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sjameselder04
Jealous
for the Lord
Text:
1 Kings 19:9-18 / Mark 10:35-45
Date: St. James the Elder, Apostle Day
7/25/04 fuck despina vandi nude
Jealousy.
We usually think of jealousy as a negative thing, a sin against
the ninth and tenth commandments concerning coveting when someone
is resentfully envious of someone else. But there is another positive
definition of jealousy. The dictionary puts it best when it has
as the first definition of the word “jealous,” “watchful or solicitous
in guarding or keeping” something. On this Saint James the Elder,
Apostle Day, in the readings appointed we see both sides of jealousy,
in the Gospel on the part of James and John the Sons of Thunder
and in the Old Testament reading on the part of Elijah. The reading
from acts is the account of the martyrdom of James under Herod,
thus fulfilling the Lord's word.
Jealousy—first
the negative definition. Jealousy means to be concerned only for
your self. It was with this sort of arrogance that James and John
approached Jesus. Even after he had taught them that to be his disciple
means to deny self, take up your cross and follow; even after he
had taught them that to be “first” one must be last and servant
of all; even after he had taught them that to enter the kingdom
of God one must receive it like a little child, nevertheless, here
come James and John, not in committed discipleship to do whatever
Jesus asked of them, but with the demand that Jesus do for them
whatever they asked of him. It was the old “theology of glory” bug
that was biting hard. It is the bug that is willing to do or say
anything in order to achieve if not success, at least the appearance
of success. “Bigger is better” is the motto.
In
answer, Jesus doesn't lecture the brothers on the meaning of discipleship.
When one is caught up in the euphoria and misguided enthusiasm of
the theology of glory one does not and cannot listen to rational
thinking, especially when it comes to things spiritual and the theology
of the cross. So Jesus plays along for a short moment. “What do
you want me to do for you?” They said, “Grant us to sit, one at
your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
“You
don't know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. He helps them dig
the hole they're in a little deeper. “Are you able to drink the
cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which
I am baptized?” Let's give the two the benefit of the doubt and
assume that they knew what Jesus was talking about with the metaphors
of drinking the cup and being baptized, that is, the cup refers
to sufferings and to drink it is to undergo those sufferings. To
be baptized here means to be overwhelmed with calamities, namely,
the calamity of the crucifixion. How blinding is the way of the
theology of glory, of hype and enthusiasm as the two brothers insist,
“We are able”! They weren't able—in themselves. For the moment they
didn't know what they were talking about. “You do not know what
you are asking,” Jesus warned them. The surprise is that Jesus said
they would drink the drink and go through this baptism. They may
have thought, “Oh, goody!” at the moment. But here was the reality
some years later: “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands
on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother
of John with the sword” [Acts 12:1-2 (ESV)]. By that time, however,
James had learned the truth. Maybe he was occasionally a little
embarrassed as he remembered the proud ignorance he once displayed.
He learned the prayer we will pray in the hymn of the day, “Lord,
curb our vain impatience For glory and for gain, And nerve us for
such suff'rings As glorify your name” [LW 194:16].
The
same was true of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. Like James he
was looking out for his own interests. It was with the same sort
of arrogance as James' demand for greatness that Elijah imagined
himself to be the only person left in covenant with God, as he complained
(actually, bragged!), “and I, even I only, am left.” You know, this
is sort of like the person who finds himself in trouble and, after
considering all the possibilities of what to do about it, despairs
and concludes that there is no way out, no acceptable answer to
the predicament. Certainly you've experienced something like that,
as when there isn't enough money to pay for all the bills, or it
seems like there is no one who cares and you feel all alone. That
is actually idolatry, for it assumes that you know all the options,
all the possibilities (which you don't!), when the truth is the
answer will always be something you haven't considered or thought
of yet. Elijah learned what James learned, for the L ord did not
respond to his arrogance, but got the message across to forget your
pretensions of being the only one faithful, for there are yet “seven
thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal” [1
Kings 19:18 (ESV)].
Throughout
the Bible we are warned against the sin of jealousy. The Proverb
says, “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand
before jealousy?” Proverbs 27:4 [(ESV)]. Saint Paul warns in his
letter to the Romans, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not
in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality,
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