God Will Not Let Us Go- Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

God Will Not Let Us Go- Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

Year B, Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
October 20, 2024                                                                                                            

Job 38:1-7, (34-41), Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37, Hebrews 5:1-10, Mark 10:35-45

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“God will not let us go”

The Very Rev. Kathleen Murray, Rector                                                      

Historic Beckford Parish, Mt. Jackson & Woodstock                                 

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24B                                         

October 20, 2024                                                                                           

Jesus, the disciples, and the relationship between them are the three centers of interest in the entire discipleship section of Mark, which starts in Chapter 8 and is coming to a conclusion in the portion of the gospel we hear today.

The spotlight falls first and last upon Jesus. In the verse immediately preceding today’s gospel, Jesus and his disciples are on the road, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus is walking ahead of them. He knows where he is going and what will happen to him when he gets there.[1]

James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, who had given up the family fishing business to follow Jesus, come to him and ask to be seated on his left and right when he comes into his glory. It appears that James and John are simply making a power play. It seems like yet another story in which the disciples appear clueless, unable to comprehend the teachings of Jesus. Jesus has, for a third time, predicted his suffering and death, yet James and John are applying for leadership positions in the new regime. It certainly looks like blind ambition on their part.

However, just a few verses before this story, Mark writes that the disciples were afraid. That sheds new light. What if James and John merely want a secure future? What if they simply want some assurance, amidst Jesus’ predictions of suffering and death, that everything will be all right? What if they are merely afraid?

Can’t we identify with the disciples’ fear? Like the disciples, we often fear when faced with uncertainty and the unknown, questioning our purpose and the challenges ahead. Consider a situation where someone is starting a new job or school, or even as we age, we face different changes and challenges. We often fear fitting in, much like the disciples fear the implications of Jesus’ predictions. Fear is a common human experience that can lead to growth and more profound understanding when we confront it together.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can cause us to forget our compassion and ramp up our judgment. Fear can paralyze us into inaction and tempt us to quit. We live in a society that is increasingly less interested in organized religion, and it can be easy to fear for the future of our parish, neighborhood, and town. Can we blame James and John for wanting a little assurance that things will work out?

Jesus’ response to them is that they will drink of the cup he drinks and be baptized with the same baptism. The bottom line is that they will be with Jesus, and Jesus will be with them. Jesus will be with them no matter what. Some out there believe that if you follow the rules (whatever rules that particular person holds dear), you will never experience pain. That thinking is wrong, harmful, and dangerous. Jesus was God’s son, and he wound up dying on the cross. Who are we to think that our fate will be better?

In our reading from Hebrews this morning, we heard, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”[2] The writer of Hebrews is lifting Jesus as an example for us to follow. We are to follow Christ into submission. Now, submission is not a popular word in our culture. We prefer phrases like “No retreat, no surrender,” “Never back down,” “Stand on your own two feet,” and “Pull yourself up.” Our understanding of toughness is often not about faith in God or trusting in God’s presence or providence; instead, it is of the quarterback who leads the fourth-quarter comeback with a broken nose or the cowboy who fights despite being outnumbered, out-gunned, and injured.

But as Christians, as followers of the one who submitted not just to being human but to the cross, we are called to enter into pain and suffering, grief and loss, to be present with each other just as God is present with us. To do that, to practice that ministry of presence with our own pain and that of our brothers and sisters in Christ requires that we surrender our self-confidence, self-reliance, and independence and submit to confidence in God, reliance upon God, and interdependence with each other.

In 1896, Judson W.V. DeVenter wrote the lyrics of the classic hymn “I surrender all”:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In his presence daily live.
I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

DeVenter said that this hymn came about as he struggled to find his path, whether to serve his gifts for the arts or to become an evangelist. When he finally submitted not to his desires but to God’s will, he explained that a whole world opened to him. It is a mystery of the faith that to lose one’s life is to gain it.

Submitting to God’s will is not an easy task. Submission is not popular. But it is in submission that Christ found his glory. Following the path of Christ will have both joy and pain, suffering and exaltation. Jesus, God’s son, the one whom we came to know as God incarnate, God made flesh, died on the cross. God refused to be separated from humanity, separated from us. God became one of us, lived among us, and even suffered and died because of us. The testimony of the cross is that even in our darkest hour, even when it appears all hope is lost, even when the fear threatens to cripple us, God is with us.

We should never try to limit God. Indeed, God is with us in our darkest hours in many ways. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[3]

God will not let us go.

And it is through Jesus that we are called to be servants: “…whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”[4] No matter what may come, I pray that we will be present for each other, be the body of Christ for each other, and share God’s love every day just as we share it here today.

And as we do that, we are called to go out into the world as fed and renewed people, emboldened and empowered to serve our Lord. We are called to go out into the world as the Body of Christ to seek and serve all people in the name of Jesus. We are called to go out into the world and heal the sick, feed the hungry, comfort those who mourn, free the captives, and let all the world know that the love of God cannot be defeated.

God will not let us go. Amen!

Bibliography

https://www.episcopa

[1] Cf. Mark 10:33-34, New Revised Standard Version (“NRSV”)

[2] Hebrews 5:7, NRSV

[3] Romans 8:38-39, NRSV

[4] Mark 10:44, NRSV