Sunday, October 21, 2012: Mark 10:35-45
I’ve always been a goal-oriented person. I like to run marathons, for example, because they turn my daily training runs into a work in progress. What I do today will get me closer to the finish line several months from now. I enjoy the process because I’ve done it enough times now to trust that if I invest x amount of work, then I’ll end up with y amount of reward, as measured out in shiny finisher’s medals, cool race shirts, proudly aching quadriceps and personal satisfaction.
As a pastor, there are precious few places where I can count on that kind of guaranteed, short-term return on my investments. Many nights I wonder if my day’s labor has gotten anybody any closer to any finish line that really matters.
It’s not hard, then, to imagine myself, in one of my weaker moments, joining James and John as they ask Jesus for favored positions around his throne. Granted, it’s a tacky request, but it does have the virtue of being sincere. We pastors all know the unglamorous aspects of the ministry: suffering through a contentious budget meeting, mopping up an overflowed toilet in the children’s wing, listening to the latest complaints about last Sunday’s hymns or cutting the family beach vacation short because of a funeral. These are the sorts of unpleasantries that tempt well-intentioned servants to ask about seating charts in the kingdom to come. Please tell me, Lord, that someone is going to benefit from today’s labor—if not the people I’m trying to serve, then let it be me. I don’t want this effort to be totally wasted.
