them all “you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you.” He’s telling them not to be like these perceived great ones of this fallen world. We know how power corrupts. Just look at Hitler, Stalin or Saddam.
Christ adds, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” What Jesus is on His way to do in Jerusalem is just this. He serves out of love, not because He has too, for we know He could have followed the advice of our TV evangelists and sought happiness by His own means. But He didn’t. That’ s Not Him.
Jesus went to Jerusalem, was handed over by His father to the chief priests, tortured, beaten, crucified and died on the cross. And why did He do this? Yes it was His father’s will, which is always perfect and good. He did it for us. He did it so your sins and mine would be forgiven. He did it so we could live with Him in paradise forever. He did it out of love, love for all of humanity, love for you and me.
He came to serve, He came to forgive, He came to give Himself for us as a gift. He came so that while we are here on this earth we might know him through His word and Sacraments. Just as the rich young man figured out, it’s not about looking out for ourselves. God handles that for us. He provides for our daily needs and care. Yet, it doesn’t end there. He has prepared a room for us in heaven, a room bought for and paid in full by His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice on that cross. And because of this gift we are free from sin, full of joy, able to look to our neighbor, and serve them, just as Jesus did for us