But Daddy, I don't want to go to bed

Brad Sullivan

Proper 24, Year B
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37c
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

Are y’all aware of just how much young children dislike bedtime? My son, Noah, is no exception. If he had things his way, he’d stay up each nigh playing with Kristin and me until he had a total meltdown, was completely exhausted, and inconsolable. He just doesn’t want to go to bed. He wants to play, and he wants to be with Kristin and me. Fortunately for him, Kristin and I are pretty strict on his bedtime. We have a nighttime routine to help him wind down which ends with us reading a book and singing a song to him.

He is now at the point that he requests these things. “Book,” he says once one story is finished, or once we start singing to him, he says “Sing.” He keeps wanting to put off sleep, and he doesn’t know how good sleep is for him. He is mightily disappointed many nights when we finally put him in his crib and leave the room. What he doesn’t know is how much more miserable he’d be the next day if we didn’t make him go to sleep.

By enforcing his bedtime, we’ve got a way of life for Noah that he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand, but it’s a better way of life than he would chose for himself. I bring this up as an analogy for how we humans often relate to the ways of life God has given us. We truly are like little children, with God as our loving parent. God has given us ways of life which we may not initially like or which may not make intuitive sense to us, but by trusting in God, we may just find God’s way of life to be better for us than the way we might choose on our own.

Turning to the Gospel for today, we find James and John with their own ideas for a way of life they’d like to follow. “Lord, my brother and I have been talking, and we know you have other disciples than just the two of us, but we also know we’re really a bit smarter and more capable than the rest of those guys, so we were thinking it would really be a smart move for you if, once you’ve taken over everything, if you made us the second and third most important people in the world, right behind you, of course. Does that sound ok, doable Jesus, if we’re the second and third most important people in the world?”

James and John were definitely being a little bit presumptuous when they asked Jesus if they could at his right and left hand, but I also like to think they were also simply showing there affection for Jesus. I like to think that they really loved Jesus and they really wanted him to love them back. He did of course, but I get they feeling they wanted his approval, like the less cool kid in school wanting approval from the really really cool kid in school. Maybe James and John were just plain old power hungry, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt that their motives were a little bit out of love than merely out of desire for power.

Whatever their motives, we know that they certainly misunderstood what living in God’s kingdom really is. So Jesus, of course, took the opportunity to teach them. Living in God’s kingdom is not a life of power and domination, but a life of service and love. “You really want greatness,” Jesus said, “then serve other people.” Be meek, not great.

Jesus’ teaching about true greatness is about as counter-intuitive as it comes. Be great and mighty by being a humble servant. That just doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense in our world of the powerful ruling over the less powerful, and so because Jesus teaching is so counter-intuitive, following that teaching takes a great deal of faith.

One type of faith could be simple obedience. Jesus said to do this so I feel I must obey. This obedience may be done somewhat out of fear. That’s ok. After all, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” but I’d like to emphasize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of wisdom. Moving beyond that beginning with the fear of the Lord, we can come to a place of trust and love.

So, another type of faith, a faith that goes beyond obedience not only obeys but trusts. This faith says, “I trust in God. I trust in his goodnes, and I trust that the way of life he taught really is better than another way of life. If Jesus says ‘greatness comes from being a servant,’ then I will trust that he is telling the truth because I believe that he is good and has our best interests at heart when he teaches us his way.”

This faith does not require understanding. It may seek understanding, but understanding how or why the way Jesus taught us to live is better than any other way is not necessary for us to follow in Jesus’ way. This faith follows Jesus’ way out of trust.

I like to think that James and John had this trusting faith in Jesus when he told them that true greatness means being a servant. By the fact that James and John continued to be Jesus’ disciples, I think it’s safe to assume that they submitted submitted to Jesus’ teaching about true greatness. They likely didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching, and they were probably a little embarrased by his teaching. They had asked to be rulers of the world, Jesus said no, and then he taught all of the disciples that James and John were seeking the wrong thing, that true greatness means being a servant.

Despite their embarrasment, however, James and John stayed with Jesus, continued following him, and giving them the benefit of the doubt once more, I like to think they followed Jesus and submitted to his teaching not only out of fearful obedience, but out of loving trust. I like to think that while Jesus’ teaching made no sense to them, that they decided to follow Jesus’ teaching because they trusted in Jesus that his teaching was true and good and beneficial.

This brings me to the idea of stewardship; you knew it was coming. The idea of stewardship is to give some of what we have in order to live not only for ourselves alone, but to help take care of God’s kingdom here on earth. With financial stewardship, we’re asked to give to our Christian community so that we can continue to worship together, so that we can spread the Gospel, so that we can take care of one another in difficult times.

With financial stewardship, we’re being asked to have faith in Jesus and to follow in his way. Now, to be fair, Jesus didn’t say, “give 10% to the church,” but he did teach us to give generously of ourselves to care for those around us, to follow him, and to spread the Gospel. To be totally honest, we may not all particularly love this teaching of Jesus. We may be fearful that we won’t have enough if we give, or we may simply feel we shouldn’t have to and don’t want to give. To both of these objections to financial stewardship, I would say “have some faith in Jesus.” With financial stewardship, we are called to follow in God’s way like James and John, like children with a loving parent. Giving back to God part of what we have been given may not make an overabundance of sense to us. We my never understand, but we are asked to trust.

We could simply obey. “God said it, I don’t like it, but I’ll do it,” but how much more wonderful if we truly trust in God that his way of life is better than the ways we might otherwise take. Giving a portion of what we’ve been given to God, means we have to make sacrificing and re-order our lives. Our trust comes in that sacrificing something up in order to give will be better for us than keeping that thing and not giving.

Giving of ourselves to support our Church, our Christian community is ultimately an act of faith. Giving for financial stewardship is an act of trusting in God as our loving parent. How does giving up some of what we have make our lives better? How does sacrificing some of the things we want make our lives better? We may never exactly know, but we don’t have to understand. We’re being asked to trust. With financial stewardship, we’re being asked to say, “I trust in God. I trust in his goodnes, and I trust that the way of life he taught really is better than another way of life. If Jesus says ‘give of what you have to help spread the gospel and to help care for your Chrisitan community,’ then I will trust that he is telling the truth because I believe that he is good and has our best interests at heart when he teaches us his way.”

I have found my life to be better when I give. When I trust in God’s way, when I make some sacrifices, and re-order my life in order to give, I have found life to be better. I can’t tell you exactly why, but I have found following in Jesus’ way to be like Noah getting a good night sleep. He doesn’t want to go to bed, but he’s happier and healthier for it. I often want to follow my own way, but when I submit to Jesus and follow in his way I find my life to be better. So, I encourage us all to trust in Jesus and to follow in Jesus’ way with financial stewardship and with all of our lives. Amen.