Mark 10:35-45

One day a rich young man came to Jesus seeking eternal life. He said, "What must I do to get eternal life. Should I endow a seminary or hospital? Should I slay a dragon?"

Jesus said, "Give all that you have away to the poor then follow me." The man went away sad because he was rich and did not want to part with his riches. Jesus told the disciples it is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

One disciple said, "Then who can be saved." Jesus said, "Right, who could? People can't do it, but God can!" But Peter commented, "We have left everything for you. Does any of that mean anything?" Jesus said, "Anything you have given up you will get back over and over again, and you will be persecuted. But in the end you will have eternal life."

I guess all this got James and John thinking. They had given up so much to follow Jesus. They had left their father and a successful fishing business to follow Jesus. And Jesus said they had a reward coming. Certainly it must be a good reward.

So they decided to prime the pump a little. They had certainly given up more than anyone else, so they should get a better reward. Maybe they should have the chief cabinet positions when Jesus became King: to sit at his right and his left when he came into glory.

But they didn't know what they were asking. They thought they would be on thrones next to Jesus with people waiting on them hand and foot, and living in palaces on the same street with Jesus. Well, in eternity they will. But in the short term Jesus' moment of Glory would not be on a throne. It would be on the cross. And those on his left and his right would not be chiefs of state. They would be two thieves.

So Jesus told James and John that they would drink of the same cup that he would drink. According to church tradition both James and John were martyred. But to sit at his right and his left was not his choice to make. Providence would make that choice for him.

The other disciples got wind of this little conversation. They were infuriated. How dare Jesus cut a deal with the Zebedee boys without consulting them! They had theirs coming too. They had given up a bunch for Jesus! After all wasn't Peter the chief apostle; hadn't Matthew given up a profitable tax collecting franchise!

But Jesus explained that it doesn't work that way with his followers. In the world the leaders rule over the others. They make them do their bidding. The leaders rule and the people serve.

But among Jesus' followers it's the other way around. Among Jesus' followers the leaders serve. The greatest are those who humble themselves to do for others. And of course Jesus is the prime example of this. He is Lord yet he came not to be served but to serve.

If James and John really want to be great they need to change their attitude. They should not seek the glory of sitting on thrones and being waited on hand and foot. They should seek the glory of waiting on others like slaves. They should not set their minds on the reward they will receive for sacrificing now. They should set their minds on the privilege they have to serve along side their Lord.

Today is the Sunday before Consecration Sunday. Next week we will be asking people to fill out "Estimate of Giving" cards that declare how much you plan to give to the church next year. So I am supposed to tell you that you should tithe or give a tenth of your income to the church because that is the Biblical standard for faithful giving. Well, you should tithe or give a tenth of your income because that is the Biblical standard for faithful giving.

But I can't help but notice that no where does Jesus say that. Jesus never told his disciples to tithe. The closest he gets is when is criticizing the Pharisees. They tithed even their spices but ignored justice. Jesus said they should tithe but more importantly they should not ignore justice.

Jesus never says that the disciple should give 10%. He seems to say over an over again that they should give 100%. He doesn't speak in percentages. He does speak of leaving all to follow him.

In the end that is what matters. You may decide to give 10%, 15% or even 50%, but it means nothing if you have not given your life to Christ. That is a commitment we don't make just one time but daily. We have to say each day "Lord, today I give you 100% of me."

Now when a preacher preaches on stewardship we expect for the preacher to say what we will get for giving to the Lord. And you will be rewarded! You will receive a hundred times what you have sacrificed in money and time. But Jesus told his disciples that persecutions would come with that. In this life they experienced the persecution, and according to tradition even died for the faith.

Don't get me wrong. There are rewards to giving to the Lord in this life. There is the reward of knowing you have been faithful to the one who gave his life to save you. There is the satisfaction of seeing the church use those gifts, monetary and non monetary, to spread the gospel of God's love. There is the deepened faith that comes from responding faithfully.

But there will also be troubles. Simple math may make you wonder how you will make ends meet. That's where faith comes in. Your dedication may put you on the "wrong" side of issues and attitudes with your friends. If you give 100% to God, you will suffer.

But so did Jesus. If you want to sit on a throne and be waited on hand and foot in this life, then you are in the wrong place. But if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, then follow Jesus' example. He came not so that others could wait on him had and foot. He cam to serve and to dies for others. In the same vein we should give ourselves 100% to him.

Hebrews 5:1-10

"Nobody knows the trouble I see. Nobody knows but Jesus" It�s been said that misery loves company. We�ve all been through trying times and found comfort in a friend who had been through the same kind of difficulties. Many times we feel isolated and alone in our troubles. It�s a liberating experience to find someone who really knows your pains. It also offers us hope when that person has survived and triumphed over those adversities.

Nobody knows who wrote the song "Nobody knows." But whoever it was, he or she knew Jesus. The song writer knew that Jesus had faced troubles in his life. He had hungered and spent sleepless nights. Jesus had felt loss at the death of his friend Lazarus and even cried. Jesus had known temptation and loneliness and deep physical and emotional pain.

Nobody but Jesus knows the pain that the songwriter was going through. But whatever it was he or she found comfort in Jesus. They knew that Jesus understood their anguish with a depth that was beyond words. Maybe that is why the testimony of this anonymous person�s pain was not related in a story. Instead this witness to the grace of God comes in song. It expresses and depth and a breadth of human suffering and a Divine love that goes beyond what words alone can say.

"Nobody knows the trouble I see. Nobody knows but Jesus"

That�s exactly what the Hebrews 5:1-10 is talking about. You might say "No preacher, its talking about some Old Testament high priest and sacrifice stuff." Yes, but the point it�s getting to is the same. In Old Testament times the children of Israel had a high priest. The job of this priest was to go into the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt, and present the blood of a sacrifice. This sacrifice was an atonement for their sins.

Every high priest from the first one, Aaron, on was a human being. They knew first hand the need for atonement because they themselves had sinned. So he could have compassion on the sinful children of Israel because he was a sinner too. When he went in to offer the blood of the sacrifice he was offing it for himself as well as the rest of God�s people. every high priest knew and understood the people�s need for forgiveness.

But the Bible says that Jesus is the ultimate high priest. He can approach God directly in heaven to offer the blood of atonement that he himself shed for the sins of the world. But he is not in some heavenly ivory tower untouched by our lives: he knows the pain of our losses. Jesus himself was tempted in every way, yet without sinning. So not only does he know our problems and pains but he has triumphed over them.

So, who was this Melchizedek the Bible talks about and what does he have to do with Jesus? Melchizedek was an Old Testament priest of God that lived before Moses. In fact he blessed Abraham. He was also a King as well as a priest and he was a Gentile and served as a priest of God to all peoples. Jesus is a high priest like Melchizedek in that Jesus is the King of kings and a priest to all the world.

I guess yet another way to say all that Hebrews is saying is that Jesus is like the ultimate pastor. You see every pastor has their strengths and their weaknesses, myself included. Pastors are at their best when they are able to use their own experience to understand their parishioners. They are able to call upon the memory of their own pain and loss and grief to better minister to those who are in pain or experiencing grief. On the other hand all pastors are people. And as people we have all been selfish and uncaring at one time or another; that�s part of being human.

But Jesus is the best of both worlds. He lived 30 years as a human. He fell and skinned his knees. He had friends abandon him, betray him and die on him. He knew those pains first hand. And he can minister to us from that personal experience.

But Jesus is much better than even the best merely human pastor. While Jesus experienced all the pains of human existence, he did so without ever surrendering to sin. He never succumbed to selfishness or pride or bitterness or hate. He went through it all and triumphed in ways that no other person could. What�s more, he even offered himself, his life, to pay for our sins.

I don�t know what everybody here is going through today. I don�t know the trials and troubles that each of you face. And even if I did I wouldn�t be able to minister to everyone. But Jesus knows and he is able.

What are the troubles that you face? Jesus faced them. Are you lacking the necessities of life? Well, Jesus hungered and had no place to lay his head. Are you suffering unjustly because of the wrongs of another? Jesus was sinless yet he was treated as a common criminal. Are you grieving for the loss of a loved one? Jesus wept because his friend Lazarus died. Are you feeling abandoned and alone? Jesus� disciples could not stay awake with him one hour in the midst of his pain and then one of them betrayed him with a kiss.

Do you feel like nobody knows the troubles you face. The Good News is that Jesus knows. He knows because he has been through the same kind of thing. And more importantly he triumphed over all the frailties and pains of our lives. He is our great high priest, our perfect pastor! So, turn to him in your hour of need.

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