Good Morning Friends,
It’s a new week, and I hope it’s a joyful and peaceful one for you. Here are some thoughts from this morning’s coffee. As always, feel free to pass it along to someone who might find it helpful.
Much love,
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
In Mark 10:35 James and John approach Jesus and ask (what on the surface seems to be) a selfish question, "teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you."
HA.
I mean, did they expect Jesus to say, "sure, lay it on me?" It's like a little kid going to their parent with an absolutely outlandish request and trying to trick the parent into saying "OK" before they even ask the question.
Rather than give an immediate "YES" (smart move), Jesus asks them what they want him to do and then they come out with the request: "grant us to sit, one on your right hand and one on your lift hand, in your glory."
In other words, when you enter your Kingdom we want the best seats in the house - we want thrones on either side of yours.
"Can you arrange that for us, Jesus?"
This is one of those passages where preachers like to poke fun at the disciples (like I did above - bad habits die hard!), but this morning while sipping some coffee I wondered if we've been a bit too hard on James and John when we take jabs at them.
I say this because a few verses earlier (10:32) it says that after Jesus shared some details about his upcoming torture and death ... it says that "those who followed Jesus were afraid"; and so that makes me wonder if James and John's request for security stemmed from a place fear as opposed to entitlement.
Because we do that, don't we?
When 9-11 happened ...
The fear of terrorism.
And the fear of an enemy.
And the fear of death and destruction.
... It led us to take ALL SORTS of steps and do ALL SORTS of things in the name of "keeping our Nation secure and our citizens safe".
Right?
In an effort to make ourselves feel secure, for example, Muslim people were talked about in such a negative light that (for many people) all Muslims quickly became the enemy. In an effort to make themselves feel secure and enthroned in the world many Americans took it upon themselves to publicly shame, harass, ridicule, beat, and even murder Muslim people in cold blood.
Why?
Many would say entitlement and arrogance, but I think it was more so FEAR. And that's my point - fear can drive us to do tragic things just as it perhaps drove James and John to make this outlandish request.
So this morning I found myself not laughing at James and John's request, but sympathizing with them and wondering when, in my own life, have I let fear drive me to do or say things that are way out of character for me? And that made me think about the world in which we live today and all of the ...
Problems.
Wars.
Diseases.
Politics.
News outlets.
Etc.
... And how easy it is to let myself be ruled by fear rather than by a quiet trust that in the midst of all that there is to be afraid of, we are not alone - the Christ is within us and all around us.
And so perhaps that can be our mantra in these days - "I am not alone, Christ is in me and around me" - and perhaps even though that mantra will not erase the source of our fears or make the problems disappear, maybe it can help us keep perspective in the midst of all that we're afraid of so that we remain true to who we are as opposed to letting our desire to feel secure direct our words and actions, causing us to (often times) say and sometimes do harmful things.
"I am not alone, Christ is in me and around me."
Let's say it today - 10,000 times, if need be.