Hebrews 5: 1-10 (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)
Mark 10: 33-45 (Common English Bible)
When you think about the life of Jesus, it’s marked by humility above everything else. God’s son could’ve been born anywhere, even in a king’s palace. But Jesus was born in the small village of Bethlehem. His first bed was a feeding trough for animals. And the place Jesus spent his formative years was in Nazareth, a town with a bad reputation. Jesus spent the first 30 years of his life pretty much unnoticed. After three years, he went to Jerusalem to face death on a cross.
The world has always had a different idea of what it means to be great. But Jesus challenged those ideas and said the Human One came not be served, but to serve.
This is very counter-cultural. When you look around our world today, the most popular thing is to be served. In the eyes of the world, the path to greatness lies with being served. Being served by others may make one comfortable, but it really doesn’t make one happy.
Albert Schweitzer was a famous Lutheran missionary who knew that well. He studied theology and was also a gifted organist. Schweitzer wrote the famous book, “The Quest for the Historical Jesus.” When Schweitzer was 30 years old, he decided to change the course he was going. He wanted to abandon his former promising career and become a mission doctor. And then he headed to Africa to fulfill that missionary work and eventually built a hospital to help those in need. In 1952, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his service to humanity.
But the main thing about Albert Schweitzer, was that he discovered the wonderful secret of Christian life. And that is, we are called not to be served, but to serve. Schweitzer summed this up in a famous quote of his, “Every person I know who has been truly happy, have learned how to serve others.”
In the gospel reading, we find the disciples laying claim to something Jesus never offered. James and John believed in the idea they will have power in God’s kingdom. They’re use to the idea of earthly kingdoms where the conquerors take the wealth and power of the conquered. People, too try to make the Kingdom of God similar to kingdoms on earth. Think of the many who think God will bless them with wealth for good behavior. This is the reversal of everything Jesus taught.
The sad thing is that Christians have managed to grow the Jesus Movement while ignoring everything Jesus taught to change the world. They basically just use Jesus as a ticket to heaven, while ignoring the turmoil on earth. Can Christians today imagine the world in a different way? A vision that values the image of God in all of God’s creation. Can a path be chosen that makes clear we are not impressed by wealth and power? If one claims a Jesus who bestows worldly power, they are just as confused as James and John were.
The letter to the Hebrews is basically the same as a letter to the Jewish people. The writer of Hebrews is unknown but most New Testament scholars believe it was written between 70 – 90 AD, after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple.
Modern readers can be mystified by the figure Melchizedek, who first appears in Genesis 14, prior to his mention in Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter seven, the writer says Melchizedek had no records of his birth and death, and was considered a priest forever. When Abraham bowed to Melchizedek and gave him tithes, it showed Melchizedek as the supreme priest among all others of his time. The writer of Hebrews compares Jesus to Melchizedek, but Jesus was even above Melchizedek because Jesus was appointed by God.
A careful study of verses 7 – 8 shows Jesus with the power of salvation, which Melchizedek never had. So often in our deepest suffering, we look up to the God who is supposed to be in charge of our messed up world and ask, why? What kind of God lets children suffer? The gospel according to the Hebrews answers, “the God who became one of us so fully, that God knows what it’s like to grieve, with loud cries and fear.” Some would say this was the experience of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
It is probable the writer of Hebrews was addressing his letter to the Jewish people who became Christians, but were leaving the Jesus faith. The writer encourages them to remain firm, because Jesus is the source of eternal life, for all who follow him. What we owe Jesus is a steady faith, a faith that is firm and sustains us during our darkest days. A faith that is not full of complicated doctrine, but faith in the One who, prayed, wept, submitted and suffered and obeyed unto death, even death on a cross.
But who are our priests today? Some are in Christian denominations like the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Episcopalian Church. And no doubt here are many more within churches and other religions. Even in today’s post-industrial secular society, many still seek the kinds of spiritual help today as it was centuries ago. There is a higher power everyone seeks during a crisis. The priests we have today can help, but they can also make mistakes. But with Jesus the Christ as our high priest, there will never be a mistake.
AMEN