Selfie or Service?

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

March 17, 2024

Mark 10:32-45

 “Journey to Joy: Selfie or Service?”

Recently, I read about a retirement-age person who was on a flight home. Seated next to this individual was a young person who spent the entire flight – several hours – viewing pictures of themselves on their phone. Some were taken by others, but most were selfies. You know how it is on a crowded flight, being in such close quarters with the people sitting next to you. You try to mind your own business, but sometimes that’s not easy to do. We’ve probably all taken selfies ourselves, right? They go hand-in-hand with social media. Now, maybe this young person was just killing time, scrolling through photos and deleting some along the way. Whatever it was, this points out a greater truth about us as human beings. It’s more than an older person grumbling about the younger generation. For better or worse, whether we like it or not, we live in a selfie culture. But it’s not anything new, as today’s Gospel points out. James and John were all about the selfie-thing before it even had a name. Jesus called them and he calls us to something different; something better. The last verse of today’s Gospel lesson, our Scripture memory verse that we read together, serves as the basis for today’s message: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Our Lenten preaching series, “Journey to Joy,” continues today under the theme: “Selfie or Service?” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Today’s Gospel lesson begins with Jesus telling his disciples for the third time that he would suffer, die and rise again (Mark 10:32-34). Steadily, Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem and everything that awaits him there. Twice before in the preceding chapters (Mark 8:31-32; 9:30-32), Jesus told his disciples the same thing. If this sounds familiar, that’s because we heard Jesus’ first Passion prediction in the Gospel lesson three weeks agon on the Second Sunday in Lent. Each time that Jesus shared he would be rejected, suffer, die and rise again, the response of the disciples is confusion. They don’t get it, and truth be told, had we been in their shoes, we wouldn’t have gotten it, either. The confusion here in this third and final Passion prediction comes with the request that James and John have for Jesus. It’s a bold – even brazen – request. They are jockeying for position in Jesus’ kingdom; self-promoters who are doing the selfie thing.

Jesus spells out what James and John’s request means: “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?” (Mark 10:38). James and John think it’s about having the best seats in the house; living the high life; being besties with Jesus and sharing his glory. They reply: “We are able” (Mark 10:39). They have no idea what this is all about; what it means for Jesus and for them. But they will. That cup of suffering which Jesus himself soon will drink, they will also drink. The baptism of Jesus’ own death and resurrection is something that they will experience. Jesus has to move them – and us – from selfie to service.

We’re told that the other disciples were “indignant” at James and John (Mark 10:41). Why? Were they offended because of how off-base this request was? More likely, they were indignant because they didn’t think of it first. And that’s how it works in the selfie world, right? You have to be one step ahead of everybody else. The early bird catches the worm. They were upset that they missed this opportunity to ask. Everything seems to be spinning out of control. “Time out,” Jesus says, as he called all of the disciples together for a teachable moment to clarify what his kingdom is all about. And it’s not about selfie, but service. In the selfie world, if you’re the one on top, you’ve got the power. You get to tell others what to do. You can use that power however you want to use it. That’s not what Jesus’ kingdom looks like. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43b-44). That is an upside-down kingdom if ever there was one! But it is only through this upside-down kingdom of Jesus that everything gets turned right-side-up.

Jesus doesn’t just talk the talk; he walks the walk. He doesn’t ask us to do something that he himself is unwilling to do. Jesus walked the way of the cross as that final verse in today’s Gospel tells us: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus breaks the cycle of our selfie addiction; our need to be first and best at the expense of others. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. The original word here for serve (διακονέω) is where we get our word deacon or deaconess. Originally, the word meant to wait tables; to serve or minister to. This is what Jesus came to do, not just for James, John, and the other disciples. Jesus came to do this for you and me; for people everywhere. On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus demonstrated this by washing the disciples’ feet, something only a servant would do. Taking on the form of a servant, Jesus came to serve us; to minister to us. He came to offer himself in our place as the atoning sacrifice for all of our sin. And so the words from the prophet Jeremiah in today’s Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 31:31-34) are fulfilled in Jesus: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jesus has become both our sacrifice for sin and our model of the godly life. In Baptism, we are clothed with the robe of Christ’s own righteousness and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us. The godly life,  beginning with our own Baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection, doesn’t guarantee that life will always be comfortable, easy, or pain-free. Baptism unites us with Jesus and all that he has done for us. It wasn’t for Jesus, so why would we think it should be for us? Our journey to joy is one that passes through humble and loving service to our neighbor, who is Christ in our midst. Nourished by God’s Word and Sacraments in the fellowship of believers, our selfie way of thinking and living gives way to a servant mindset that looks to Jesus, our Servant King, who will sustain us to the end. 

May the Lord who has begun this good work among us bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). Amen.