Father
John McGinn, Rector
A very
short boy wanted desperately to be on the basketball team. He even told his father thet he wanted to be
a pro when he was older. Knowing that
his son would never be able to excel at the game, the father asked the coach if
there was anything he could recommend to make the boy taller. “You might take him down to the museum and
put him on that old torture stretch rack” the coach said. And several weeks later the coach asked the
boy’s father if putting him on the rack had made him any taller. “Oh, it didn’t make him taller, but he
confessed to things I didn’t know about” Said the Dad.
We have
out dreams, don’t we?
I had the
dream of being the starting guard on the basketball team. Some of us might have had the dream to be the
top sales person in our company. We
might have had the dream to have the nicest house in the community. We might have had the dream to have the
perfect family; a dream to retire when we are young enough to live out our
dreams. And nothing is more natural than
to dream.
In fact, I
believe most people dream too small.
That was the problem with James and John in today’s gospel reading. They came to Jesus one day and asked a
favor. “Teacher, we want you to do for
us whatever we ask.” You and I do that
with God. “My lawn is looking a bit dry;
I need for you to send some rain. But
not Thursday afternoon so I can play golf; wait until Friday morning. Wait, I have a long drive to that big
meeting. I can’t have the road slick to
slow me down. Could you make it rain
just enough to take care of the lawn, but not enough to affect golf or the
road?”
And we ask
the question,’Who is in charge here?’
Shouldn’t it be God giving us orders, not the other way around?
James and John are taking
a rather tactless approach to God. “We
want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
Jesus understands, he knows that we are like that. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus
asked, probably with a sigh. And they
replied, “Let one of us sits at your right hand and one at your left.” In other words, they wanted to sit at the
head table. They wanted the office with
the window overlooking the city. They
wanted power. They wanted
influence. They wanted to be connected
and that was the least that Jesus could do for them. And at last we can appreciate their faith in
Jesus. They knew who Jesus was. They recognized him as the Messiah, the one
sent from God. Forget for a moment that they
don’t understand the nature of God’s Kingdom.
They are still living with the vision of their fathers, that the messiah
would come as a conquering hero. Jesus
came as a ministering servant. Their
idea did not fit with what Jesus was trying to do. But still it showed their faith in Jesus,
what it didn’t show was their own commitment.
“You don’t know what you
are asking.” Jesus said. “Can you drink
from my cup, and be baptized with the water I am baptized with?”
James and John were asking
for donated dignity. They were asking to
move to the head of the line, not on the basis of merit, but on a personal
relationship with the boss. They didn’t
want too earn their way. They wanted a
shortcut.
When I was growing up, I
played little league baseball and the idea was that they would pitch the ball
and you would try to hit it. Now they
have T-ball. And at a T-ball game a
little boy came up to bat. Now at a
T-ball game they place the ball on top of a T, and the boy swatted the ball off
the T. As fast as he could, he ran to
third base. Not first, but third. The coach went over to the boy and said,
“Boy, you sure hit that ball a long way.”
“I sure did.” Replied the boy. “You
really ran fast to third base and you surprised everybody” said the coach. “Why did you run to third base instead of
first?” asked the coach The boy
answered, “Because that is where I wanted to go and I could get there a lot
faster that way.”
Maybe the Red Sox should
have tried that!
It does make sense to run
to third instead of first if you do not want to conform to the rules of
baseball. It is a shortcut. James and John wanted a shortcut based not on
what they had learned but on who they knew.
I am sure they felt they deserved this promotion; they just didn’t want
to wait in line. Jesus doesn’t scold
them for this. It is alright to be
ambitious if you go about achieving those ambitions in an honorable way. If you are honest and treat people in a
respectful manner, ambition can be a positive motivator in our lives.
Nothing happens without a
dream. Still it is clear that Jesus is
disappointed in James and John’s request.
Jesus said, “Can you drink from the cup I drink from and be baptized in
the water I am baptized in?” Here is where I think James and John made their
big mistake. Their dream wasn’t big
enough. They were looking for petty
positions of power. Jesus was asking
them to save a world. They were looking
for donated dignity. Jesus was asking
them to lay down their lives for the ultimate dream. A kingdom where god reigns in every heart.
In their influential book
Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porus coined the term BHAG. Pronounced BEE-hag. BHAG described an almost impossible mission. BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious
Goal. Now common sense would tell you
that a BHAG would discourage and depress those who were asked to try and
accomplish them.
According to Collins and
Porus, the idea of a BHAG was so energizing and exhilarating that organizations
notice an upsurge of motivation when someone presents a BHAG to his people.
I think a great example of
a BHAG is the vision announced by President John F. Kennedy, on
Jesus was trying to get
his people to forget the petty power games for a moment and focus on the
biggest, hairiest most audacious goal of all.
To join with him in redeeming the world.
He was getting ready to lay down his life, and he needed them to spread
the message, that because of his death and resurrection, the chasm between God
and humanity had been forever bridged.
Jesus needed them to lay
down their lives, their hopes their dreams for that one ultimate goal: The salvation of humanity. Jesus needed them to forget about being
masters and to become servants. Jesus
wasn’t distressed with them because they were ambitious. He was distressed by them because they were
ambitious for the wrong thing. I don’t
think Jesus has a problem with people who are ambitious. God created us to dream, to strive for the
very best. I don’t think God has a
problem with us having the desire to be a CEO, the desire to be recognized by
your peers and even the desire to have in your possession nice things. The question Jesus would ask us, I believe,
is “Is that it?”
Is that the extent of your
dreams? After all these things are
fleeting. Who will be living in your
nice home 100 years from now? Who will
be leading the company you dedicated your life to? Your dreams are too small if they involve
this world only. And the provide a
limited satisfaction at best. Don’t you
want something more from life? Don’t you
want to be a part of something eternal?
Don’t you want to be a part of saving this lost and lonely world? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that because of
you, hungry are fed, because of you little children have better chance at life,
and because of you, people are finding meaning and purpose in their life?
Isn’t that what it is all
about? Saving a life, redeeming a world.
There are people all
around us who are achieving their goals, they ave the nice things, they are
well know. They have power and
privilege. Unknown to their neighbors,
they are lonely and unfulfilled. They
have no earthly reason why. But they
have nothing that matters, and nothing that lasts. It isn’t that they have too much ambition, rather that they had too little. Their dreams were too small. They were for this world only.
Wouldn’t you like to
experience God’s blessings first hand?
Maybe the problem is that your dream is too small, and that is why you
feel unfulfilled. I believe God wants
your help in redeeming the world. James
and john wanted to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand when he came into his
glory, and Jesus wasn’t upset by their dream, he just wanted them to know they
were too small. Jesus wanted them to
join him in the biggest, hairiest most audacious goal of all. To join him in bring salvation to the whole
world. He asked James and John, “Can you
drink the cup I drink, or be baptized in the water I am baptized with?” They didn’t know what that meant at the
time, but they soon learned.
One story is that when
James was executed one of the Roman guards was so moved, he confessed to being
a follower of Jesus too. It is said
that James turned to this guard and said “Peace be to you brother,” and kissed
him. The two of them were beheaded
together.
Not exactly what James and
Jon had in mind when they came to Jesus that day. They had their dreams, then they caught
Jesus’ dream, a dream of bringing a lost world filled with pain and sorrow to
god. They saw how Jesus’ death made this
a reality. And if they were going to
drink from his cup, they knew they must be willing to make such a sacrifice
themselves. Today, over 1 billion people
walk under the banner of Jesus. Never in
their in their wildest dreams could they have imagined.
I have a dream for
I have a dream for this
years pledge money. Today is the
eleventh anniversary of my coming to this parish. It is hard to believe it has gone by so
quickly. I have a dream that we will all
give out of our abundance in gratitude for all that we have been given. I have a dream that we will be transformed
generously, and all of the ministries will be fully funded, and we will have a
surplus to start new ministries that will help us to bring the help and healing
of God to all in our community, and beyond.
I have a dream.