Week 3 of the 2025 Lenten Journey

 As they made their way toward Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, the tension among the Twelve grew steadily. They had already argued as to which of them was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34). Jesus addressed their argument by teaching them a servant spirit was how greatness was measured in the kingdom (Mark 9:35-37). His teaching, however, did not end their argument. It just pushed it underground. It is not surprising, then, that the tension erupted again. This time, it surfaced in anger, creating division among them as the ten turned on James and John (Mark 10:41).

The anger and division were triggered by what James and John did. Note: what they did triggered the division; it did not cause it. The cause of the division was the competition among them over who was the greatest.

James and John had approached Jesus in private to ask for a special privilege. Anticipating that Jesus would declare himself to be the Messiah when they arrived in Jerusalem (which reflected how little they knew him or understood his teachings), James and John had asked to be given the two key positions in the kingdom he would set up—“Grant us to sit, one on your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Their request was a continuation of the earlier argument about who was the greatest. It was an attempt to cut Peter out of consideration as he seemingly took on a leadership posture among the twelve. They argued that they, as Jesus’s cousins, would be better suited than Peter to serve alongside Jesus as his most trusted aides. (Their mother was a sister to the mother of Jesus.)

When the other disciples learned what James and John had done, they predictably reacted with anger. They were not just mad; they were furious.

Once again, the disciples are a mirror that helps us see ourselves. We see in them the conflict and division we experience politically in our nation as well as in our personal relationships. More importantly, we see the thinking that gives birth to such conflict and division.

On the surface, conflict and division appear to be about our differences. In reality, they are about how we think about our differences. Conflict and division are the natural expressions of the way the world has trained us to think.

The thinking that unconsciously shapes our lives and our society divides the world into us-them categories. It uses differences to separate us, ignoring how we are alike. In the division that developed between James and John and the other ten disciples, the difference had to do with family ties. James and John had them with Jesus; Peter—and none of the other nine, for that matter—did not. The diversity God designed into the world offers us an unlimited source of differences we can use to divide ourselves into us-them categories—and, it seems, we take advantage of many (most) of them: ethnicity/race (white supremacy), gender (patriarchy), sexuality (anti-LGBTQ), religion (Christian nationalism), political positions (MAGA/Libs), positions on moral issues, education, socioeconomic status, societal background (urban/rural).

Us-them thinking and relating naturally leads to comparing-and-competing along with the better than, less than thinking that fuels it. As we focus on how we are different, we inevitably ask, “Who is right? Whose way is best?” It is a variation of the disciples’ argument of “who is the greatest?” To be “right” is to be the greatest. Of course, our answer to the question is always “my way is right.” To reinforce our sense of being “right”—i.e., the greatest—we build connections with others who think like we do. We create tribes and echo chambers that validate our thinking as being the only “right” way to think. These allies reinforce our sense that we—and those who think like us—are not only “right.” We are “the greatest.”

Us-them thinking produces the conflict and division that—apparently—are a normal, unavoidable part of human relationships. Our comparing and competing creates a win/lose mentality as well as a culture and society structured around winners and losers. The winners enjoy power and position—what James and John were seeking. The winners use their power and position for their own personal advantage, always at the expense of the losers. Protecting their power and position is a priority. The losers are stuck in a one-down, powerless position, seeking ways to reverse the situation—such as James and John’s end run on Peter. In this us-them, comparing and competing world, the underlying questions are “who’s on top”—i.e., who is the greatest—and “what does it take to get to the top?”—i.e., to be the greatest.

While Jesus recognized these kinds of relational dynamics were at play in both his disciples and in the world, he chose not to engage in them. A different way of thinking shaped how he lived—thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. Jesus understood that greatness was not about power and position. Rather, true greatness was about how one uses power—i.e., the servant spirit. The apostle Paul called Jesus’s way of thinking “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). He called us, as the followers of Jesus, to embrace the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11).

As we walk this Lenten journey, we see in the experience of the disciples the stark difference between the way the world trained us to think and the thinking that underlies the kingdom of God. The journey calls us again to embrace the mind of Christ. It calls us to set aside how the world trained us to think and live—the us-them, comparing-and-competing, better than-less than, winners and losers thinking that produces conflict and division. It invites us to walk with Jesus in the way of the servant.

Prayer for the Lenten journey: We see ourselves in the disciples, merciful God—and what we see is not pretty! Help us to see in Jesus the beauty of your servant nature and your ways of grace. Create within us a deep love for you and your ways—a love that captivates our hearts, minds, and souls—a love that moves us beyond how the world has trained us to think—a love that breaks the power of the self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit that enslaves us. Teach us how to win by losing.

Week 2 of the Lenten Journey, 2025

What was happening among the twelve was not that surprising, actually. It is something that happens in every group—including those of which we are a member. In fact, what was happening among the twelve was predictable.

As Jesus and the twelve made their way from Galilee toward Jerusalem, the twelve became embroiled in an argument over which one of them was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34). The argument was probably triggered by the transfiguration experience in which Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him on the mountain retreat (Mark 9:2-8). The selection of these three—excluding the other nine—indicated these three held some kind of significance and importance in the mind of Jesus. The ensuring argument was about which of the three was the greatest—with perhaps some of the others arguing that they were just as important as any one of those three. The argument was fueled by the expectation that, when they reached Jerusalem, Jesus would be revealed as the messianic king and would establish the long-awaited messianic kingdom. As those Jesus had hand selected (Mark 3:13-19), they expected to play a significant role in the new kingdom. They anticipated being someone important—someone others would call “great.” The unanswered question was “what would be the pecking order?” Who would have the most important position? Who would be the greatest?

The argument among the disciples is a window through which we can see ourselves. Like them, we want to know where we stand in the groups to which we belong. We want to know (1) our place in the group which reflects (2) our value to the group. Unlike the twelve, most us of do not openly argue about our place or our value, but we are acutely aware of both—especially when our place and value are not as great as others in the group. How we function in the group reflects our sense of our place and our value to the group OR the place and value we desire in the group.

The twelve argued over who was the greatest. For them, greatness was linked to a position in the group. It reflected one’s standing in the group. It defined one’s value to the group.

Their argument provided Jesus another opportunity to teach them about discipleship. The disciples’ argument reflected how the world had taught them to think about greatness. Jesus taught them how greatness was defined in the kingdom.

“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).

Jesus did not reprimand the twelve for their argument or for the desire which fueled it. Rather, he undermined their argument by changing the standard by which greatness is defined. In the kingdom, greatness is defined by a servant spirit—the willingness to use one’s power and position to address the needs of another. A servant spirit frees us from concern about our standing in a group. It frees us to be “last of all and servant of all.”

A servant spirit is reflected in how we view and relate to the least “significant” people in our culture—those who have little or no status or standing, those who are powerless and vulnerable. “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’” (Mark 9:36-37). To welcome another is to treat the other with dignity and respect—as a person of worth and value—as a beloved child of God.

Claiming our own identity as beloved child of God frees us from the comparing-and-competing game in which we are constantly jockeying for position in relationships—the way the world defines greatness. It frees us to embrace the servant spirit Jesus taught and lived. It frees us to live as a servant who joyfully uses our power and position to address the need of another.

Prayer for the Lenten journey: As we walk this Lenten journey, Lord Jesus, teach us again the ways of the kingdom. Move us beyond the way the world trained us to think. Help us embrace the servant spirit by which greatness is defined in the kingdom. Fashion within us, Spirit of God, the likeness of Christ that we may live out of his servant spirit.

Week 1 of the Lenten Journey

 As Jesus and his disciples made their way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, Jesus was repeatedly telling his disciples what would happen to him there: “for he was teaching [this word in the original Greek means “repeatedly, over and over”] 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’” (Mark 9:31). Of course, what he was saying would happen was not what they were expecting to happen. Consequently, they could not grasp what he was teaching. “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32).

Our Lenten journey invites us to see ourselves in the story of Jesus and his disciples. It calls us to recognize and acknowledge how we today—like those first disciples—struggle to understand and accept many of the things Jesus taught. It reminds us of the LORD’s word through the unidentified prophet of the exile, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). The vast difference between God’s ways and our ways as humans explains why we struggle to understand, much less embrace, many of the things Jesus taught. If we are to move beyond our struggle to understand what Jesus taught—yea, beyond our resistance to it, we have to learn to think with a different mind.

The apostle Paul spoke of this different way of thinking as “the renewing of the mind” (Romans 12:2) and as “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Such thinking is Spirit-guided thinking—"and we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13, emphasis added). It is thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God, what Paul called “the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 1:10) or the heart of God.

As we walk the Lenten journey, we seek to position ourselves for the Spirit to teach us the mind of Christ, moving us beyond the ways the world trained us to think. We invite the Spirit to move us beyond our struggle to understand what Jesus taught and our resistance to it.

“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth” (Psalm 86:11).

Ash Wednesday, 2025

 After his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus—the gospel of Luke tells us—“set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). His attention and focus were on Jerusalem and on what he knew he would experience there: betrayal, arrest, trial in which he would be condemned to death, crucifixion, death, and resurrection (Mark 8:31; 9:30-31; 10:32-34). During that six-weeks journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus sought to prepare his disciples for what he—and they—would experience there, but they were unable to grasp, much less accept, what he teaching them.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty-day liturgical season of Lent. The Lenten season is patterned after Jesus’s journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. Just as Jesus’s journey ended in Jerusalem, so our Lenten journey will end in Jerusalem, ushering us into Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Silent Saturday. There the traditional somber mood of the Lenten season will give way to the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

During the Lenten season, we, like Jesus, set our faces toward Jerusalem. We embrace this forty-day journey as a spiritual discipline, using it to focus on growing in our discipleship as the followers of Jesus. We recognize that we, like those first disciples, struggle to grasp, much less embrace, the ways of God he taught—such as dying to the egocentric identity we constructed using the values and ways of the world (“deny themselves,” Mark 8:34), living as insurrectionists against the ways of the world (“take up their cross,” Mark 8:34), embracing a teachable spirit that seeks to learn and live out of a Spirit-shaped way of thinking (“follow me,” Mark 8:34), embracing a servant spirit as the measure of true greatness (Mark 9:33-37), rejecting the world’s hierarchal power-over ways of domination (Mark 10:35-40) as we follow Jesus’s pattern of using power to serve (Mark 10:41-45).

Those first disciples struggled to grasp, much less embrace, what Jesus taught because they were stuck in the way the world had trained them to think and live—“the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod,” (Mark 8:15). The spiritual discipline of the Lenten journey invites us to recognize our own resistance to the ways of God Jesus taught. It invites us to recognize how our thinking—like that of those first disciples—has been shaped by the ways of the world. The Lenten journey invites us to embrace a teachable spirit—a willingness to learn and live the ways of God Jesus taught.

And so, another Lenten journey begins.