Less is More

Mark 10:35-45

October 18, 2015

Henri Nouwen who was a wonderful

priest and author wrote a very wise thing

"The long painful history of the church

is the history of people ever and again tempted

to choose power over love, control over the cross,

being the leader over being led by God."

This has been the churches temptation

and the people of Christ have given into it:

the Spanish Inquisition,

Early Calvinism, burning people at the stake,

even Luther gave into this temptation

when he was asked what to do about

the peasant uprising

in order to support his own theological

premise of the two kingdoms,

told the governers that they had the

right and even the obligation to kill

those peasants. And they did.

He chose control over the cross.

Power over love.

There are endless examples.

And this was James and John’s temptation too.

Jesus has just told the disciples that he’s going to be

arrested, tortured and killed by the authorities.

And still James and John, the Sons of Thunder

come up to Jesus and ask him

if Jesus can promise them the corner

office and the best parking spaces in heaven.

 It might seem like a small, harmless request,

but that’s how these temptations work.

The devil would love nothing more

than if we kept everything we had and earned

for ourselves, if we hoarded every bit of

power, and success, and money and

surrounded ourselvse with it, bragged about it

and lorded it over everyone else to get our way.

We know many people who give into that temptation.

But the gospel requires that we let go of things.

Last week, the rich man was told to let go of

his possessions and give them away,

we’re told to give up our

grudges and choose forgiveness,

and this week the gospel asks us to

give up our place on the ladder of success

for the good of others.

The greatest temptation for every leader,

especially leaders who work for the public good

and for the oppressed

is the temptation to only

work for their own success and comfort.

At some point in any great leader’s life,

The establishment always offers something

that is hard to refuse.

Just like Jesus was tempted in the wilderness

they are offered that high paying job,

the safety of them and their family,

the promise of temporary riches.

  

In 1962, at a particularly stressful

and hopeless time early in the civil rights

movement, Martin Luther King

was offered a job as Chief Empresario

and around the world lecturer

for the Sol Hurok agency,

a kind of world wide talent agency.

He was guaranteed a salary of $100,000,

still alot of money today.

After threats to his family, time in jail

and the long road ahead, I’m sure this

was very tempting to him.

It’s said he thought for a long time

about it, but he obviously refused and

recommitted to the movement he was called to.

The devil would love it if he took that path.

Others in the movement probably took that path.

But Jesus says that’s not the way

the way to real greatness is to be a servant to others.

The real path to power

is to get power and to give it away.

Some Christians are uncomfortable

with the concept of power.

We have interpreted Jesus words

to mean that we should never strive to be the best,

never achieve, never be better than anyone else

that we should be the world’s doormat.

But this is not useful for the Kingdom.

Power is a gift to us, it is an opportunity.

Power is a useful thing.

We’re not asked to shirk it off or refuse it.
We’re asked to take it and use it – for the good of others.

When we think of Mother Theresa,

we mostly think of her in the streets and slums

working with the poorest people in India.

But Mother Theresa was a very powerful woman too.

When she needed more funding for her causes,

she would get on a plane, fly first class,

assemble a meeting of high powered CEO’s

and executives and sit down in a chair,

look them in th eye and tell them

“I need your money to do my work.“

And when they would offer her some

she would say,“No, that’s not enough. I’ll wait.“

That’s no door mat.

That’s power. but it’s power for the sake of others.

As Christians, we don’t need to under-achieve.

We don’t need to be door mats.

If it’s in your heart and personality,

rise to the top of your profession

Be the best you can, be the supervisor,

the principal, the district president.

But our greatness is found when we use

that power to make sure the employees

who work for you are being treated respectfully

and clients are being treated well.

Christians can be elected officials

But their real greatness is found when they

use their power for the good of

all people, even those who can’t vote

like homeless people or people who have been in prison.

Christians can make a lot of money,

But our real riches are found when we

don’t just keep all that for ourselves.

but when we use it to set people free.

And as a church, we can be great and big and strong

and full of people and have lots of power and influence

But our greatness as a church is only found when

we use that power and influence for others

to speak up against injustice, violence, war

and all those things that oppress the least among us.

Real power is found in giving our power away.

I love what’s happening to Mark Zuckerberg,

the young man who invented Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook,
visits prisoners at San Quentin Prison

At first he kind of seemed like this selfish, smarmy kid

who was just going to use his sudden wealth for his own purposes.

But that’s been changing,

I just read a new story that 

said that he read the book

“the New Jim Crow” a book about

how the war on drugs 

and our nation’s prison system

has replaced racial segregation 

in this country.

Now he says he’s using his voice and power

to work for prison reform in the US.

Kind of like Bill Gates, the richest man in the world,

who about 20 years ago said that he felt no need to

give any of his money away,

now, he’s kind of his own World Health Organization,

using his power for the good of millions of people.

Or Warren Buffett the billionaire who started

to challenge other billionaires to give away

half of their riches to worthy organizations.

It’s like these people get to a certain

outrageous point of wealth and they go, Is that all there is?

I have everything I could ever want, now what?

They may not even be Christians,

but they really understand the

paradox that Jesus gives us here:

To be great, serve others.

The way to get more is to give it away.

Or as we’re focusing on in our worship:
Less is more.

The more we give away, the more we have.

The more we give away our power,

the stronger we grow.

The more money we give away, the richer we really are.

Not necessarily monetarily,

but in those ways that can’t be counted.

Less is more.

We follow someone who could have had

all the power in the world,

who could have lived in palaces,

who could have lived a pleasant life

with riches and comfort and personal, inner peace.

But instead he used his power for the good of others,

he used his power to heal, to forgive,

to set captives like us free from ourselves

and the prisons we make.

Jesus could have had anything in the world,

but he gave his whole life for us.

God gave God’s whole self away.
And God gets all the glory.

Let’s pray: God help us to be the best we can be.
And help us to use what we have in service to you

and in service to others.