Where is God?

Joseph Winston

October 22, 2006

Mark 10:35-45

32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way,
10 and they were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again
he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We
are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to
the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and
will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog
him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” 35 James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, came forward to him 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

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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.”

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Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
Where is God? If I asked you that question right now, how would you answer?
It is no fair asking the person next to you to see what they have to say. Right now,
where is God located?
Let me give you three common answers to this often-asked question. Do you
think that God is off somewhere in heaven, earning a well-deserved rest after cre-
ating the universe? Do you picture God as a great grandfatherly figure sitting in
a rocking chair, watching over us in heaven? Or perhaps, do you feel that God is
always interfering with your life and should remember to mind God’s own busi-
ness?
Determining where God is or is not is one of the most basic questions that any-
one can answer. Your response to this simple question lets others know quite a lot
about your relationship with God. For example, if you happen to think that God
created the universe and then left the scene to let the universe follow God’s pre-
ordained rules, then you would generally think that God does not make laws just
to break them. This attitude is perfectly fine as long as everything is going well.
Your good health and riches would then be nothing more than God’s perfect plans
playing out in your life. What then would happen if your child is in the emergency
room and is about to die? Can you pray to God for a miracle? If you follow this
model to its logical conclusion, you cannot ask God to intercede on the behalf of
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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your child because this would be asking God to change God’s preordained plans.
Likewise, if you see God as a grandfather, then we can paint a portrait of your
God. For the most part, grandfathers are worthy of our respect. They have lived a
full life and their wisdom is something that we highly value. No one has to tell you
that life was hard for our grandfathers. You have heard this statement from them
many times. They had to work to earn a living and because of this, their faculties
are not what they used to be. It is getting hard for the old man to get around and
he just does not hear as well. He is also sleeping a bit more than he did in the past
and we just hate to wake him up with our problems. The world of our grandfathers
was a different place back then and you worry that his attitudes might be a bit out
of touch. Now, we can propose the same scenario. Their great-grandchild is in
the hospital and not expected to live through the night. Can you pray to God for
a miracle? The reasonable answer would be that if you could wake up the old
man, he might have something good to say but would you really trust his outdated
opinion?
The answer that God is meddling in our affairs is part of an ancient worldview
held by the Greeks and the Romans. In their mythology, the gods could live, die,
and live again. The underlying reason behind every ritual was reviving the gods.
It is only through our sacrifice that they live: we give them our food, we give
them our children, and we give them our lives. Generally, for the Greeks and the
Romans, it was far better if the gods kept to themselves since they tended to cause
problems for humans. Sometimes the gods tried to steal either the handsome men
or the beautiful woman. And at other times, they tossed lighting bolts at the earth

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or caused the waves to rage against humanity. It is no surprise that most ancient
temples looked good only on the outside. The people wanted the gods to look at
the temple’s beauty and not come inside the temple and live with them. Given this
brief description of Greek and Roman gods, we can know return to our standard
question. What do you do if your child is on death’s doorstep? You would first pray
that the gods leave your child alone. If your child happened to die, you would tell
everyone that the gods needed the child more than you did.
In today’s Gospel Lesson, Jesus comes to us and tells us that all three popular
models of where God lives are completely wrong. God has not left the universe so
that the laws of physics can run their course. God is not fallen asleep in a la-z-boy
recliner and become deaf, blind, and dumb to what we are doing here on earth.
God has not come to pester us for our sacrifices.
Mark 10:32, which is just before today’s official lectionary section, reads in the
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) “They were on their way up to Jerusalem,
with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who
followed were afraid.” This translation of the text makes it seem as if the disciples
are the ones who are amazed at what Jesus is telling them and the rest of the crowd
is scared at what Jesus is telling them.
There are two major problems with this translation of the original language.
Most importantly of all, the word “disciples” does not appear anywhere in the
original language. The text should say, “and they were astonished and those who
followed were afraid.” Now we have an entirely different interpretation. The crowd
is the one who is amazed at Christ’s teachings.

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 These people have been clearly hearing what Jesus has been saying to them:
the Kingdom of God is at hand.
God has not abandoned you to the whims of nature. Instead, God has come to
save you from the harsh and often cruel world. The sick have been made whole.
The dead have been given new life. The possessed have been given freedom. If
God had been intent on observing the rules of the land, then none of these miracles
would have been possible.
God has not become outmoded or become deaf to our cries for justice. The
words of healing, of life, and of freedom are valid in every age. We long to hear
God’s Voice today as much as our grandfathers did.
Rather than leaving us to fend for ourselves, God sent His only Son to live
with us. God does not want what you have. Over and over again in the Gospel
according to St. Mark, we see in Jesus a God who cares for us. Jesus brings bread
and fish to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Jesus gives the unworthy forgiveness.
Jesus offers His life so that we might live forever with Him. God does not need
our offerings. We need God.
Today’s lesson illustrates for us the second problem of why the translation
cannot be the ones who were amazed. The followers of Jesus, that is the disciples,
are afraid. They are frightened out of their wits that all of their ambitions will
be smashed into little pieces because Jesus is not rewarding them for their loyal
service to the crown.
Jesus has already told them two times that He will die. A king who is mur-
dered cannot grant you either privilege or prestige. In fact, in an assassination, the

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supporters are next in line to die. The disciples are fearing for their lives.
Today’s reading starts at verse 35 with James and John asking Jesus for a favor.
These two men mistakenly think that since they have so “faithfully” served Jesus,
they should be remembered with presents of prestige and power. Jesus explains
to them that, if such gifts were available, God the Father would hand out these
awards in recognition of their achievements. The word gets out to the other ten
and it soon becomes apparent that the rest of the disciples want in on the action.
You can almost hear them say, “I want to be recognized for all that I have done
for God.”
Our desire for recognition from God is just a symptom of our terminal disease.
Deep in each of our hearts, in a place that we only look at when no one else is
looking, we all know that we do not deserve to live. Our secret, which we want to
keep to ourselves, is that we have not loved God with our entire being nor have
we been able to take care of our neighbor in the same manner that we provide for
our own wants. And if truth be told, we really do not even love ourselves. You see,
we all do things that we do not want to do. And we all find ourselves powerless
to do what we really should do. All of these actions weight heavily on our hearts
and we do not know why we are alive. In our desperation, we want to be able to
find some justification for the reason of our existence. All of us want to find some
reason why God should not just forget us and wipe all of us out of existence.
Jesus has an amazing Word for us with heavy hearts. He has Good News for
us that question why we are alive. He says to each and every one of us, “For the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for

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many” (Mark 10:45).
This one sentence tells us where Jesus is, what Jesus does for us, and our value
to Jesus.
Jesus can be found wherever one human is helping another. If you are helping
someone rebuild their flooded house, Jesus is there. If in a moment of need you
are holding someone’s hand, Jesus is there. If you are telling someone about God,
Jesus is there. The Christ that you find working beside you is not a disembodied
spirit nor is it some perfect ideal. Instead, it is the very same Jesus that the disciples
knew.
Jesus’ reason for existence is quite simple. He came to serve. He serves God
the Father by doing His Father’s will. Whenever we need Him, He comes to wait
on us.
Does this service by God’s Son make all your problems magically go away?
In a word, no. Before His death, sin and evil were Christ’s constant companions.
While He suffered death on the cross for our sins, these forces continued to tor-
ment Him. Even though sin and evil were morally wounded by Christ’s victory
and soon will perish, they will remain with us until the end of time when they will
vanish forever.
Think about your worth to Jesus. Jesus loves you so much that He will be with
you whenever you need Him.
But what about God the Father? Where will the Father be when we need help?
The ancient answer that we profess in the creeds is that God the Father is similar
to God the Son. In other words, the Father acts like the Son and the Son behaves

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like the Father. This arrangement must be true because if it is not, then we would
have two gods: an Old Testament god and one for the New Testament. Therefore,
if the Son comes to serve us, so does the Father. Likewise, if the Son gives His life
for us, so does the Father.
At least once in our lives, we will ask, “Where is God?” Our answer to this
most basic question is very important since it shows what kind of God that we
worship. We do not believe that our God is in heaven and incapable of changing
the world. Nor do we think that our God remains in heaven because He cannot
come to us. Furthermore, we do not feel that our God needs us or our sacrifices.
Our confident answer is that our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are
right here with us. The Trinity is suffering with us during our times of trial and
rejoicing with us when we our happy.
Our God is constantly on the move. That is why the Ark of the Covenant had
handles. Jesus, because He is God’s own Son, continues this grand tradition. He
tells us that He moves so much that He has no place to call His own (Matthew
8:20; Luke 9:58). Then where is God right now? Jesus is here with us when we
gather and listen to His Word and eat His bread. Will He stay here? No! He is
going out into the world to serve others. If you want to know where God is going
next, go and serve others.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.