Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Gospel lesson (Matthew 20: 17-28 read earlier.

A befuddled, bedraggled little band of disciples are following their teacher to Jerusalem. There is a tension among them. He is mysterious to them. They have faith that he is the promised Messiah, therefore they are confident that they have been chosen for some important work in his kingdom. A sense of fear from the mystery and a sense of exhilaration from the confidence and faith are strangely blended together for these disciples. They are also aware that if their confidence is misguided, that if they are wrong about this Messiah, that persecution could await them. And this Messiah has been a puzzlement to them, not just because he teaches in parables, but because when he speaks directly he says such odd things. He has just predicted again his impending death. But these disciples have seen wonderful miracles and at least three (James and John included) have heard God's voice proclaim this Jesus to be the Son of God (Chapter 17).

There has been ample evidence that He is the Messiah.

However, for them, the Messiah was not to die. According to their notions, the Messiah was to redeem Israel. According to their notions, the Messiah was to free them from the captivity of these Romans. According to their notions, the Messiah was to begin a new era of peace and prosperity for his people, to signal the end of time. These disciples have confidence, faith, and trust (in these notions). But their trust is misguided; their hopes for that kind of powerful Messiah are faulty. Jesus will take yet another opportunity to teach them.

James and his brother John and their mother approach Jesus and ask to sit in the most prominent positions possible in his glory, one at Jesus right and another at his left. While this request seems a bit presumptuous to us with hindsight, at the time it probably had some defense to it. They were, by Jesus selection, part of the inner 3 along with Peter. And just a few verses earlier (chapter 16) Peter had perhaps "hurt his position' by telling Jesus to stop talking about his death; Jesus had actually told Peter 'get behind me Satan.' Because Peter tended to be rather outspoken and, more often than not, getting himself in trouble with his impulsiveness, the two brothers may have seen themselves the most likely candidates for the top positions in the Kingdom. In a sense, their faith in Jesus was shown through their request. They believed that he was the Messiah sent by God. He would come to power, so they thought, both on this earth and in heaven. They were in the right place at the right time, they were chosen by the Chosen One. This should give them some special privileges. So they thought.

Do we look for special privileges because of our faith sometimes? We, in our old natures (Romans 8), still often act like James and John did in this text, looking to be served rather than looking to serve because of how Christ has served us. When we want our faithfulness to God to mean more personal success or less personal suffering, we are looking for our own spiritual promotion, we are subtly asking to sit a little closer to that right hand of God. When we contribute time, service, or money to church more to have our own will done rather than as a gracious response to His will, we are subtly asking to sit a little closer to that right hand of God. When we want God to get tough with the world, to talk to the world in great and powerful winds and earthquakes and fires, rather than the still small voice of his Word and his Sacraments, we are hoping God will vindicate us in this life rather than patiently, faithfully waiting for the vindication that will come… but in his time, on his day.

Jesus responds to James' and John's ill-timed and selfish request with grace, just as he does to our own selfish and inoppurtune requests. "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" James and his brother respond "We can", likely thinking "no pain, no gain… Yea, we may have to endure some trials and danger to get to those positions, but then it will be worth it. We'll be able to then dominate these pagans and these Pharisees, even be a little up on our other brother disciples." The other 10 didn't like that possibility, but not because they were more deserving. More likely that they were angry that James and his brother beat them to the punch. None of them get it… yet.

Jesus invites his followers, this befuddled and bedraggled little band of power-seekers, to join him in becoming great and doing great things, not the way the world judges 'great', but the way God judges it. The way the world judges greatness is so fleeting, so temporary anyway. How many of us remember who was the King of France in 1700, or the governor of Kansas 1950, or the MVP of the National League 10 years ago? Probably very few. But does God remember when some now name-forgotten disciple provided a cup of water for some now name-forgotten itinerant preacher who faithfully proclaimed the words about Jesus to some little village in Italy or Syria now forgotten under centuries of unexcavated debris? You bet. Does God remember the words of service and acts of service you do for his sake for your family, your church, your neighbor? He does. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." James and John, like all the other disciples, both then, and now in this place, failed to understand the glory of Jesus. They failed to understand that the glory of Jesus would not come then in mighty winds or earthquakes or armies, but in the servanthood character of God, who was willing to lay down his life as a ransom for befuddled and bedraggled power-seekers, for those who would want to take advantage of Jesus, for James… and for me…, and for you.   James and John thought they were in a powerful situation. They didn't realize that they were actually quite powerless, captive actually to their own sin. What they didn't realize that Jesus was not planning to raise them to a place of political or social prestige. Jesus was planning to use his own life to pay a ransom for them.

I assume that few if any of you have ever been held hostage – kidnapped for a ransom. I pray that it never happen to any of us. But in a very real way you have been ransomed spiritually, purchased and won from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil (Small Catechism). He ransomed us even from our sinful tendency of seeking glory instead of service. Our youngest daughter is happy that she was born a girl, not a boy. You see, when Laura was pregnant with Kaellyn, we chose (actually my wife chose, but that's another story) not to know if she was going to be a boy or a girl. My family has a 3-4 generation custom that all sons born in the Marrs family have either a first or middle name that starts with the letter "R." All the regular "R" names are used up: Rick, Ray, Robert, Randy, Rod, Roger, etc. We made plans to use a new "R" name not ever before seen in the Marrs clan. It will sound odd to you, but it actually is a somewhat common English-Scottish name: Ransom. Kaellyn's middle name would have been "Ransom" if she had been born a boy. She is glad that it's not. But what she doesn't know is in another sense, her middle name actually is "Ransomed". Kaellyn "Ransomed" Marrs. "Ransomed" was James and John's middle names. James Ransomed Zebedee. That's your middle name too. ____ Ransomed _____.   ((Repeat a number of congregation member's names using "Ransomed" as a middle name.)) None of us who follow Christ have middle names like "King" or "Lord" or "Ruler over many". But all us who trust in Christ as our Lord have the middle name of "Ransomed" -- We are ransomed by our Lord not with "silver or gold, but with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death so that we may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness" (Small Catechism).

Our ransoming, serving and forgiving Lord Jesus Christ be with you always. Amen.