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OUT OUR WAY:

The Gospel According to Goliath:  Mark 10:35-40, 'I'm the favorite!'

Out our way, some folks have different horses for different reasons. For example, a rodeo cowboy who does bulldogging has a horse that will run alongside a steer and keep it heading straight, and when the dogger goes off the side to grab the steers' horns and toss him on his back, the horse keeps going. He's trained for that. A calf-roping horse is different; that horse is trained to stay behind the calf and keep a steady pace with it. When the rope is thrown and snags the calf, he stops and stands still, keeping the tension on the rope so the roper can go and throw the calf down and hogtie it in record time. Different horses with different skills; each is valuable for its specific abilities.

Now Christians are like cowponies in the sense that we are not all alike, and we may differ in our skills and abilities according to Christ's needs. He has chosen each disciple for His purpose and values us all. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his analogy of the Church being the Body of Christ, many different parts but all serving the same Body. The eye is no less valuable because it is not an ear, the foot no less important because it is not a hand. Each part has its function and all serve together to make the body whole.

Some of the first disciples didn't yet understand this and as they were walking to Jerusalem with Christ they asked to be guaranteed the top positions in the Kingdom, to sit at His right and left hand, the traditional places of greatest power and prestige. They wanted to be the favorites. But Christ challenged them and reminded them that humility, not pride, is the task of the follower of Christ. As Jesus submitted to the will of the Father - even unto death on the cross - He expected His followers to submit and accept the God's will as well. He taught that we are to serve, not to be served.

Imagine a body at war with itself, each member refusing to do its part because it was jealous of the other parts. What sort of body would that be? Now consider the Church as a body with Christ as the head. Christ says "walk" but the legs refuse to move because they are quarreling with the arms. The hands refuse to pick up the bread and cup of communion because the ears just sit on the side of the head and don't have to bend and move like they do. The eyes refuse to see because they cannot make any sound like the mouth can. This is a body that cannot function, and before long the rest of the parts will shut down as well and the body will die.

James and John thought they were better than the other 10 and sought preference over them. You can imagine how the others felt when they learned of this. There was great anger and division in the ranks because of this attitude. But Christ brought them all back together and reminded them that He alone was the Head, and that it was only by working together that they could function at all. Only united in Jesus, each with his own special place and purpose, could they be the true Body of Christ and serve God's will.

Strange how easily we forget that. How easily we can begin to believe that we ought to be the Head of the Church with all members obeying us instead of Christ. For isn't that what happens when we set ourselves up in pride as the ultimate authority?

I have seen congregations divided, crippled and sometimes killed by either congregational members or clergy who have forgotten that Christ, not they, is the Head of the Church. In the text, we read of the disciples James and John who had come to see themselves as more important than the rest of the Body. This attitude angered the others and began to divide the 12 against each other. That is why Christ soundly rebuked them for forgetting who they were and who they were not!

You have likely heard of the T-shirt that I sometimes pull out of the pulpit as a reminder to myself and the congregation. It says, "There is a God - and I am not Him; but there IS a God."  It is a T-shirt we all could and ought to wear - at least on the inside - as a reminder of Who is in charge.

The calf-roping horse will not likely be much good for bulldogging, and the bulldogging horse isn't likely to be much of a barrel racer, but in their own events they shine and their riders are glad of them. You and I might be needed for different events in God's rodeo, but we belong to the same stable and our Master is glad to have each of us.

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John Bruington and Goliath are not always "in the money," but the Lord seems to like them in His stable and keeps them around at First Presbyterian Church

 

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