The ‘Drum Major’ instinct

Mark 10:35-45: “James and John came forward to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’”

James and John are ambitious. It’s not that ambition is a bad thing; without it people wouldn’t have the motivation to exceed their previous goals. A runner would not push for faster times. Students would not strive to learn more. Medical researchers would not push the limits of their knowledge in order to find cure for disease. But, as Laura Ingalls Wilder once said, ambition makes a good servant but a poor master.

When ambition takes over, it can turn into an insatiable need for more — a need that’s driven by our own egos. When ambition is driven by our own egos, it creates a problem because then the only reason we strive for anything is for our own self-aggrandisement.

Martin Luther King, Jr., two months to the day before he was assassinated, preached on this very topic. He called it, “The Drum Major Instinct.” The drum major instinct is this desire that people have to be out front. You’ve seen marching bands – the drum major leads them, marching out front, in a special uniform. It’s a basic instinct of human nature to want to somehow stand apart from others as being special.

We want to be complimented for being superior in some way. We like the feeling of being set apart, being part of a group that is better than others. It’s often the impetus behind why people join fraternities and sororities in college. It drives people to join the most exclusive country clubs. It leads people to refer to themselves in terms like, Yuppies, Upwardly Mobile, The Greatest Generation.

This craving to be part of a superior group will also often put others down in order to build themselves up. It’s what causes high school students to divide into cliques. It’s behind ethnic “jokes,” racism, and xenophobia.

We have, built into our sinful human nature, a craving to be important and we never quite outgrow that need. We like to be praised by people. Jesus says, however, that this is not what makes us great. What makes us great is the willingness to drink from his cup.

Jesus asks James and John, “Are you able to drink the cup that I will drink?” and they said, “Yes, Lord, we are able.” This is the cup that would cause Jesus, in Gethsemane, to pray, “Let it pass from me,” He was in anguish. Will we drink from the cup of anguish? The cup of salvation that he offers us is the cup of Philippians 2:5, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”

We answer, “Yes, we are able!” We want to be able, we really do. Will we still be able when it’s us carrying the cross?

James and John kept their promise, “We are able.” They stayed with him till the end. They didn’t deny him. They didn’t betray him. They didn’t run away. Rather than sitting one on Jesus’ right hand and the other at his left in Jesus’ glory, they stayed at the foot of his cross. They remained with Jesus through his agony, through his ordeal. With the women who also would not leave his side, they grieved the loss of his life as they laid him in a borrowed tomb.

They learned what greatness was really about when they saw the resurrection victory. They drank the cup. It no longer matters whether they’re now sitting one at Jesus’ right and one at his left in glory; what matters is that they drank from the cup of salvation.

The greatest thing about this kind of greatness is that anyone can be great. Dr. Martin Luther King says, “everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

If we are going to be drum majors and lead a marching band, let us not be the ones who line up in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, with no purpose other than entertaining the crowds. Let us be the marching band that marches in faith towards hope. Let us be the band that marches in faith towards light. Let us be the marching band that, rather than spelling out UGA, spells out J-O-Y: Jesus, first; others, next; you, last.

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

Sally Oakes is pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Phone: 770-964-6999 or 770-964-6992, or e-mail bethanymnc@bellsouth.net.