Where do I find my glory?

     Finally! Our text for Sunday from Mark 10 is getting to be a little more reasonable.  Jesus isn't demanding impossible things of us, he isn't pointing out total and complete incongruities with our reality and God's will, and he doesn't make me squirm.  Finally, I get to say to those disciples, "Ha! How could you be so dense??"  Thinking that you have the audacity to ask for a seat at Jesus' side in glory.  If only you knew.
     I mean, really.  Don't you know that Jesus shows us glory doesn't come through being great but through the cross?  He's just told you  3 times that he'll be going to the cross to suffer and die.  And you get it wrong, AGAIN!  Everyone knows that God isn't shown in the beautiful, the powerful, and the strong.  Everyone knows that greatness is through service to others, from being in the background, from loving those who need it, selflessly giving to those who can't repay, accepting the topsy-turvy thinking that is God's kingdom.
     At this point, maybe you're the one saying, "Ha! How could you be so dense??"  Obviously we can say that we believe and know what I have just said, but living it and doing it is quite another.  Our culture practically worships greatness - professionals of all sorts get the glory.  Professional athletes, professional artists, the famous, the beautiful, the perfect.  Yet professionals who serve - teachers, custodians, nurses, administrators, parents, grandparents, those who make the coffee at the office - these people get very little glory, are often glossed over, and relegated to simply the people who make our society run.

Drum major from the Oklahoma Marching Band

     In doing some initial research for this text I came across a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is titled, "The Drum Major Instinct" and could very well have been written yesterday.  I have provided a link to both the audio (it's about 40 minutes) as well as the transcript, though I encourage you to take the 40 minutes to listen.  It is a beautiful sermon on greatness in our country, on what we do and what lengths we take to be associated with the great and glory in our society.  We all, deep down, want to be the drum major - the one out front in the spotlight, the one who controls the band, the one who gets the credit. 
     It is a human desire, and we are all like James and John, who want a piece of the sweet glory.  And Jesus grants us that glory - only the glory Jesus gives looks different than we expect.  It is a glory of service, a glory of NOT doing what society expects, a glory that comes only through suffering, rejection, and ultimately death.  Mr. King's sermon, along with our text for this week, have me wondering, where do I find my glory?