Office Hours
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday
Phone: (608) 838-3586
Fax: (608) 838-6685
E-mail: secretary@hope-in-action.org
to have your information updated or added!

THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

No Stats Servant

Mark 10:35-45

Last spring, there was an article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine by sports writer, Michael Lewis, entitled, “The No-Stats All-Star.”  The article was centered on Shane Battier, a member of the Houston Rockets of the NBA. 

Battier was a basketball phenom coming out of Detroit , where he was national high school player of the year.  He played college basketball at Duke University , leading the Blue Devils to the national championship in 2001 and garnering the college player of the year award.  He was drafted in the first round by the lowly Memphis Grizzlies. 

At the NBA level, Battier’s skills seem to be no better than average.  His scoring average is low and he does not have high numbers of assists or rebounds or blocked shots or steals.  These are the usual ways in which a player’s skills are evaluated and his importance to the team is judged.  But, despite his lack of gaudy numbers, the teams on which Shane Battier plays get better.  When he is on the floor, his team plays much better and the other team plays worse.  That was true of the Grizzlies after his first two years with the team.  And it has been true of the Houston Rockets.

What accounts for this?  Battier knows what it takes to make a team better, what increases its chances of winning, and he does those things, even when they don’t translate into the usual statistics.  Of course, the article was skimpy on specifics.  Understandably, the Houston Rockets didn’t want to give away too many trade secrets.

But, for instance, although Battier’s rebounding numbers are low, he knows how to get into a position that will reduce the other team’s chances of getting a rebound – he blocks out the other team’s best rebounder – and so increase his own team’s chances.  He is regularly assigned to guard the other team’s best scorer.  He defends – not with flashy skills – but by keeping his opponent confined to places on the floor where his shooting percentage is the lowest.  Before one game against the San Antonio Spurs, Battier, normally a starter for Houston, even went so far as to as ask his coach privately to bench him, so he could come off the bench and be on the floor to guard the Spurs best scorer, Manu Ginobli, who was San Antonio’s best scorer, who also came off the bench.  He gave up his place as a starter in order to help the team.

None of these things shows up in the box score. None of them wins any awards at the end of the season.  None of them is anything a player can use when it comes to negotiating a higher salary at contract time.  And because he does these things rather than pump up his own statistics in scoring, rebounding and assists, Battier is thought by many to be the most overrated player in the NBA.  Nevertheless, by doing these things that few notice and even fewer understand, he makes his team a better team and increases its chances of winning.

In the kingdom of the world, one goes far by building up impressive individual stats – by gathering the most power and exerting it on others and by grabbing the most attention for oneself.  One goes far by becoming a high-stats all-star.  But, in the kingdom of God , those who want to excel must disregard individual statistics.  They must become no-stats servants.

For Jesus was on the road, heading to Jerusalem .  The disciples were following, amazed at what he was doing, but also not sure of what they were getting themselves into. 

So, Jesus tried to lay it out for them again, plain and simple.  “Listen carefully – this is what is going to happen when we get to Jerusalem : the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars.  They will sentence him to death.  Then they will turn him over to the Romans, who will mock him and spit on him and give him the third degree and kill him.  After three days, he will rise from the dead, even more alive than before.”

James and John, the Zebedee brothers, came up to Jesus and said, “Teacher, there’s something we want you to do for us.”

“What is it?” Jesus said.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

“We want you to arrange it so that, when you make it big, we will get the two seats right next to you – one on your right and one on your left.”

Jesus looked at them and said, “You have no idea what you’re asking.  Are you able to go through what I am going to go through?”

“Sure,” they said. “Why not?”

“You will indeed drink that cup and be baptized with that baptism, but to grant the places of honor?  That’s not up to me.  That’s already been arranged.”

Well, the other disciples got wind of what James and John were up to and they got really angry.  Before a fight broke out, Jesus intervened. 

“You know how the rulers of this world like to throw their weight around and how, when people get a little power, it goes straight to their head.  It’s not going to be that way in your world.  Whoever wants to be great must become a servant and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.  Because that’s what the Son of Man came to do – not to be served, but to serve, to give his life away, to become a slave that others might be set free.”

In his article, Lewis says that what is true in basketball is not necessarily true in other sports.  Baseball, while it has team aspects, is generally more dependent on individual performance, i.e., how well individual players pitch and hit and field.  Football, he says, is controlled by the coaches who design and call the plays and who set the defensive schemes and assignments.  In basketball, however, players must make more decisions between their own perceived self-interest and the interests of the team, between their personal success and team success.

This is also the challenge of following Jesus.  Following Jesus is not about getting attention, or getting ahead, or even getting rewarded in the next life.  Following Jesus is about being like Jesus.  It is about being servants to one another.  It is about living for the sake of the world and not at the expense of the world.  It is about doing things that few people notice, but which noticeably benefit others.

How could live more as a servant?  What could you do that would benefit others without drawing attention to yourself? 

You may already be doing those things.  You may be doing these things if you are in a family, especially if you are caring for young children or for elderly parents.  You may be doing those things in your work, perhaps it comes in the kind of work you do, or it may simply be in your relationship with co-workers or clients.  Or you may be doing those things in your neighborhood, on your street.  You are serving someone that no one else cares about and that the world has utterly forgotten.

Whatever it is you are doing, you do it without thought of credit or acclaim.  They are not things that will win you promotions or plaques or applause.  Yet these things that are ignored and misunderstood by the kingdom of the world are what count most in the kingdom of God .   But when you live for the sake of others, then you can remember that Jesus lived for you, was betrayed for you, was condemned to death for you, suffered for you and died for you.  And on the third day, he rose to new life for you, because he is a servant, a servant who gives his life so that others might be set free..

 That is why Jesus has come.  That is why he has called us.  That is why he sends us – beyond his death and resurrection – to be like him, to be servants for the sake of others.