Reflection for March 14 – Kirk Vandezande

Today’s Passage from The Bible: Mark 10:32-45 

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.’

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him 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.’ 

Reflection – Kirk Vandezande

Mark’s narrative pivots at the Transfiguration. Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem, His death and resurrection.  Three times Jesus foretells his resurrection to the disciples: first while walking down the mountain (Mk 9:9), then on the road to Capernaum (Mk 9:31), and in today’s reading, on the road to Jerusalem (v 33).

How did Jesus’ message go down with the disciples?  The writer tells us (Mk 9:32) “they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” In our Lenten discipline, as we read scripture by snapshots, we are like the first disciples: at risk of missing the big picture. Miraculous healings attract our attention while, like the disciples, we read past the central theme: Jesus is going to Jerusalem where he will be mocked, beaten, and killed.

In a Canadian coming-of-age movie* set in 1960s Manitoba, an unorthodox Orthodox Rabbi is given the honor, as a newcomer, to address the annual multi-faith Brotherhood dinner. He tells this joke:

Now, Cohen got a telegram from his son. ‘Papa, I’m going to Jerusalem. I’m going to become a Christian.’ Oy, vey, he didn’t know what to do. He ran to Greenberg; he told him the whole story.  Greenberg said, ‘It’s funny you should mention.  I got a telephone call from my son, he said he’s going to Jerusalem, he’s gonna become a Christian’.  What to do?

They went running to the rabbi, they told him the whole sad story. The rabbi said, ‘Funny you should mention.  My son’s going to Jerusalem, he’s going to become a Christian, and I’m a rabbi!  Imagine how ashamed I am.  What to do? We have to pray to the Creator, we have to rend our clothes, we have to put ashes on our head, fast for two days.’

Two days later, the gates of Heaven opened. The voice of the Creator came down and said, ‘My children, what can I do for you?’ And each man told him that his son was going to Jerusalem to become a Christian.  Then the voice of the Creator boomed out, ‘Funny you should mention… ‘

Do you spot a common thread in all these reactions to Jesus’ dreadful mission?  They all miss the plot.  The answer to life happens around them while they are doing something else.

As we journey through Lent to Easter, now WE are the disciples on the road to Jerusalem. Of course, we know better this time around, don’t we?  We know how the story ends so there is no way WE can miss the plot, right? No WAY we get caught up in jockeying for places of honor or denouncing those who are not one of us or turning away from Jesus’ passion in favor of any distraction that keeps us from attending to its horror.  Right?

I walk through Lent with dread and look to Easter with as much horror as hope.  I always have. May each of us be transformed by a faithful Lenten observance.

*The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988)