Mark 10:35–45

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  

Think of a sunflower, they bow to the sun

Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella) is an Italian film from 1997. It is astonishingly beautiful with many memorable teaching moments. In short, the film is a love story. A Jewish bookseller, Guido, marries the woman of his dreams, Dora, and together with their son they enjoy a fairy tale life. The beauty of their life is interrupted by the cruelty of the Holocaust and their internment as Jews in a concentration camp when Italy is occupied by the Germans in WWII. The love story is about how a father uses his sense of humour and imagination to save his son from the cruelties of life in a concentration camp. Guido convinces his son that the Nazi rules are part of an intricate game and that if he earns enough "points" he will win a tank.

In the film, the narrator, Guido's grown son, looks back and describes his dad's imaginative creation of that ploy as "his gift to me." 

At the start of the film, Life is beautiful, Guido is learning to be a waiter. His uncle, Elesio, has secured him a job in Northern Italy and is training him in the art of being a waiter at a fine dining restaurant. Guido says: “How far do I bow? I suppose I can even go 180 degrees.” Eliseo replies: “Think of a sunflower, they bow to the sun. But if you see some that are bowed too far down, it means they're dead. You're here serving, you're not a servant. Serving is the supreme art. God is the first of servants. God serves men, but he's not a servant to men.” 

“Think of a sunflower, they bow to the sun…Serving is the supreme art. God is the first of servants…”

The lesson from Elesio, that service is the supreme art, is precisely the truth that Jesus wants to impart to his disciples, and what Jesus wants to impart to us.

Mark 10.32-45

As you know, the Gospel of Mark is characterised by Jesus’ disciples, his closest friends, failing repeatedly to understand the purpose of his ministry and the dynamics of the kingdom of God. Three times Jesus has predicted his death and three times the disciples have failed to listen and understand him. Significantly, these episodes where the disciples totally fail to appreciate the ministry of Jesus, are framed by the healing of blind men.

Healing of a blind man 

Jesus predicts his death 

Peter’s failure to understand

Jesus predicts his death 

The disciples’ failure to understand  

Jesus predicts his death 

James and John fail to understand  

Healing of a blind man.   

Ironically the blind men “see” Jesus better than the disciples ever can. People often expect that the “leaders” of a movement are the heroes that have an inside intimacy, knowledge, and experience of the Christ figure at the heart of the Jesus way of life. Mark’s Gospel is a warning to us that “outsiders” often understand more than “insiders” about the type of faith Jesus calls forth. We would all do well to heed this warning and be openly curious and eager to hear what those outside of our faith tradition have to say about us and their understanding of the faith we practice.  

Each time the disciples misunderstand Jesus, he teaches them the fundamental point of the kingdom of God, that the last are first and the first are last. In other words, everything in God’s Kingdom on earth is structured or should be structured with the needs of the most vulnerable at the centre. The only way to operate is by ensuring that policies, procedures, laws, and processes secure the full flourishing of the least, the lost and the last.  

Jesus predicts that his love and service of humankind will lead to his death for a third time. In response James and John ask for positions of intimacy, privilege, and power. Service as the supreme art is Elesio’s message to Guido and Jesus’ message to James and John and the rest of the disciples. The disciples want to sit at the right and left of Jesus when he takes up his throne. What we know, and the disciples are yet to find out, is that the throne of Jesus is the cross. Those on Jesus’ left and right when he comes into his kingdom are two criminals crucified alongside him. The cup that Jesus our king drinks from is not from a jewel inlaid golden chalice usually associated with royalty, but vinegar on a sponge at the end of a stick, offered by a kind soldier. Jesus embodies what Elesio taught, that service is a supreme art.  

Visionary servant leadership

I was ordained in the Diocese of Johannesburg, (in the Church of the Province South Africa). Emerging out of the Apartheid era, the Diocese of Johannesburg totally restructured itself in response to the new situation it found itself in.  The whole concept of what it meant to be an Anglican church in the dawn of the new century was holistically redefined. One of the key aspects of this change in church structure is visionary servant leadership. The fundamental point being made was that leadership is a task not a position. Leaders are but trusted servants, and all Christ followers are fundamentally visionary servant leaders.  

In today’s text Jesus refers to two sacraments: baptism and the Eucharist: “The cup that I drink, you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. All of us who are baptised, all of us who share in the sacrament of the Eucharist, share in the visionary servant leadership of Jesus.  

The point about visionary servant leadership as opposed to servant leadership is that we are not meant to be slaves to the false idols of people’s egos, preferences, manipulations, wounds, tantrums, history, traditions, or pride. We serve not as dead sunflowers, bowed so low they touch the ground. We are set free to be visionary servant leaders, to bow as sunflowers who honour the sun. We honour the Christ within people and serve them in ways that allow their true selves, their Christ selves, to shine through. To be visionary servant leaders is to live lives that long for others to have joy.  To be visionary servant leaders is to partner with God in the mending of some part of creation. When we pray, when we love, when we fulfil our highest roles as partners, parents, grandparents, friends, when we authentically love humanity as sunflowers bowing to the sun, we are visionary servant leaders. Perhaps a final image will make this clear. 

Closing image

A story is told about a violinist Fritz Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962). An Austrian-born American violinist and composer, he was considered one of the greatest violinists of all time because of his tonality and sensitive expression. Kreisler came across a beautiful violin, a Hart, but could not afford it. When he finally raised enough money for the violin, he returned to buy it and learned that it had already been sold to a collector.

Kreisler went to the new owner’s home to persuade him to sell the violin. The collector said that he could not let the violin go. The thwarted Kreisler asked a favour: “May I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?” George Hart had sold the violin to John Adam who, having heard Kreisler play the Hart consented to sell it.

Our purpose as visionary servant leaders is to create the space that allows others to live the life they are meant to live, not as violins reduced to ornaments to gather dust on a collector’s shelf, but rather as violins singing to the world the beauty of their song.

https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/kreislers-violins/