Marks of the Jesus Community: Humility

Marks of the Jesus Community: 1. Humility     October 21, 2012

Margaret A. Scott

Today we start a worship series on Community: we’re already focusing on community in our Simple Supper program; the youth are emphasizing it in SS and youth group.

v.32  They were on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus walking ahead, the rest trailing behind ….in early days of Christianity, it wasn’t called that, it was called The Way, a movement within Judaism, and the image of being on the way, or on the road, comes up a lot in Mark’s gospel, and was a reminder they were on a journey together, moving forward with purpose, not standing still.    As the Jesus community, are we?

Jesus goes on for the third time to tell them about what’s ahead, and it’s not pretty.  The first time, Peter argued back at him, the second time they were silenced by their fear of showing their incomprehension.  This time, two of them get up the courage to speak.  Perhaps the third time they heard the tail end of his comments “and rise again”, or perhaps they still just saw him as the Messiah who’d overthrow the Romans and be crowned the new king.

Do us a favor, Jesus, they ask

Jesus takes them seriously, and in good rabbinic style asks them for more information

We want to have the places of most honour when you’re crowned, they say.

Again, he takes them seriously, doesn’t say, “just who do you think you are?”  I wonder if it’s because they’re at least interested and motivated, with courage to question, unlike the others who’re still stuck in fear, following at a distance compliant but not engaged.   Where are we in following Jesus?

Questioning and courageous, or fearfully compliant?

In the Jesus community, humility calls us to engage seriously with Jesus about who we are and what we want. Humility seeks guidance.

So Jesus accepts their longing, because at least desire can be re-channelled, passion can be redirected, complacency can’t.

so he takes them a little deeper.

Are you able to go where I go, do what I do, and take the consequences of living God’s “Way”?  Yes we can, they say

He’s already told them three times he’s headed to a place of trouble before a new life; but to get to any place you have to go through what’s on the way there, the process.

now they begin to believe they can go there too—for this moment, the vision of the place, Jesus’ new realm, is stronger than the reality of the process. 

Life is tough; sometimes we go through hard times to bring about God’s realm in our families, our society, our world—living the Jesus way can take us places we’d rather not go.

Last week a bunch of us visited The Sisters House, in downtown Erie Pa. Four Benedictine nuns decided to move into a drug enslaved neighborhood, because they believed in the vision of “your will be done on earth”—a powerful witness that, like our Habitat houses in the Josana neighborhood in Rochester, is transforming life for everyone there.

In our Jesus community is the vision bigger than the reality? 

Like James and John we SAY what we want—a deeper spiritual life..a congregation growing in faith, witness, size… a strong Sunday School…but don’t realize that the process towards it might actually involve transformational activity on our part.

In the Jesus community, humility calls us to be honest with ourselves.

Then Jesus goes on to clarify his purpose.  It’s not my job to assign seating, he says.  He is clear about his purpose, and is sticking to it, unwilling to be distracted by lesser issues.  Are we?  Is our Jesus community clear about our purpose?  Can we lay aside our own desires for the sake of the one deep desire to know God and live the Jesus way?

And this is where we come to the hub of the text, the center of the Jesus Way.  Status or servanthood.   Disciples need to choose.

This was dramatically countercultural in Jesus’ day.  The Empire then, as now, relies on power, coercion and control to maintain dominance and prerogative.(Matt Skinner online)

It’s countercultural today as well. Our society’s way is status, rank and privilege.  Humility is a weakness. Servanthood is for folks we pay to do it. 

In the Jesus community, humility calls us to let go our paradigm of power.

In case we haven’t got it yet, Jesus explicitly calls us to live differently from the world around us.  “It will not be so with you”.

In the Jesus community, humility calls us to shift from an attitude of self to one of service.  I’m not going to pretend this is easy.  We may not be crucified for it, but it IS a hard process; we have so much to change that is so ingrained in us.

A conversation this week about the current political scene and the role of the church, brought this clear to both of us in the conversation—the struggle for power is all about gaining the votes of those who will gain most by their candidate.  Who we vote for generally will be all about what’s best for us.  In our current reality, it really is all about me.

But the humility paradigm is different—what will be more likely to bring about the best for the worst off?  The humility of serving one another calls for different thinking, different behavior, different ways of leadership.

Our text ends with Jesus’ own self-giving example…to give up life as a ransom for all.   Ransom is something paid to free a slave, to free us from what enslaves us.

In the Jesus community, the humility of knowing oneself demands we ask ourselves, what’s enslaving us?  From what do we need to be freed in order to really follow the Jesus way and really participate in a Jesus community?

Jesus shows us the way of humility.  Will we follow?