Chapters 9-10 – An Upside-Down Kingdom

Who doesn’t want to be great? Yet the disciples’ lingering concern over “who is the greatest” has perhaps never seemed so misplaced. James and John ask to sit at his right and left, not knowing that the roles will soon be filled at the cross by criminals on death row. The One that Peter, James and John have just seen “transfigured” repeatedly tells them where such greatness will lead. Twice in these chapters, Jesus tells them quite clearly what will happen to him. For his efforts, he will be betrayed, condemned, mocked, tortured and executed. And then he will rise again. (This last bit is so baffling – the words don’t seem to land anywhere. He says them, and no one responds – not even to ask for clarification.)  It is interesting that the voice from the cloud at the Transfiguration does not tell Jesus’ friends to believe what they see as they gaze upon him in his dazzling white robes with his celebrity companions; rather, they are to “listen to him.”

This will prove quite difficult. In these chapters, Jesus rejects any conventional definition of greatness. He lets a rich man walk away (even though we are explicitly told that Jesus loves him – a love that includes freedom to reject him, imagine that!) and holds up as examples children who cannot vote or donate or stump for him. He lifts up those who will never be able to repay him – whether it’s a tormented boy and his father or blind Bartimaeus. Has there ever been a more honest confession of faith than “I believe; help my unbelief” (9:24)? Yet Jesus does not turn this father away for his seeming equivocation. He does what the disciples cannot and makes the child well.

What kind of leader of a movement is this? He doesn’t seem threatened by others who do good in his name. He doesn’t demand unquestioning loyalty. He doesn’t find his authority in external validation or take comfort in the trappings of power. He says: “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (10:43-45). What does it mean for us to follow such a King – particularly as we walk the way of the cross this Holy Week?