Sermon for Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 22, 2015
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas
Sermon Text: Mark 10:35-45
Sermon Theme: “What?! You’re Asking for the Best Seats in the House?!”
(Sources: Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Believer’s Commentary; Nelson’s Three-in-One)
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you about the two cattle ranchers who were bragging to one another. The rancher from Oklahoma said, “Well, I’ve got 15,000 head of cattle with an ‘A’ branded on them.”
“An ‘A?,’” said the rancher from Texas, “heck, my spread is called the Bar T, Circle L, Cross Creek, Flying Z, Bent Fork, Double Back, North Canyon Ranch.”
“Wow,” said the first rancher, “how many head of cattle do you have?”
“Well, confessed the Texan, “not too many survive the branding.”
We human beings like to brag, don’t we?, because we want to be Number One. Too often we want to be greater and better than anyone else.
Such an attitude could be applied to the behavior of James and John in the incident in today’s sermon text. These two disciples tell Jesus they want Him to do something for them. When He asks what that is, they tell Him that when He comes into His glory, they wish to sit on His right and left, the places of highest honor. This request shows that James and John had really, really missed the point. Continue reading