“Jesus Sets the Disciples Straight”
Matthew 20:17-28

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourth Sunday in Lent—March 26, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus chose twelve men to be his helpers and traveling companions, the twelve apostles: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the traitor.

Most of them were former fishermen; one was a retired tax collector. We don’t know why the Lord chose these men, but they seem to have all had one thing in common: they were little thickheaded, a little stubborn, more than a little slow to understand what Jesus’ life and work were really all about.

They knew God had promised to send a king for his people. They rightly believed Jesus was that long awaited king. But, their ideas about King Jesus, and his kingdom, were all wrong. They thought Jesus was going to lead an earthly, political revolution, that he and his followers would revolt against the hated Romans, who had occupied their country for so long.

There once was a TV mini-series “Amerika”—with a “k”— about what it would be like if the former Soviet Union invaded and occupied the United States. Like the imaginary Soviets in that miniseries, the Romans really had invaded, and for nearly 100 years had occupied the land of Israel and oppressed the Hebrew people. The disciples thought Jesus was a freedom fighter, who would lead the people into war, and with God’s help drive out the hated Roman enemy.

In place of the Romans, the disciples thought Jesus would establish his own earthly kingdom.  Kicking the Roman governor Pontius Pilate out of the palace in Jerusalem, and instead setting up himself upon the throne as King Jesus I, to rule over the reborn earthly kingdom of Israel.

In this morning’s Gospel Reading from the 20th chapter of St. Matthew, Jesus and his disciples are going up to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. The disciples think that Jesus is going to Jerusalem to start his revolution, to set in motion his takeover, to begin fighting a war that will eventually make him the powerful king of an earthly kingdom. Along the way, Jesus tries to set the disciples straight, to explain to them what was really going to happen in Jerusalem:

“Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’”

Could Jesus have said it any more plainly? Could he have made it any clearer, that he would not be crowned an earthly king, or enthroned to rule over an earthly kingdom?

But, the disciples were a little thickheaded, a little stubborn, more than a little slow to understand what Jesus’ life and work were really all about. Two of the twelve disciples were the brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee.  Right after Jesus had finished explaining that he was a king who would suffer and die, the mother of James and John asked him, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

They still thought Jesus was going to establish a new, revolutionary government. The mother of James and John wanted to make certain that her sons would have important, powerful, political positions in the earthly reign of King Jesus.

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. They hadn’t got through their thick heads that Jesus was not an earthly king, but a spiritual king, who would suffer and die.

None of the other disciples understood this either. “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.”  You see, they were worried about their own futures in the new government of King Jesus, which they mistakenly thought he was going up to Jerusalem to establish. The other ten were upset because they suspected James and John of trying to get ahead of them for prized positions of power in the earthly realm of King Jesus. But, that’s not what the kingdom of God is all about.

Pontius Pilate was worried about King Jesus. He had heard the rumors. He wanted to know if Jesus really was a revolutionary, if Jesus really was trying to kick him off the throne and out of the governor’s palace. But, in the very palace of Pontius Pilate, Jesus testified: “My kingdom is not of this world.”

He was indeed crowned King Jesus in the palace of Pontius Pilate, but with a crown of thorns.  He was indeed enthroned, but marched out of the palace to Calvary, and enthroned upon a cross. King Jesus was despised, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Just as he predicted to the disciples, King Jesus was betrayed, mocked, flogged, and crucified. Out of love, King Jesus gave his life to save you. He gave his life as a ransom to pay for your sins, and not only yours but the sins of the whole world.

And, just as he predicted to his disciples, on the third day King Jesus was raised from the dead. Raised from the dead to establish a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom not of this world, the kingdom of believers, who trust in him for forgiveness, salvation, eternal life. A spiritual kingdom completely different from the kingdoms of this world. A spiritual kingdom concerned not with power, politics, and prestige. A spiritual kingdom of believers, who humbly give themselves to serving others, just as King Jesus humbly gave himself as a sacrifice for us.

“Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

An earthly kingdom is like a pyramid, with the king at the top, ruling over everyone else. The kingdom of God is an inverted pyramid, the pyramid turned upside down, with King Jesus at the bottom, in humility serving everyone else, carrying upon himself the burdens of all humankind. Those who follow Jesus in the kingdom of God don’t follow him to the top, but to the bottom, in humility, like him, serving everyone else out of love.

St. Paul writes in Philippians about following Christ in humble service to others: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others above yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with  as something to be exploited, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,  being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself  and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross!”

The most dramatic example of humble service our Lord gave us to follow was on the night in which he was betrayed. That night he instituted the Lord’s Supper, but he also did something else very special: he washed the disciples’ feet.

In those days it was customary for a lowly servant to wash the feet of guests. Humbly, like a lowly servant, King Jesus himself washes his disciples’ feet. When he finished he said, “Do you understand what I have done for you?  You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

In the spiritual kingdom of God, greatness does not show itself in power, politics, and prestige. Greatness among the followers of King Jesus shows itself in humility, love, service to others. Just as King Jesus himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.