22nd Sunday after Pentecost              

Mark is the shortest of the four gospels; there’s almost a sense of urgency to it, as if the author wanted the readers to know this information as quickly as possible, before it’s too late. Jesus said he was coming back, and it could happen at any time. As the oldest of the four gospels, it was written closest to the time of the events that it describes, so the events were fresher, clearer, more closely tied to the time of its writing compared to the other gospels.

In today’s reading, we have James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who Jesus gives the nickname “The Sons of Thunder” because of their bold and aggressive personalities. One time, they asked Jesus to call down heavenly fire to destroy a village. They were the third and fourth disciples that Jesus called, after Peter and Andrew, all four of them fishermen. True to their “Sons of Thunder” nickname, their “bold and aggressive” actions eventually resulted in the execution of James by King Herod, and John’s exile.

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

And, he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?”

And, they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

But, Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They replied, “We are able.”

Then, Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.

So, Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But, it is not so among you; but 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.”

Called to Serve

October 17th was the three-year anniversary of my first Sunday, here at Plymouth. And, it just so happens that this gospel reading is the exact same text from that Sunday. Now, the lectionary is a 3-year cycle, so that’s not so much of a surprise, but when I saw the reading for today, I was sure that I had preached on it before, so I checked, and I did, October 17th, 2021, my first Sunday here, when I preached about the injury that prevented me from arriving on the date that I was supposed to.

For those of you who don’t know, I severely injured myself right before I moved here. I was pruning a tree, and I tore my pectoral muscle, which got infected, and to make a long story short, three weeks in the hospital, four surgeries, and 6 weeks of IV antibiotics later, I was finally able to leave for Montana. I was supposed to arrive here on August 29, but I didn’t get here until October 8. And, I can’t believe how fast the last three years have gone by.

I noticed that on my one-year anniversary here, I gave an update on my injury as part of the sermon, but I didn’t give an update last year. I probably thought I was talking about it too much. But, I figured, for this year, why not do another update. During both of the previous sermons when I talked about this, I showed everyone how high I could raise my right arm, so let’s start with that. When I first got here, I was only able to raise my arm about halfway up, until I was about parallel to the ground. Now, I can raise it all the way up until it’s almost vertical! I’m not sure if it’s ever going to get any better than this, but it’s a lot better than it was before.

My chest still gets stiff and sore sometimes, and it often feels like there’s these heavy-duty rubber bands wrapped around it, just squeezing it. And, the cold will sometimes cause it to spasm, but I’m pretty sure it’s not as bad as it used to be. Sometimes, I don’t even think about it.

The reason this text always makes me think about my injury is because of the last line: “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” I can’t hear this without thinking about what my dad did for me while I was in the hospital and while I was recovering afterwards.

As traumatic as that experience was for me, it was traumatic for him, too, and in some ways, traumatic for a lot of you, as well. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I almost died. By the time I got to the hospital, I had sepsis, and after a quick check-in at the ER, I was almost immediately taken into a room where they started taking off my clothes and shoving tubes into me. I was pretty delirious at this point, so I don’t remember it clearly. I didn’t realize until later how close it actually was, but my dad knew, and he was scared that he was about to lose a second child. My roommate told me that she overheard him talking to someone here at Plymouth to let you all know what was going on, and that he was sobbing as he was explaining it. I have a vague idea of what it was like for all of you, thinking that the pastor you had just called was about to die before he even got here, but I’ve never really talked to any of you about it. And, maybe that’s something I need to rectify, now that three years have gone by and we all have a little perspective.

Anyway, what my dad did for me was incredible, and most parents would do the same in that situation. Still, that doesn’t change how much of a shock it was. He thought he was only coming to help me pack, one or two days at the most, so that’s all the clothes that he brought. There was no way he could have known that he was going to be taking care of me for more than two months!

My sister eventually came to help; she stayed for two weeks, to give my dad a little break once in a while. I can’t remember if she brought extra clothes for him, or if my mom mailed them. But, he was with me almost every day, while I was in the hospital, for as long as the hospital would allow visitors. You have to remember that this was all going on at the height of covid, so I was only allowed to have one visitor each day, during very specific visitor hours.

I was so weak and in so much pain, I was essentially at the mercy of whoever was around me. I needed help to eat and drink. I needed someone else to help regulate my body temperature, turning the thermostat up and down, and bringing me blankets. During the latter parts of my stay at the hospital, I needed help to get to the bathroom, or when I would walk up and down the halls to rebuild my strength.

Afterwards, while I was recovering at home, my dad was there, helping me to get around, making sure I was comfortable and fed, making sure that I was taking my medications and doing my exercises. He slept in my room, in case I needed something in the middle of the night, and helped me deal with the tubes that I still had sticking out of various places of my body. I know he’s my dad, and this is what parents do, but I will forever be grateful to him for that time of my life. He was called to serve, and he served.

There will always be someone who needs to be served. There are so many people in this world who need help, and we don’t even have to go far to find them. We had an amazing ping-pong fundraiser, yesterday, in order to serve our new neighbors, refugees who had to leave their homeland for their safety. Now, they’re in a new country and a new culture, surrounded by people who speak a different language; they need all the help they can get! And, that’s what we do, as God’s children, we welcome our neighbor, and we serve the needy.

Jesus’ disciples had such a different idea of who the Messiah was going to be, certainly not this gentle man who was always telling them to turn the other cheek and that the first will be last…not this teacher who kept telling them that in order to be great, they needed to become servants, and that he was going to be killed. He came not to be served, but to serve.

The in-breaking of the realm of God will not come about as a result of violence or war, by overpowering the oppressors and seizing control. It will come as a result of our care for each other. When you comfort someone who’s sad, that is the realm of God. When you give food to someone who’s hungry, that is the realm of God. When you talk to someone who’s lonely, when you put a blanket around someone who’s cold, when you give a ride to someone who’s trying to get somewhere, that is the realm of God. There is so much need in the world, and every time we help, God’s presence is made manifest. You are God’s hands and feet in the world, and Jesus has called you to serve. Amen.

~ Rev. Charles Wei