"Then James and John came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you? They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
Gospel of Mark
As you drive down the Cole Harbor Road in the city I live, there is a very revealing sign on display at the Regal Road Baptist Church. It says: "Salvation is free, but the cost is great".
When you take the time to reflect on this sign, the message can be interpreted in a couple of ways. The first way can be found in Peter's first letter in the New Testament.
"Remember, the ransom that was paid to free you from the useless way of life handed down to you was not paid with silver or gold or in anything corruptible, but in the precious blood of the lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ."
So the cost of our salvation is truly great. God, through Christ, reveals that His love for us even surpasses that one thing we hold the most precious and cling to most desperately; life itself.
Most of us would be willing to sacrifice our precious things to save another, but to sacrifice our very life seems out of the question. Yet, as we continue in the letter of Peter, this is exactly what we are asked to do. Peter reminds us that all flesh is grass, and its glory like the wild flowers. Our lives, like the grass withers, and like the flowers fail. What we describe as "our life" is also corruptible, impermanent, and passing. When we see "our life" as something permanent, we see as an illusion, because life as we know it will pass away for all of us. We are asked to die to all things that are corruptible and passing so that we may gain that which is permanent, our "new life" with Christ.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus teaches us not to cling to this illusionary life because it has no permanence. Relinquish self, die to self. Place your trust and hope in that which is permanent; that is "New Life" with God.
From my own experience, we let go of the illusionary life reluctantly and slowly. This is illustrated in our lives where we often cling desperately to those things that appear to make "self" real and concrete.
Then James and John came to Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask. “What do you want me to do for you? They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and he other at your left in your glory.”
James and John attempt to find for "themselves" the most favorable positions in God's kingdom, the place at Jesus' left and right. They are attempting to make their corruptible "selves" permanent. Let's not be too hard on James and John. They are still learning as we are ourselves. Their concern for "self" again provides Jesus with His greatest teaching point on the cost of discipleship. The teaching point is that selfishness or self-concern in all its various forms whether it be greed, self-seeking, power, etc. is a contradiction to God's plan for humanity. To be first or the greatest is to serve the needs of all, as Jesus did. That is to relinquish "self".
The call of the Christian, that is to relinquish "self", is a radical one, and to many, a costly one. We all refuse at times; but in order to discover the joy and liberty that comes through faith, we must relinquish all worldly ambition of every sort.
I believe this is one of the greatest challenges in the Church today. We seem to be losing our sense of the importance of a life in faith. Our salvation and liberty is a free gift, it costs us nothing, but the process of relinquishing "self" often appears too much of a cost to sacrifice in order to attain it.
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