“Absolutely Utterly Frustrated”
September 20, 2009
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski

Mark 9:30-37

[Jesus and the Apostles] went on from [Caesarea Phillippi] and passed through Galilee. [Jesus] did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

Sermon

It has been said many times that how we handle disappointment tells much about our character. The same is true for the cousin of disappointment, which is frustration. For we can be frustrated in our purposes, in our life mission, in our jobs, in our relationships.Frustration is born within us when our goals are blocked. Our immediate response is annoyance because we are irritated. Frustration, as an emotion, is not a bad response, because it shows our human disappointment. If our purpose is achieved, then the emotion we feel is satisfaction. We are proud of our success! However, when our goal is blocked we can be annoyed. Frustration is personal – the other person involved may not even know that we are disappointed with the situation. We can be frustrated within ourselves when we feel that a desire that we have is not being met. For example, a student who cannot solve a homework problem. Or a person who is trying to hang a picture straight, but it won’t hang right. We can be frustrated while waiting for an elevator.

However much of frustration occurs when we are in interaction with others. We can be annoyed when we line up behind a person in a food store checkout lane. We picked that lane because the person ahead of us had only three items in his cart. We are infuriated when the rest of his family comes up at the last minute with arms full of groceries. We probably will kindly answer ‘no’ to the question, ‘Do you mind?’ as they cut in front of us.

Or we can be irritated by what happens at work. Let’s take a job situation. A supervisor is disappointed when an employee who is given a project fails to even start the project. The employee, on the other hand, may also be frustrated at being asked about this particular project because she has other projects to work on also. The world of exasperation has no boundaries.

As long as we have the free will to do whatever we want to do, then, when our will is thwarted, we are maddened and provoked our very human responsive emotion of frustration will bubble up -- sometimes like a volcano! We can only pray that we do not displease those around us.

We must also remember that our spouses, children, friends, and even fellow drivers and people in line ahead of us are as fragile as we are. While they may not show that they are incensed by our actions, we can rile them enough so that they either avoid us, or confront us. Our response is important.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. once said that: “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion . . .. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” Disappointment is not limited to individuals – we can have a national disappointment also. Eric Hoffer, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan, said this: “It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny.”

Let’s look at today’s Gospel where we learn about the mission of Jesus, and the goals of some of his apostles. In the story of today’s reading, I really and truly feel sorry for the apostles. I can empathize with them. They joined an organization and expected something in return. If we join Rotary or Kiwanis or a Circle we expect companionship and some intellectual growth. If we volunteer at a hospital or nursing home we expect a feeling of satisfaction and some gratitude. If we take a job with a corporation we expect to be paid – but we also expect some opportunities for advancement and in level of responsibility. If we are a student we expect a decent grade for decent work and eventually to advance to a graduation.

The apostles had expectations. Some expected something practical to come out of their time with this friendly guy, Jesus – especially because he preached, morning, noon, and night, about a coming kingdom. Some religious people use the word seeker. These apostles were seekers also. They were seeking to be Executive Vice-Presidents and Regional Managers of this new kingdom. They wanted to be on the Board of Directors of the new corporation.

When I first looked at today’s Gospel reading I asked myself, what kept the apostles, at least at that stage of their lives in their relationship with Jesus, from accepting what he was saying? The deeper question is, what kept them from being transformed?

And then I asked myself what keeps me from being truly changed? - From letting myself break through to agree to all of who Jesus is? - And what he teaches? - And then from walking with him more and more each day? I started to imagine what some of the early Pilgrims might have been thinking while on the Mayflower sailing to America. Were some in their bunks dreaming of their new positions in the new world? Were some hoping to find positions of power and title? Were any arguing among themselves on who would be the greatest in the new community?

Even though there were, aboard that ship, saints who helped others with their tears and anxieties, and through the aches and moans, cold and heat, and the alive, dying, and dead, there may have been other saints-to-be who wondered if they would achieve fame in the new community.

And, I remember movies and TV shows about power, and what people do to achieve power and prestige. The fictional characters in those shows are often cruel and nasty – which is how and why they get our attention.

Back to the Gospel of this morning. It is taken from Mark, chapter 9. But first we need to back up to chapter 6 where we are told that Jesus sent the twelve apostles out to the villages to teach. He told them not to take anything for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money. It was reported that they went out and proclaimed that all should repent – and many were cured after having been anointed with oil. After they returned, we are told that Jesus cured many more sick, and Mark relates that other miracles were performed.

Then, in chapter 8 Jesus began to teach them that he must undergo great suffering and be killed. Mark’s Gospel tells us that all this was said “quite openly.” Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and told him, “Get behind me, Satan!” He added that Peter was setting his mind not on divine things but on human matters. So it is no surprise to us that Jesus realized that the apostles did not understand. They were not getting it. What he was trying to explain to them was not connecting with them.

When today's Gospel story begins, Mark tells us that they were just passing through Galilee because Jesus did not want anyone to know it for Jesus wanted to spend the time alone with his disciples in order to privately teach them. Jesus wanted to devote full time to his apostles so they would truly realize what his mission was, and their part in it.

We also learned that during this journey from Caesarea Philippi, which was just short of 40 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee, to Capernaum, Jesus took a side trip up to a high mountain. Maps show a mountain range north of Capernaum along the edge of the river leading into the Sea of Galilee. That is where the transfiguration took place. So it was on this journey of no less than two or three days that Jesus spent time only teaching them. Mark informs us of only the essentials of what was taught: - Jesus was going to be betrayed.

And it was not a supernatural event; the betrayal was going to be made by a person on this earth. - He told them that he would be killed. - And he said that three days after being killed, he would rise again. Next, Mark states that the apostles did not understand what Jesus was saying. Again, I identify with the apostles. * They could understand the coming of a new Kingdom. * They could appreciate that it would be God’s Kingdom. * They could grasp repentance in order to be accepted into God’s Kingdom. * The apostles were very conscious of the fact that there were people who wanted to see Jesus silenced, and if he could not be silenced, would want him put to death.

What they could not understand was how this man of miraculous power could be killed, and they could not comprehend a resurrection. So why didn’t they ask Jesus more about what he meant? Mark clearly tells us that they “were afraid to ask him.” Why? Remember what happened when Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him on the previous occasion when he told the apostles what the future held for him. That is when Jesus looked at all of the other disciples when he rebuked Peter, identifying him with the ‘great tempter,’ and telling him, in essence, to get out of the way of Jesus’ mission. He had bluntly told Peter that he set his mind not on divine things but on human matters.

As today's Gospel continues, Mark informs us that when they arrived in Capernaum Jesus took them into a house. It is obvious that Jesus wanted privacy with his apostles. With all of them then assembled, Jesus got their attention and asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way” when we were walking here from Caesarea Philippi and walking through the mountains? Mark reports that the apostles were silent. Can you feel the tension that was in that room? They knew what was coming. They remembered that they were arguing among themselves – and the topic of the argument? Who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom? Who would be the Executive Vice-President?

Who would be the Chairman of the Board? Who would be the Regional Manager of the most profitable division in the new corporate kingdom? So they were silent. They realized that the Master Teacher had heard them. They were embarrassed.

So, in their discomfort, they did not say anything. Mark says that Jesus then “sat down.” In the world at that time, when a great Rabbi sat down, it meant that this was a teaching moment. It was time to learn a lesson. It was time to be quiet, not because of an uncomfortable feeling of being ashamed, but to be quiet to learn.

Jesus then told them this: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” In that society, they well understood the roles of a servant. There were servants and slaves all around them. They understood what it meant to take care of another, and cook and clean, and take care of animals. That is what servants did.

Remember when the woman entered the home to wash Jesus’ feet? The response, other than it was a woman who touched Jesus, was that the job of cleaning feet belonged to servants. Then Jesus called a little child and took the little child and put it among them. Then he took the little child into his arms and he said to his apostles: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

A little child in that culture was different from this culture in that the child did not eat at table with adults. They were not to be heard of. They were to stay out of the way of adults. But a little child in our culture and the culture of that time was the same in these ways: - A little child could not own property in his or her own name – they needed a guardian. - A little child could not sue anyone in his or her own name – they needed an adult. Think of our own culture in that a child, in other words, a person who is not yet an adult, cannot vote, cannot drink alcohol legally, cannot obtain medical attention [with some exceptions], cannot be sued without a guardian, cannot drive a car until a set age. In essence, there are cultural and economic standings that a little child did not have.

A little child was close to a slave – not quite—but close. A little child could not do anything for you. A little child could not give you power or prestige. People were not in awe of you if you were a little child. In that society, you could only help little children – they could not help you. What Jesus told his apostles was that they were to welcome the people in the world who could not give them prestige, who could not give them power, who could not economically help them to achieve, and that when the apostles welcomed the little people of this world in his name, that is when they were welcoming Jesus himself. And Jesus added that when he was welcomed, then his Father was welcomed also.

When Jesus was walking with his apostles on that journey from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum and overhearing them arguing, he might have had a tinge of anger with himself about not explaining this all clearer to the apostles. Or he might have been disappointed in them. Or possibly dejected. He may have asked himself whether he made the right choice in picking these guys. Should he have gone through a better vetting process? Perhaps he felt frustrated. After all, this was, according to Mark, the second time he tried to explain how he was going to fulfill his mission on this earth.

Having heard about the capable wife and what she could accomplish as set out in the Book of Proverbs, did he wonder if he should have waited until the 1960’s and the gender revolution? Was he tempted to impatience again? Were the apostles frustrated? Did they wonder why their expectations were not being met?

Let’s jump many months later when the apostles were at the Last Supper. We remember that Jesus blessed the bread and the wine and shared them with his apostles and disciples and told them that they were his body and his life-blood. But we also remember that John, in his Gospel, relates that Jesus washed the feet of his friends. ‘Jesus got up from the table; he took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.’ John 13:4-5.

Imagine the scene. Jesus became the servant, for he was ever the servant, the giver. Jesus’ message is that we also be servants. Let’s fast forward to the Letter of James, which was read today. Scripture scholars have many varied ideas of who wrote this epistle and when. I am going to take only one of many approaches this morning. If James, the apostle who was the stepbrother of Jesus was the author, and if it was written, as some scholars believe, only 7 years after Jesus died, then you can decide if a section of what his letter fits in. James, who may have been one of the people arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the coming kingdom, realized years later that he had been anticipating the future with selfish ambition. And, in arguing [note that word used by Mark, arguing] James referred to bitter envy about who would be the greatest. And, if James was present when Peter was told that he, called a ‘Satan,’ should get behind Jesus, then James recognized the influence of a tempter of human beings, a devil.

So, with all this in mind, this is what James wrote: “But it you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder . . .”

In their journey with Jesus for those many months, some of the disciples were looking within, and, at that time, possibly Judas among them. Their ambition was centered toward what they would get out of this time in their lives with Jesus. Their walk with Jesus for those years was based, at least in part, on what was in it for them. Being part of the Jesus miracle tour wound up with an argument about who would be the greatest in the greatest show to ever come to Israel.

Jesus, on the other hand, was looking to what he could do for others. His gaze was on serving others. Jesus recalled the words of the prophet Micah some 850 years before Jesus was born about what God the Father requires of us: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8b

Jesus preached and lived the words that he told the scribe: Love your God with your whole mind, and heart, and soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

One last comment. In Psalm 1 today, we are reminded that people who are happy delight in the law of God. We are told that they are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season. Note that trees do not eat their own fruit. Trees provide for others. Their fruit, apples, pears, apricots, are consumed by birds, worms, insects, deer, and by us. The psalmist is reminding those who pray the psalms that when we delight and meditate on God’s law, we become like trees who yield and provide fruit for others to take and eat.

Let us pray.

Lord, God, may we walk with your son, Jesus, on this journey, adopting his mission in our lives. We can easily understand how Jesus was annoyed with Peter, and, later with some of his other followers as well, for we are often frustrated in our daily interactions with others. But, Lord, may we pray for the patience that Jesus had, to explain again and again, and to continue to serve others in kindness and humility. And, Lord, may we begin to glimpse the mystery of the purpose of suffering and death and resurrection. Lord, the words of your mission are often far from our lips, yet your words confront reality head on. Lord, God, we pray for the grace to work for wisdom and understanding, and, when we cannot understand, to accept life with gentleness, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. Amen.