"Wrong Kingdom," Jesus Said.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 25, Year B

October 25, 2015

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Mark 10:46-52

“Wrong Kingdom,” Jesus Said.

We heard in Mark’s Gospel this morning, that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem by way of Jericho.  Y’all remember a rather famous story involving Jericho and a young man named Joshua who led the Israelites to glorious victory against the people of Jericho.  Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down.  That was the beginning of Israel’s conquest of the land of Canaan, the land which God had promised to Israel through Abraham.  Eventually, Israel conquered all of the land of Canaan and set up their capital in Jerusalem where David reigned as king.

Now, we have Jesus, the son of David, going to Jerusalem by way of Jericho.  Interestingly enough, Jesus’ name in Hebrew is Joshua:  Jeshua, Iesus, Jesus.  So we have Jesus, who is the new Joshua and the new Davidic king going to Jerusalem by way of Jericho, and yet his actions are decidedly different from his predecessors.  Jesus doesn’t conquer Jericho; he heals a blind man there.  Jesus doesn’t set up his kingdom in Jerusalem by winning military victory over his enemies; he lets his enemies kill him. 

Jesus was inaugurating his new kingdom, God’s kingdom here on earth, and he did so through peace and healing rather than through war and killing.  Jesus gave his life for the sake of his people.  Jesus’ kingdom is not one of domination, but of service, of giving up one’s life for the sake of others. 

That sounds good in theory, doesn’t it?  With so many school shooting lately, I’ve heard and been a part of several conversations regarding what we would do if a gunman came to wherever.  Some say they would profess their faith if it meant being shot.  Some say they wouldn’t.  Some plan on having a gun with them to shoot the bad buy, while others say the way of Jesus is not to kill, but to lay down one’s life for the sake of the Gospel.

I used to have my very clear answer worked out:  I’m a disciple of Jesus, so I’d let myself be killed.  I had an easier time with that prior to being a father and a husband.  Now, my faith in Jesus tells me not to kill, but to show even the gunman love by valuing his life more than he values mine, but I also think, “I don’t want to leave my kids without a dad.”  There’s a conflict between what I believe Jesus teaches about life in his kingdom and my fear for my children’s well being.  I believe good would come from following Jesus’ teaching to lay down one’s life for the sake of the Gospel.  I trust that.  I have a hard time trusting that my kids will be ok without me.

That makes me a bit hypocritical.  Another question has come up along the same lines as the gunman question.  Can we truly be a church of Jesus’ disciples and also own guns as means of safety?  Can we claim to follow Jesus while intending, in certain scenarios, to kill people?  Does that make us hypocrites?  Maybe, yeah, it might just make us hypocrites.  The truth is, we’re all hypocrites, and we’re all striving to be less and less so.  The bigger problem is not being a hypocrite, but in not realizing the ways in which we are one.

In healing Bartimaeus, Jesus highlights again the point he made to James and John.  “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

See, Bartimaeus’ request of Jesus was in stark contrast to James’ and John’s request of Jesus just before this.  James and John were unaware of any healing they might have actually needed (and we all need healing of some kind).  Instead, James and John asked for power and position in God’s kingdom.  After years of learning from Jesus, their request was not, “Lord help me follow you more nearly,” or “let me serve others more compassionately.”  Their request was, “make me powerful and mighty.”  Make me like Joshua and David of old.  “Wrong kingdom,” Jesus said.

Bartimaeus’ blindness highlights James’ and John’s spiritual blindness, emotional blindness, discipleship blindness.  They thought they had it together enough to request power and authority in Jesus’ kingdom, but they were blind to what Jesus’ kingdom was; they were blind to what they needed.  Bartimaeus knew not only that he needed to see, but once he could see, he knew he wanted to follow Jesus.  While Bartimaeus’ ailment was rather obvious to him, this passage highlighting the spiritual blindness of James and John reminds us of how often we fail to recognize or fail to admit what our ailments are and what healing we need from Jesus. 

What if Bartimaeus hadn’t admitted he was blind?  He was calling for Jesus and then when Jesus asked “what do you want me to do for you?”, what if Bartimaeus had said, “oh, I’m really ok, I’ve just got a head cold right now, or it’s probably just allergies or something; do you have a Benadryl, or any…you know what, it’s ok, I’m sorry I bothered you.”  He’d have stayed just as he was and just where he was.  He couldn’t follow Jesus until he admitted what was obvious, that he was a mess and needed healing.

That’s kinda what we do sometimes, when we don’t admit to ourselves or to one another, or to Jesus that we even have problems.  We stay just as we are and we stay just where we are.  Sometimes it’s just too tough or scary to give up our life, right?  If I admit to Jesus or even to myself that this part of my life needs fixing, and if I ask Jesus to fix it, well then I really do have to fix it with Jesus’ help.  I might have to give up some part of my life.  That’s what Jesus calls us to do, to give up our lives and follow him.  As Shane Claiborne wrote in Red Letter Revolution, subtitled What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said, “Jesus didn’t come for folks who have it all together, but for folks who are willing to admit they are falling apart.” (Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Revolution, p. 29)

Jesus came for folks willing to admit where our hypocrisies are.  As Christian author and sociology professor, Tony Campolo, says when people claim he’s a hypocrite, “yeah, I am a hypocrite. Come to my church, you’ll fit right in.”  He doesn’t mean this in a snarky way, but in an honest open invitation kind of way.  We’re all hypocrites in some way.  Ultimately, hypocrites are the only people that need to come to church.  The ones who do are the ones who know they are blind and are asking Jesus to heal them.  We pray to Jesus, “grant us the faith and the peace to know what is right and good in your Kingdom, and give us the grace and strength then to live out your kingdom way.” 

Regarding “what would we do” scenarios with gunmen…ultimately, we have no idea what we’d do.  We don’t know how our brains would react.  Peter knew he would kill for Jesus.  As Jesus was being arrested, Peter even started to, pulling out his sword to fight and kill for Jesus.  “Put away your sword,” Jesus said.  Peter was willing to lay down his life, sword in hand, in battle.  Then he found that he wasn’t willing to risk laying down his life by being arrested and killed without the chance of fighting back.  Of course years later, he did lay down his life, acquitting himself quite well, being crucified for following Jesus.

So what is our “lay down our life” plan?  Let someone kill us for the sake of Jesus Kingdom, for the sake of being a servant of peace?  Yes, I believe that should be my plan.  If the gunman scenario ever happens, then I’ll find out what I’ll do.  In the mean time, we all have plenty of chances to give up our lives for the sake of Jesus’ kingdom.  We have plenty of chances to sacrifice, to be servants, to let the needs of others come before our own needs.  We have plenty of chances to ask Jesus to heal us, and to give up those portions of our lives that keep us from living out Jesus’ Gospel.  We have plenty of chances every day to shine the light of the Gospel into the lives of those around us.  So we pray, “Lord Jesus have mercy on us sinners not only by healing our blindness and hypocrisies, but by showing us where our blindness and hypocrisies lie; grant us the faith and the peace to know what is right and good in your Kingdom, and give us the grace and strength then to live out your kingdom way.”   Amen.