The American male has a strange fascination with war. It starts when they are incredibly young and can be seen in the kind of games that little boys play. Personally, I was never much of a cowboys and Indians kind of kid, but I am told that it was common for the generation of little boys that preceded me to dress up in cowboy boots, hat, and belt-buckle while they practiced skinning their six shooters from hip holsters in case they were attacked by a band of hostile Indians while visiting the wild west.
My generation was not as politically incorrect as that. As a little boy we weren’t fighting native Americans, we were fighting Charlie[1]. Now, as little boys we had no idea who Charlie was but if Walter Cronkite didn’t like him, then neither did we. So, we went to the army surplus store and bought used army uniforms, hallowed out hand grenades, replica M16 machine guns, and played war games in case that Charlie fella ever showed up.
My children are not as aggressive when it comes to war as was my generation. Instead of running around the backyard looking for Charlie, my children sit on the couch turn on a video game and shoot each other. I have watched them do it and I have to be honest it looks fun. They start out by jumping out of a flying bus wearing some kind of high-tech hang-glider. When they land, they run around looking for bazookas and bullets to shoot at each other, and then when one of them kills the other, they do a little dance. Fun, right?
Little boys like to make war romantic, heroic, and fun, but the truth is, war is something else. I have never personally stood on an active battlefield but, like you I have spent my adult life looking at images on the news of the destruction and death that comes from war and from what I have seen, war is anything but romantic, heroic, or fun. War, real war, is ugly.
Over the last several weeks as we have followed our Savior on His way to the cross, we have seen Jesus at war with various sins. Our Savior’s battles with sin haven’t been romantic, heroic, or fun. On the contrary they have been rather ugly, and I have noticed, as He gets closer and closer to the cross the battles seem to get more and more ugly. These last two battles that we are going to look at are among the ugliest. Next week we will see our Savior at war with death, today we see our Savior at war with pride.
The battle is recorded for us in Matthew 20:17-28 and it starts out with Jesus sharing some rather gruesome details with His disciples. In verses 18-19 Jesus says, “18 We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Jesus tells His disciples, there is nothing romantic, heroic, or fun concerning what’s about to happen. He tells His disciples that He is going to be betrayed, tortured, and killed. He tells them, someone I trust and treat as a close friend is going to sell me out. As a result of this betrayal, I am going to beaten within an inch of my life. And only after I am physically incapable of taking anymore will they hammer nails into my hands and feet so that my death can be as slow and painful as possible.
Jesus paints a rather horrific picture of what the future holds. As true God He wants to prepare His disciples for the future; He wants to assure them that God is going to use these humiliations for the good of those who love Him. But, as true man, this had to weigh heavily upon Jesus. I imagine what He was looking for was a little compassion; a little support and encouragement from the twelve men who were closest to Him. But that’s not what Jesus gets.
Instead, Salome, the mother of James and John would like a favor. “21 Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Salome is not a bad woman. She was a devote follower of Jesus. We are going to see her crying at the foot of the cross and bewildered at the mouth of the empty tomb. She is not a bad woman, but she does make a rather bold request. Asking for her sons to sit at Jesus’ right and left was in effect asking that her sons be given, not only more honor than all the other disciples, but also more honor than father Abraham, the prophet Moses, and king David.
As I said, she is not a bad woman but I kind of feel like Salome is the kind of mom that would have a “my child is an honor student” bumper sticker on her car, the kind of mom that assumes when her children get into a fight the other kid started it, the kind of mom that when her kids get in trouble at school she blames the teacher. Salome probably thought her children were the best athletes on the team and the smartest kids in the class, so naturally her little angels should have the best seats at the banquet table in heaven. We might say, she’s not a bad woman she is just proud of her kids. But in comparison to the Savior’s description of His coming humiliation, your pride… I mean her pride, is ugly.
In the face of such ugliness, Jesus turns His attention to Salome’s sons and asks, “22 Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” James and John answer, “We can,”. James and John were not jerks. Along with Peter, James and John were part of Jesus’ inner circle. We are going to see them close to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and it is John to whom Jesus entrusts the care of His mother Mary. They were not jerks, but they do seem to have a rather high opinion of themselves. Jesus has just described the unimaginable suffering He is about to endure. He asks James and John if they are able to endure it with Him. “We can”, they boast. Later Peter would make a similar boast, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”[2] Well, just as it was easy for Peter to make such a boast before the rooster started crowing, so it was easy for James and John to make such a boast before the cup of suffering was poured.
As I said, James and John were not jerks, they were just very confident in their abilities. I feel like they are the kind of people who hang their running medals on the wall, the kind of people who always seem to have a better story to tell, the kind of people who believe if you want it done right you better do it yourself. James and John knew Jesus had entrusted them with some responsibility and they had proven themselves to be capable leaders, so naturally they assumed they were the most qualified men for any job. Again, we might say, they aren’t jerks they’re just confident. But, again, in comparison to the Savior’s description of His coming humiliation, my pride… I mean their pride, is ugly.
As you might imagine, the conversation between Salome, James, John, and Jesus does not go unnoticed by the other disciples. Matthew tells us, “24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.” The ten aren’t whiners. The ten may not have been in the spotlight like Peter, James, and John often were, but they were faithful followers of Jesus. Later, one of them would be used by the Holy Spirit to write the very gospel that we are looking at. The ten aren’t whiners, they just want to be treated fairly. They are ticked at James and John because they felt like they were trying to take advantage of them. They were offended because they didn’t feel they should have to take a back seat to anybody.
The ten weren’t whiners, they just wanted to be treated fairly. I feel like they are the kind of people who almost seem like they are looking to be offended, the kind of people who ask, why should I have to do all the work, the kind of who say, I’m not going to be taken advantage of. The ten felt they were just as important as anyone else and deserved some recognition for their efforts, so naturally they were indignant when they felt they were being mistreated. Yet again we might say the ten aren’t whiners, they just want to be treated fairly. But, yet again, in comparison to the Savior’s description of His coming humiliation, our pride… I mean their pride, is ugly.
As Jesus stood among His disciples, He found Himself surrounded by pride. If Jesus were to visit your home today would He find Himself surrounded by the same thing? He would, wouldn’t He. And our pride is no less ugly than the disciple’s. In fact, you could argue that our pride is even uglier than theirs. From our vantage point in history we know more about Jesus’ humiliation than the disciples did in our gospel lesson for this morning. We know that Judas would betray Him, we know that the Roman soldiers would whip the flesh off His body and smash a crown of thorns on His head. We know He cried out in agony, “My God My God why have You forsaken Me!”[3] We know very well what humiliations Jesus endured when He went to Jerusalem, that is why our pride is so exceptionally ugly.
Jesus saw and Jesus sees the ugliness of war all around Him, so He calls His disciples together and says, “25 You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus speaks to His disciples and He speaks to us about humiliation. He speaks of His own humiliation. He tells us how He will humble Himself for us; humble Himself by being the perfect substitute for prideful people, humble Himself by sacrificing His own life in order to pay for the sins of prideful people. Jesus tells us how He humbles Himself so that we might be exalted.
But did you notice, His is not the only humility Jesus speaks of. Because he has humbled Himself for us, Jesus wants us to humble ourselves for others. whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— Jesus wants us to be servants and slaves. In this time of global pandemic, you have the opportunity to be humble; you have the opportunity to be both servant and slave. You can show your humility by checking in on an older person whose movements have been restricted by this disease and see if they need you to go pick them up a gallon of milk. You can show your humility by picking up the phone and spend a few minutes visiting with a coworker who has been cut off from the water cooler. You can show your humility by writing a prayer for a healthcare worker and leaving it at their door, or better yet write it in chalk in their driveway. You can show your humility by turning off the T.V. (the coronavirus updates can wait) and play a game with your children. One of the blessing of a global pandemic is there are all sorts of ways you can be a servant and a slave; all sorts of ways you can show your humility.
The war with pride is ugly, but because God so loved the world your Savior fought that war for you. To show our appreciation for what Jesus has done for us, let us do for others; let us replace our pride with humility. Amen.
[1] During the Vietnam conflict "Charlie" referred to communist forces in general, both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.
[2] Matthew 26:33
[3] Psalm 22:1 & Matthew 27:46