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The true treasures of the church are people—people who have no worldly value whatsoever, people who provide no personal benefit or leg up in the world, people who have nothing to offer but their need. Martin Luther says that the rule and reign of God merits us. In other words, people are the reward and the spoils of God’s kingdom come in Jesus Christ. The true treasures of the church, then, are those who have been rescued and redeemed by the love of God in Christ—the needy, the poor, the crippled, the blind, and sinners—because Jesus came not to be served, but to serve—to have compassion on the poor in spirit, to pour out his loving kindness on those who mourn, to have mercy on sinners.
Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. And Jesus again took his disciples aside and began to tell them that what was going to happen in Jerusalem. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
And James and John, as if to prove that they weren’t listening to one word of what Jesus was saying, came up to Jesus and asked him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus replied. And they said, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus is the Christ, the King God sent to rule and reign over all God’s creation. And Jesus is headed to Jerusalem, the city of David’s throne. And James and John want a piece of the action. They want a part in Jesus’ glory.
But it’s as if they didn’t hear a word Jesus said. “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus said. Jesus’ glory is not to receive honor and respect and privilege and riches. Jesus’ glory isn’t to win personal gain, but to pour his life out in service. His cup is the cup of the cross; his is the baptism of suffering and death. To share in Jesus’ glory then, is to suffer and die—to pour out your life in service to the poor in spirit, the needy, and sinners.
Jesus said, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This is Jesus’ mission from the very beginning, not to be served but to serve—to pour his life out for those who have nothing to offer but their lack and their need. That’s why Jesus touched those afflicted with leprosy and made them clean. That’s why Jesus ate with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors, and forgave their sins. That’s why Jesus dropped what he was doing and went to Jairus’ house, when Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to heal his daughter who was sick. And when she died on the way, Jesus kept going. And when he arrived at the house, he took the girl by the hand and said, “Little girl, arise.” This is why when a woman who had an issue of blood that could not be stopped—even though she had gone to doctor after doctor and her condition only worsened—when she came up to Jesus and touched his garment, Jesus didn’t scold her for contaminating him, but praised her for trusting in him.
This is why Jesus would be numbered with sinners, and become the scum of the earth and the refuse of all things. He would be spit on, struck in the face, despised as one from whom men hide their faces, with no beauty that we should desire him, hung on a cross as a god-forsaken man, a curse, sin itself, that he might bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, that he might be crushed for our iniquities, that by his wounds, we might be healed.
Jesus’ glory is not to receive honor and respect and privilege and riches. Jesus’ glory isn’t to win personal gain, but to pour his life out in service to those who have nothing to offer but their need.
Which raises the question, “What are the treasures of Our Redeemer?” Is this building or the fine craftsmanship of the chancel and altar? Is it our weekly offerings, or our inflated endowments or emergency fund? What are the treasures of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church?
Well, look around the room. The people you see sitting next to you, in front of you, behind you—these are the treasures of the church. Because these people—all of you—are the ones who have nothing to offer but your need. And we come here and we give Jesus our sin, and he gives us his body and blood given and shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. We come here and we give Jesus our dying bodies, and he gives us the promise of his resurrection from the dead. We come here and we give Jesus our lives wrecked by the curse, and he gives us his life—the promise that just as he was raised from the dead victorious over the stain of sin and the curse of death, so too will we be raised from the dead, when sin and death will be swallowed up in victory and there will be no more crying or sorrow or pain, and the curse of our sin and death will be undone. Yes, these people—all of you—are the treasures of the church because you are the people who have nothing to offer but your need. You are the people Jesus came to serve.
And there’s another sense in which these people—all of us—are the treasures of the church. Look around the room again. These are the people God has given us to serve.
We often think that church is a place to get our way. Church is a place where we sit with our friends, where we win arguments, or where we do worship the way we want to do it. But there’s nothing to win here. There are no riches to gain here. There are only people, people who are sinners, people who are on occasion poor in spirit, people who are always under the curse of death like all the rest of humanity. There are no riches here, nothing to gain or to win; only people to serve.
Church is not the place to get our way. Church is the place where we are served by Jesus. It’s the place where God puts us so that we can serve others. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” They boss and bully people around to get their way. But Jesus says, it shall not be so among you. …Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for [you].”
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Mark 10.32-45
32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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