The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on October 17, 1982. The title is, Not So With You, and the scripture reference is Mark chapter 10, verses 35 through 45. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. I'm reading from chapter 10, beginning at the 35th verse. James and John the sons of Zebedee came forward to Jesus and said to him teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you and Jesus said to them what do you want me to do for you and they said to him grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory but Jesus said to them 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?

And they said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.

And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John, and Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. The Gospel of the Lord. We come today to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Actually, we're slightly out of phase. Jews throughout the world have celebrated this feast just a week ago. And we're just catching up is what it is.

I want to say a word or two about Tabernacles before we turn to our text this morning because some of you may not really be familiar with the background of this and it's terribly important. Some of you will be and so I'll be brief. But it's important to understand that Tabernacles is the only one out of the three great festivals that were commanded of the Jews in very ancient days, way back there in the book of Leviticus.

At the beginning of Moses' leadership, God commanded His people three times a year, you're to come up to Jerusalem and worship Me. Now there are other lesser feasts and festivals, but three great festivals were in essence command performances. And it said that every male in particular to come.

He had to stop his work, whatever it was. He had to take the sacrifice of losing his pay for however long it took him to make the journey, to be there for the festival, and then to go home again. And more often than not, when it was possible, his family would come with him.

And three times a year, this was to be done. Now, two of the festivals you are going to be familiar with because they have carried over into the Christian faith. They have carried over into our worship because the Lord Jesus came along and he filled those ancient festivals with a new meaning.

He identified himself with what the Jews were already celebrating and he filled it deeper with new meaning about himself and we go on celebrating those all the time. The first great festival was Passover. And you remember, of course, what Passover was all about.

The Jews were in bondage to Egypt. They had been over 400 years in slavery. And God heard their cries and said, I'm going to deliver you from slavery.

I'm going to lead you out of bondage. We sang about the way in which He did that. They came out. God visited the Egyptians with the angel of death and then led them up to the Red Sea.

The sea parted. They passed through dry shod. The Egyptian army tried to follow and the horse and rider were thrown into the sea.

God delivered his people. Before they left Egypt, what he said to them was, because there has been so much rebellion on the part of this nation of Egypt, so much despising of my laws, my ordinances, my statutes, my standards, I'm going to send the angel of death and he's going to visit every household and the firstborn will die except for you you my people who know about this in advance and i'm telling you how to escape it you take the blood of an innocent lamb and you splash it on either side of your doorway and over the top and when the angel of death sees the blood he will pass over your house and that's where the name comes from passing over he passes over and the Jews escape that very very terrible judgment of God well how does that come into our faith into the Christian life well of course it was the Passover meal that Jesus was celebrating with his friends the night before he was betrayed called them together and in the middle of the meal he took the cup which was already there part of the celebration and he held it up and he said this cup is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins do you understand what he's saying he's saying just as the angel of death passed over the ancient jewish people so all those who understand that my blood has been shed for their sins will experience an even deeper Passover. And that's exactly what the New Testament declares.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. That's what we celebrate every time we come to His table. We are the people who figuratively, who spiritually have taken His blood and we've splashed it over our homes.

We've splashed it over our doorways. Because He died on the cross, we don't have to die. And so we celebrate Passover every time we come to the Eucharist.

We celebrate Jesus, our Passover. Well, for the ancient Israeli people, 50 days after Passover, they came to the second celebration. It was called Pentecost, which means simply 50.

50th day. 50 days after Passover, they were commanded to have the second great festival, which was a springtime harvest. In the Middle East, where it's very, very hot in the summer, you don't have one continuous growing season.

You have a springtime season. Then you have a long, hot, dry, arid summer. And then you have an autumnal season.

And the Jews were commanded to celebrate the springtime harvest. They called it the harvest of first fruits. the barley harvest for instance they were to go out and gather that early springtime harvest and offer some of it back to the Lord they'd take some of those barley shoots and they'd make bouquets of barley and they'd wave them before the Lord sort of like we wave our palm branches on Palm Sunday what are they saying?

they're saying thank you Lord for blessing us with a springtime harvest but more than that by its very name It's the harvest of first fruits. And it implies that if the springtime harvest is a good one, then you can expect that the fall harvest will even be better. If it's a good springtime season, the expectation is there that the autumn harvest will be that much fuller and more complete.

And so right on schedule, 50 days after the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost, what did God do? He poured out His Spirit in a mighty way upon that first band of apostles and disciples, equipped them, anointed them for powerful ministry, and you see what they became was literally the first fruits. Do you see what I'm saying?

That wasn't the best thing. That was simply the first thing. Lots of times you hear people saying, oh, if only we could go back.

If only we could be back there in the first century. Go back to New Testament Christianity. If only we could have been there with Peter and James and John and Paul and all the fellas.

Let me tell you, the best is yet to come, friends. The best is yet to come. That's just the first fruits.

By its very name, it's pointing to the fact that something greater still awaits. And what is it? It's the harvest of tabernacles.

The feast, the celebration of tabernacles, which is the autumn harvest, the fall harvest. And this came sort of like our American Thanksgiving. When all the crops had been gathered in after the growing season is over and you bring all of those crops in and your barns are full to bursting, then again God commands His people to stop and acknowledge Him as the One who has provided this abundance and to give thanks for His great goodness.

What's interesting about it, however, is that long before they ever got into the land of promise, the Jews were commanded to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. That is very strange when you stop and think about it. When they left Egypt, for the next 40 years, they didn't have any crops.

They didn't plant anything. They were nomads. They were wandering around in the desert, wandering around in the wilderness.

You remember the story. God provided for them in the most marvelous way. It was a continual daily miracle.

God sent manna from heaven every morning, sent in the quails every evening. There was water from the flinty rock. God provided for His people and it was marvelous.

And yet you understand what's going on. It was not the best. As wonderful as it was, it was not God's highest and best.

His highest and His best was for them to get into the land. That's what I promised you. The land of promise.

Get into the land. And when you're there, you see, no more quail. No more manna.

You're going to eat the fruit of the land. And so they were commanded before they ever got there to anticipate it. And after they did get there and they began to eat the fruit of the land, they celebrated this particular festival by coming up to Jerusalem and dwelling for a week's time in tents or booths or tabernacles.

That's where the word comes from. They'd make little temporary shelters for themselves out of leaves and branches and so on. Why?

To remind themselves that as grateful as we are for this great abundance, this harvest, we remember that it hasn't always been so. We remember back to the days of wandering in the wilderness. We remember back to the time of being sojourners and nomads when we didn't have a homeland.

Now that's the background. And you might say, well, why in the world are we celebrating this festival then? Because if you stop and think about it, we as Christians are somewhere in holy history between the day of Pentecost and the day of tabernacles.

You see, we are strangers and sojourners. The New Testament says this world isn't our home. Our true home is in the heavenlies.

That's what we were made for. Our true citizenship is in heaven. The old country western song says, this world is not my home.

I'm just a passing through. If heaven's not my home, O Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

That's my true home, is heaven, you say. And praise God, there is coming a day when the Lord Jesus Himself returns with the trump of the archangel with a mighty shout and he gathers in his harvest. And what a day of celebration there's going to be.

Of the three great ancient festivals, Tabernacles was far and away the biggest. It was a bash. It was an orgy of celebration that went on for a week.

In fact, it took an eighth day just to wind down. And we're anticipating such a day as that. you see as wonderful as it is day by day to walk with the Lord to know His provision to see miracles to see Him taking care of His people as wonderful as that is it's going to pale into insignificance when the Lord Jesus comes back He said to His friends the harvest is ready the fields are white unto harvest pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest That's what we're about, is to go out into the world and reap that harvest so that when it's complete, we can have the celebration.

Do you understand what I'm saying? The last service, we had approximately 40 visitors from literally all over the world. It couldn't have been a better day to have them visit.

We had folks from mainland China, from Taiwan, from Melanesia, from India, from Pakistan, from France. It was all over the place. And it was like a little tiny microcosm of what Jesus is going to be doing when He gathers in all of His harvest.

And that's the beginning of the great Tabernacles Festival. Nobody knows when it's coming. Not even Jesus Himself.

He said nobody knows the hour or the date. But I'm going to let you in on a secret. It's going to be soon.

And you better be ready. It's coming soon. well I want you to see this morning that whether they knew it or not James and John were really inquiring really talking about what would happen at the festival of tabernacles that's what their question is all about in essence they said Lord when you come back in your glory when you come back to gather in your harvest we have just a little favor to ask of you we understand that people are going to come from east and west and sup at Abraham's table we understand that there's going to be the greatest celebration in the history of the world and Lord when that happens would it be okay if you gave us the places on either side at the head table that's all we're asking and Jesus said to them you don't know what you're asking I want you to notice that he did not say what a preposterous idea that is he did not say what an unworthy goal that is he did not say what an illegitimate aspiration Jesus did not rebuke them for wanting to share his glory and before you're too hard on James and John notice what happened when the other ten heard about it.

They began to be indignant. Why? Because they wanted the same thing.

And Jesus didn't rebuke them for wanting to share His glory. As a matter of fact, I challenge you to look through the New Testament. You will not find a single instance where Jesus rebukes folks for wanting to share His glory.

James and John wanted a good thing. The other ten wanted a good thing, and you and I ought to desire and long for the sharing of Jesus' glory. What he rebuked them for was that perhaps they hadn't counted the cost.

He said, you see, you need to understand that my glory, my greatness is completely different than what the world has schooled you to look for and expect. the world operates on the principle that the great man the great woman is the one who lords it over everybody it's the one that everybody else caters to it's the one that everybody else serves that's how you measure greatness you want to know how great you are just count up the number of people who are catering to you the general has many more people catering to him than the second lieutenant does, that's how you know he's a general. Right?

That's the way the whole system works. Jesus says, my system works a little bit differently. He says, are you prepared to pay the price for glory?

James and John, don't you love it? We're ready. Maybe they were.

one thing is clear if you get nothing else this morning go away with this and ponder this somebody's going to be sitting at Jesus' right hand somebody's going to be sitting at his left hand he said there are two places prepared by my father for somebody and I suggest to you that the folks that sit on Jesus' right hand and left are the two people in all of human history who most resemble Jesus Himself. Whoever they turn out to be. Maybe James and John.

Maybe. Just maybe. You.

Could it be? There's nothing intrinsically impossible about it being you. You want to share Jesus' glory that much?

He tells you how you can. Very straightforwardly. Very simple.

He who would be greatest among you must be servant of all. You still interested? He who would be first among you must be slave of all.

You know, a slave has no rights as far as his master is concerned. He has no prerogatives. The master says jump and the slave says how high on the way up.

Wash my boots. He washes his boots. Make my bed.

He makes his bed. Fix my dinner. He fixes his dinner.

That's what it means to be a slave. You have no rights if you're a slave. And Jesus says, all you've got to do to be the very first one in all my kingdom is be slave of everybody.

that means you've got no prerogatives as far as anybody is concerned still interested? that's a very heavy calling in a strange paradoxical way there's liberty in it I remember when Karen and I were in the private school world we were at one point in a dormitory 42 senior high school girls. You can decide for yourself whether that's heaven or purgatory.

We found that those kids would come to us constantly asking favors. Could I use your telephone? Could I use your washing machine?

Could I put something in your freezer? Could I use your stove? How would you sew my skirt?

Would you put a button on this? Would you do this? Would you do that?

John, would you drive us over to Loomis, the boys' school? Can we borrow some money? Right.

And at first, our response to all of that was to say, now look, these kids are supposed to be growing up and learning some responsibility and we ought not to cater to those ridiculous requests. We're not here just to, you know. What were we doing?

We're defending ourselves. Putting up barriers. No, no, no, no. Let's see, I'll weigh that one.

I'll evaluate that one. I don't want my time. I don't want my money.

I don't want my prerogatives trampled on. It took a lot of effort. It took a lot of emotional energy until one day God spoke to us very, very powerfully.

He said, I've put you here to be my servants. and if I'm not able to protect your schedule and your possessions do you really think you can? And we made a decision that day that from then on unless it were simply impossible because we had some other commitment that got in the way that when a kid came to us and asked us that kind of a favor the answer would be yes.

And if it meant that this or that or the other thing got broken or got abused, that's alright. Do you know what? There's tremendous liberty in that.

Let me put it to you this way. If I came to you with what you considered to be a really obnoxious request, and your response was like ours was, you know, he ought not to do that, and I certainly have a responsibility to shape him up, Would it make a difference to you if instead of it being John Howe who was making the request, it was the Lord Jesus Himself? How many would feel that might make a difference?

That's what the Lord asks us to do is to love our brother, love our sister, love our neighbor, treat those other folks as if they were the Lord Himself. I stand here very much convicted by this word. I'm not telling you that I've arrived, but I want to come under that word and I want you to.

It's a call to have the heart of a servant. It's a call to aspire to greatness, but to understand that you get there in exactly the opposite way from the way in which the world tells you you get there. And Jesus Himself becomes the example of all of this.

In fact, Paul comments on it in the book of Philippians. He says, because Jesus did this perfectly, He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant, because He did that perfectly, therefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that He's Lord. And interestingly enough, the context in which he writes all of that is have this mind in you which you have in Christ Jesus.

In other words, the same thing applies to you and me. That if we would humble ourselves adequately as servants, we also would find God exalting us. Do you know that it's one of Jesus' favorite sayings?

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God in order that He might exalt you. on the night of the Last Supper. We read that after the meal was over, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands.

You hear that? All things. Knowing that He was King of kings, Lord of lords, knowing that he could snap his fingers and the angels would come to do his bidding, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, knowing that he had come from God and was going to God.

He knew who he was. He knew whose he was. He knew where he had come from, and he knew where he was going.

Knowing who he was, Jesus got up from table, took off his outer garments, wrapped a towel around himself, and began to wash his disciples' dirty feet. which is the job for the lowest of the servants. You understand the implication?

Jesus knew where His security was. It wasn't a matter of what they think of me. It's a matter of what the Father thinks of me.

And because I'm secure in His love, I can afford to do the job of the lowest of the servants. And then he ended that little demonstration by saying, If I then, your Master and Lord, have stooped to wash your feet, so ought also you to do for one another. Let's bow our heads together.

Lord Jesus, we look forward to that great day, that day above all days, when You come back in glory, when all the longings of all the ages are fulfilled, and You establish Your kingdom here on earth. And we want to be there, like James and John, and we want to be there and taste and even share something of Your glory. Lord, we'd ask You this day to equip us for it, to give us hearts of servants.

I would pray for myself this day that You would give to me eyes to see, opportunities to serve. and a willingness to do so. I pray for these, my brothers and sisters, that rather than looking for people to cater to us, we would be eager to be the ones who would cater to others.

And as we humble ourselves to servanthood, so You will ready us for glory. We pray in Your name. Amen.