Last Sunday Jane and I celebrated our 12^th Wedding anniversary. 12 very happy years – obviously. But over those 12 years we have come to realise that in one vital respect we have a profoundly different and incompatible outlook on life. I am a Pre-sorter but Jane is still – despite years of tuition from mea Post-sorter.

Pre – sorting; Post – sorting: imagine the scene. 11 o’clock Sunday night we’ve suddenly remembered that tomorrow is bin day. And there we are sorting through the contents of the bedroom bins making sure no recyclable paper, cardboard, plastic or tin is going to be sent to the landfill.

It seems an appropriate moment to remind Jane of the superiority of Pre-sorting over Post-sorting. ‘Wouldn’t it have been better,’ I say, ‘if we had two bins in every room – one for recyclables.’

 ‘You buy an extra set of bins’ says Jane, ‘and label them – and make sure the children use the right ones and I’ll fit in.’ This is beside the point. I’m into the big picture not the implementation of the minor details.

Pre-sorting; Post-sorting. It affects too the science of dishwasher stacking. Imagine the scene. I’m unloading the dishwasher - an uncommon scene.

 I look and I see that for some incomprehensible reason knives, forks, teaspoons, parts for whisks and wooden spoons are randomly distributed without any regard for the little dividers. Being a gracious man I say nothing. I just tut and sigh and raise my eyebrows until can’t bear it any longer.

 ‘I think you’ll find it would save a lot of time,’ I say, ‘if we put all the knives together.’

 ‘Can’t be doing wasting time sorting it all beforehand when it’s dirty,’ says Jane, ‘Might as well sort it after when it’s clean. Besides who usually unloads the dishwasher?’ Again. Besides the point. Ignoring the big picture.

 Pre-sorting; Post-sorting. Many are the arguments it causes. But as long as Jane puts her hands over her ears I’ll let you into a secret: I have moments of terrible doubt when I wonder if in fact it makes not a blind bit of difference whether you pre-or post sort; when I wonder if our argument is actually in fact nothing do with WHAT is better but with WHO is better.

with:

WHO is right?

WHO is wrong?

WHO is the best?

WHO is the greatest.

 *           *           *

And so to today’s gospel reading. We’ve jumped from Luke’s gospel and for one Sunday we’re in Matthew’s gospel reading about John and James the apostle and their mother because this Sunday is the day in the lectionary when we remember James the Apostle.

Jesus and the disciples are nearing Jerusalem. And the disciples are getting excited. Four chapters back Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah: God’s long promised King.

And now they’re nearly at Jerusalem   where surely something big is going to happen; where surely God is going to intervene in power and Jesus will be made King: a King even greater than His great forefather David.

 And if Jesus is going to become King then He’ll need ministers in His government. So for weeks there has been jostling and squabbling amongst the disciples. Who is the greatest? From the moment Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah that’s the question that preoccupies the disciples

 Read it in Mark 9 Luke 9 Matthew 18. Who is the greatest?  Who of us is the most important? When Jesus’ comes into His Kingdom which of us will get the most important jobs. That’s what they argue about behind Jesus’ back

 For us who know what happens next when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and is crowned King with a crown of thorns maybe the argument seems a little ridiculous.

 Now in Matthew 20 one of their mothers gets involved and she’s more direct than her sons are prepared to be. She’s ambitious for her boys John and James. They argue behind Jesus’ back – she’s going to ask Him to His face.

 ‘The mother of Zebedee’s sons’ says Matthew ‘came to Jesus with her sons and kneeling down said, “Grant that one of these 2 sons of mine may sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left in Your Kingdom.”

 In other words she’s saying, ‘Jesus when You become King let my boys be Your left and right hand men - Your Chancellor and Foreign Secretary.’

 Disgraceful! People in Jesus’ own community of followers people in the church openly vying for power openly jostling for influence. Surely the sort of thing we wouldn’t see in the Church today.

 Here’s an article I found online from last January entitled:

 Unholy Punch Up

 Bethlehem was yesterday rocked by an unholy punch-up when rival priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean the Church of the Nativity - a church shared by different Christian denominations

 The brawl began when Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church. Armenian priests claimed that the ladders encroached their designated section of the building

 Witnesses said that robed and bearded priests scuffled for more than an hour using fists, brooms and iron rods as weapons. Two Palestinian Policemen were injured attempting to bring peace.

 “There are always fights over Church cleaning after Christmas’ said the mayor of Bethlehem.

 This is by no means the first time priests have resorted to fisticuffs in the Holy Land. Last Palm Sunday Israeli troops struggled to bring a brawl under control in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Clerics kicked, punched and lashed out at each other with candles; many were left with black eyes, bruises and cuts as they tried to tear off their rivals' robes in a brawl.

 That fight arose during the annual ceremony held to commemorate the discovery of what some hold to be the true cross of Jesus. It began when a Greek priest was attacked for spending too long praying at the tomb of Jesus. 

 Such are the rivalries that for centuries the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been entrusted to two local Muslim families.

 Never mind spending too much time praying at the tomb of Jesus I reckon none of them had spent nearly enough time contemplating the true cross of Jesus.

 Christian people literally fighting for territory. Disciples of Jesus each trying to build a little empire.

 I wonder if any of those fighting priests ever have moments of terrible doubt when they wonder if in fact in the eternal scheme of things it really truly does not matter who puts a ladder where and who cleans which wall.

 If they recognise that the argument is actually about power and:   

WHO is right?

WHO is wrong?

WHO is the best?

WHO is the greatest?

 Silly questions to ask when all the time there’s a world waiting to hear Jesus’ real message.

 Well those are mad Priests in a land faraway we might think. But of course the Church nearer to home isn’t immune from daft arguments.

 Members of my family go to a Church where they’ve had a bitter dispute over a number of years about what kind of chairs to sit on. But of course it wasn’t really about chairs. It was about power. Christian people fighting to build a little empires.

But what about us… Think back over this last week.

What were the tensions in your home?

Amongst your friends… ? In your work place… ?

And what are the tensions amongst us here in our Church life?

Who are the people we argue with or would like to argue with?

WHO is right?

WHO is wrong?

WHO is the best?

WHO is the greatest?

 If we’re honest isn’t that sometimes what our arguments are really about?

 Sometimes the arguments are obviously trivial - sometimes maybe they’re actually about important principles - but maybe we always need to ask ourselves, what am I trying to prove in this argument?’

 Jesus, which of us is the most important? Who do you like the best? That’s what James and John and their mother want to know. ‘When the other 10 disciples heard what James and John had asked’ Matthew tells us in v24 ‘they were indignant’

 But they’re only indignant because James and John  and their mother have actually gone and asked outright  what they wanted to know themselves.

 Which of us is most important? Who do you like the best? Those are the insecurities that lie behind the disciples’ squabbling.

 But of course when Jesus is crowned King in Jerusalem it’ll be with a crown of thorns and His throne will be a cross. And when Jesus ascends to that throne in Jerusalem on His right and on His left will be two crucified men. ‘If you really want to be the very best disciple,’ says Jesus,’if you really want to be right by My side    then that’s where you’ll have to follow.’

 ‘Can you drink from the cup I am going to drink?’ He asks James and John.

 Because Jesus doesn’t exercise power the way humans exercise power. He doesn’t fight for territory and engage in empire building and neither should those who follow Him.

 ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them…Not so with you.’ Jesus says to all the disciples.

 ‘Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.’

 Kingship Jesus’ style means serving those you rule. Kingship Jesus-style means giving your life for those under your care. Because says Jesus, ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve – and to give His life as a ransom for many.’

 Imagine that in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Christians competing with each other to serve each; looking first to the interests of others; working hard to give their lives for each other.

 What would that look like?

What would it look like in the church I know where they argue about chairs?

What would it look like in my family and your family?

In the places where we work?

What would it look like amongst us in our Church life here?

 But of course it’s hard because behind our arguing is often insecurity.

 Am I right?

Am I important?

Am I significant?           
Am I liked?

What on earth would it mean if I backed down – if I gave this up - if I surrendered territory?

 My favourite bible verses comes in John chapter 13 on the evening before Jesus dies.

 ‘Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power,’ writes John, ‘and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, wrapped a towel around His waist and began to wash the disciples’ feet’

Jesus knew. He knew who He was. He knew His Father’s love. He had nothing to prove.

Am I important?

Am I right?

Am I significant?

Am I liked?

These weren’t Jesus’ questions because He knew His Father’s love. So He was free. Free to perform the most menial of tasks; the task performed by the lowest of slaves - the lowest of low slaves -and to wash His disciples’ feet.

He is the King who washes feet and dies a slave’s death on a cross and He calls us to follow Him.

‘Whoever wants to be great  must become a servant, whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve – and to give His life as a ransom for many.’

 What would make you and me free?

 Free to be wrong.

Free to give up our importance.

Free to serve other people.

Maybe the key is in knowing the Father’s love; in grasping the love of a God who in the person of Jesus came to die in My place on a cross. If I could only grasp that then maybe I could be truly free to serve others.

Who are the people you find most difficult the people you most want to argue with

at home,

at work,

here in our Church family?

 Think about that a moment

 picture them…

 in your mind name them…

This last week what for you would have been the equivalent of washing their feet? And what could you do about it this coming week?

 *           *           *

 A final thought: poor James the Apostle. The story he gets on his special day is this incident with his pushy mother. Except of course it’s an encouragement too because actually all the disciples were a little like James’ and we’re all perhaps a little like James.

 And there is a postscript. We heard it in our first reading. James is one of the first disciples truly and faithfully to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Speaking of His death on a cross Jesus asks James and John, ‘Can you drink from the cup I am going to drink?’

 ‘We can’ they boldly say.

 ‘One day You will’ says Jesus.

 And in our first reading we heard the sad story of James’ execution at the hands of Herod.

In twenty-first century Britain I doubt that many will find ourselves following in the footsteps of Jesus quite as literally as James did.

But what Jesus asks of James, He asks of all of us who call ourselves His disciples: that we give our lives in service of each other.

‘As I have done for You’ says Jesus in John 13 ‘do for each other.’