Monday, October 19, 2015

The Gospel According to Dumb and Dumber

The Gospel According to Dumb and Dumber


            There is a scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber that I am reminded of as I read the exchange between James and John and Jesus.  Dumb and Dumber is a comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.  I don’t necessarily recommend that you go out and watch this movie unless you are looking for a way to waste two hours of your life.  But if it is one of those days where you just need to watch a two star comedy, then go for it! 
The scene I am reminded of is when Lloyd Christmas who is played by Jim Carrey finally decides to ask the attractive Mary Swanson out on a date.  Lloyd knows that his chances are slim but musters up the courage to ask, “What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?” After Mary tries to figure out how to say no delicately, Lloyd blurts out, “Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary.  The least you can do is level with me.  What are my chances?”
 Mary Swanson: “Not good.”  Lloyd Christmas: “You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?”  Mary Swanson:  “I'd say more like one out of a million.”  [pause]  Lloyd Christmas:  “So you're telling me there's a chance... YEAH!”

In today’s Gospel lesson, we are confronted with a biblical era cast of Dumb and Dumber.  James and John (a.k.a. dumb and dumber) have been following this Jesus guy for quite some time.  And for the third time, they hear Jesus tell his followers that he must undergo suffering, die, and on the third day rise again. 
Surely the know that the last thing they should ask is for one to sit on Jesus’ right hand and the other to sit on Jesus’ left.  They just saw Jesus compare Peter to Satan for asking a similar question.  They were just scolded by Jesus for arguing about who was going to be greatest in his kingdom. But dumb and dumber ask the question anyway.  First, they demand Jesus grant whatever they ask which is bizarre enough.  And then they ask if they can be the highest ranking officers in Jesus’ kingdom.        
Y’all, this is funny.  This is even more outlandish than Lloyd asking a beautiful woman like Mary out on a date.  We are so used to reading scripture seriously that we often miss the humor that is right there between the lines of the text.  Like Jesus points out, James and John are oblivious to the foolishness of their question. 
Jesus says, “You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  In other words, Jesus is saying there is a one and a trillion chance they can sit one on his left and one on his right.  But dumb and dumber think they have a chance and say, “We are able.” 
This is the point in the biblical story where the movie Dumb and Dumber breaks from the metaphor.  Jesus goes on to remind the disciples that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.  This is the point in the story when Jesus reminds the disciples that life in his kingdom depends on servant leadership.  God’s kingdom will not be ruled by a tyrant but rather by a servant who becomes least of all.  And any who want to be a part of God’s kingdom must also seek a life of service to others. 
Again, Jesus is turning the tables and trying to describe what it really means to be a leader in God’s kingdom.  The disciples live in a world where leadership is gained by acquiring status, money, and land.  The disciples live in a world where kingdoms are ruled by those who have a host of servants waiting on them night and day.  The disciples live in a world where the ultimate symbol of power comes when you gain an army to serve you.  Doesn’t sound too much different than our world does it?
Kingdoms today might not be so flagrant about these symbols of status but they still exist.  We live in a world where those who have the most money have the most power to shape public opinion.  We live in a world where the spotlight shines brightest on those who are rich and famous and often times regardless of character or achievement.  We live in a world where everyone, on some level, hopes to be lifted up as greatest of all. 
The narrative of our world tells us that we have to work to be lifted up as greatest of all.  We live in a world where we have to create our identity as people who are noticed and respected.  We live in a world where we are taught to spend most of our time convincing people to like us or notice us.  You as well as I know how exhausting this is. 
We all know the pain and disappointment of rejection after we have tried so hard to be accepted and valued.  We all know how fatal it is to our ego to hear the word “no” after we have worked diligently to be noticed and taken seriously.  Sure, every once in a while we catch a break.  Every once in a while we make it on merit alone, but even then it is exhausting to work so hard.  And for what?  So people will like us?  Surely there is something more fulfilling to life.
There is good news for all of us.  The good news comes from a God who is creating a world in Christ where our identity has nothing to do with us.  God is creating a world where our identity has nothing to do with our failure and even our success.  Instead, God is inaugurating a new kingdom through the death and resurrection of Christ, through the baptism of Christ where our identity is given to us.  In God’s kingdom, we don’t have to work to create our identity.
Our identity as the baptized has already been created by the one who came not to be served but to serve.  Our identity as the baptized is marked not by how many people serve us but instead how we reach out in care and concern for others.  Through the inauguration of God’s new kingdom in Christ, God is helping us die to the illusion that our identity depends on how many servants we have and claim the identity of the one who came to serve all.
Max Lucado says it like this, “You may be decent.  You may pay taxes and kiss your kids and sleep with a clean conscience.  But apart from Christ you aren’t holy…Accept the work already done, the work of Jesus on the cross.  Accept the goodness of Jesus Christ.  Abandon your own works and accept his.  Abandon your own decency and accept his.  Stand before God in his name, not yours.” 
In short, what we do as Christians isn’t about us.  Our Christian identity calls us to point to the good news of Christ in word and deed.  Our Christian identity is about living according to the law that Christ himself perfected.  Our Christian identity is marked by living according to the mercy and compassion of God in Christ.  We are transformed as a people who believe in death and resurrection, who believe that there is always hope for something new.  Ultimately, our life as Christians is about serving as Christ served us even when we act like dumb and dumber.
At the end of the day, it is all about asking, “Why do I do what I do?”  Why do I work so hard at the food pantry?  Why do I work so hard to breathe life into my work environment?  Why do I try so hard to get my family to church on Sunday morning?  Why do I care so much about making the world a better place?
I’ll be the first to admit that my motives are sometimes misguided like the misguided intentions of James and John.  Sometimes I want people to know that I am a good priest, a good husband and father, a good friend, a good golfer.  Sometimes I am no different than dumb and dumber. 
I want people to know that I have earned and created my identity in this world.  I want people to know that my works define who I am as a person.  But I also have to admit that I am not always a good priest or husband or father or friend.  Sometimes I mess up.  One thing is for sure, life is exhausting when I am in the business of trying to keep my image up.    
But God is giving us a way to live differently.  There is good news says we don’t have to be motivated by keeping up our self-image.  God sent Christ to change our motives and intentions.  God in Christ is delivering us form a world where we are motivated to create our own identity by what we do and rooting us in a world where we are motivated to accept the identity of Christ who came to do it all by serving all.
The more we start to trust this new identity in Christ the more we see our successes and achievements not as evidence of how good we are but instead as evidence that God is using us to help this broken world know the endless pursuit of God’s love through servant leadership.  The more we start to trust this new identity in Christ the more we see our failure not as a measure of our self-worth but rather as a way to learn from our mistakes, seek amendment of life, and grow in grace. 
We believe in a God who can take our success and even our failures to reveal his ultimate truth.  As I have heard someone say before, we are all actors.  Whether we put on a good performance or a bad one, the play will go on, the message of God’s love will get across through the grace of God.  How awesome is that?
This way of thinking shouldn’t free us from the responsibility to serve others as Christ serves us.  Rather, this way of thinking frees us from the fear of failure.  This way of thinking also frees us from the sin of pride.  And I strongly believe when we are freed from the sin of pride and freed from the fear of failure, then we are free to thrive, we are free to really live.  We are free to trust that the only thing that matters is bearing the truth of God by giving up our lives to serve the one who became greatest of all by becoming servant to all.

May you have the grace to let God put away your pride and your fear so that you may find life by trusting that the only thing that really matters is serving others without condition for God in Christ has done likewise for you.  Amen.  

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