Paradoxical Living

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:35-45

“But it is not so among you…” (v. 43)

I was surprised by his request.  Jacob knew, at least I thought he knew, we wouldn’t allow him to go where he was asking to go.  I soon discovered how his teen-age mind had reasoned it all out.  It really came down to one argument.  To him the logic of it was irrefutable.  “Everyone is going!”  Surely I would succumb to the wisdom of knowing that if everyone was going it must be all right.

While it might be easy to see the flawed reasoning of a teen-ager, adults often live by the same philosophy.  The powerful influence of our own culture cannot be underestimated.  We are carried along by the current of conventional wisdom.  Unfortunately we fail to see that these cultural currents will eventually cast us over a precipice into an ocean of trouble.

Having said that, I notice that Jesus doesn’t just tell James and John and the others, “it is not so among you,” he gives them the alternative way to live.  He points his followers down the paradoxical path.  He calls them, and us, to an upside down life.  He shows them a life where being great is serving and sacrificing.  Now, not everyone is going there.  But it is where we are called to go.