James and John heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God and they assumed that it would be a kingdom like they had experienced, only with Jesus as ruler instead of the puppet king under Roman rule. They expected a kingdom where there were people of privilege and power. A kingdom where, although everyone would be equal, some would be a bit more equal.

They had heard Jesus talk about the last being first and the first last. They had lived their lives as being a part of the last and now they wanted to be first. They had suffered at the hands of the Romans. They had suffered at the hands of the temple authorities. They had suffered at the hands of Herod. They had suffered and now they wanted they're rightful places of honor in this turn the world upside down kingdom of Jesus.

They had no idea what they were asking for. They had no idea what suffering lay ahead for them or for Jesus. They had no idea what kind of Kingdom Jesus was preparing. Isaiah tells us what being in a position of leadership in the new kingdom entails. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. " Suffering, unearned suffering lay ahead for the leaders of this new kingdom.

That's what leadership, Christian leadership, is all about. Isaiah. The suffering servant. The one who turns his back to the smiters. The one who is lead silently to he slaughter. The one who bears the iniquities of others on her shoulders. That's Christian leadership. In fact, that's Christian discipleship.

If we claim to imitate Christ, we have to imitate his suffering. We have to live into Good Friday as well as into Easter. That was Jesus question to James and John. "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Can you accept the burden of discipleship? This isn't going to be a kingdom of privilege, it will be a kingdom of righteousness and justice, and to attain that type of kingdom, we will have to accept the suffering that comes our way.

That's a part of our discipleship we don't want to think about. But it's there. When we're baptized into the life of Christ, we're baptized into his death as well. We're baptized into Easter, but we're baptized into Holy Week too. When we take on the name of Christian, we take on the suffering of Isaiah's servant. We take on the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Is that what we really want? Is that what we really expect out of our, or any one else's' baptism? When we bring a child to be baptized, do we really except or accept that we are baptizing them into both the life and the dearth of Christ. That we are offering them to the glory of God, but also the will of God?

Too often I think we see our baptism, or the baptism of a child as a single event in their lives that gets done. I've actually heard it put that way, "I'd like to have my baby done." Like somehow it makes life more rosy if his ritual is completed.

Let me pose a provocative question. What difference does it really make in this society if you've been baptized or not? It's not going to affect your schooling. It's not going to influence your choice of friends. It's not going to make you richer or poorer. It won't make you a better doctor, or teacher, or whatever. I hold you over a basin and pour three tablespoons of water on your head and what does that accomplish. By itself, nothing. At least not in terms of society.

Being a Christian in America is simply another life-style choice we make. Like whether we join Rotary or the Elks. Whether we live in a one story or a two story. Whether we're Republican or Democrat, Green or Reform. It's just one more box ticked on the great societal census form.

Society doesn't care one whit whether I've had water poured over me or not. I'll be treated just the same as any other citizen, at least according to theory. It's simply another choice I have to make in my life.

Three drops of warm water on the forehead and a sip of sweet wine out of the communion cup. A gentle, personal, safe Christianity.

But the baptism and the cup, the water and the wine are more, much more than that. The water represents death. Death to this world. Death to ourselves. Death to the old way of being. Death to the old being. And the wine is the Blood of Christ. Blood spilled on the most horrible of deaths. Blood streaming from real nail holes. Real spear wounds. Real whip marks. Death and Blood. That's what the baptism of Jesus and the cup of his Passover mean. His death. His blood. Our death and our blood.

Would we baptize children if we really believed that they were being brought into a life of imminent suffering? Would we be as willing to have our children done, if baptism was illegal. Would we wear a cross around our neck if a cross was a target for persecution or death? Millions do. Every day. But not us.

We live in a world more like the kingdom James and John envisioned. Faithfulness to our religious belief is safe, understood, socially acceptable. We're just like everyone else in authority. We fit in well in the places of power and prestige, at least as far as our religious convictions go.

But try being even a different type of follower of Christ. Try being a Seventh Day Adventist who don't celebrate holidays. Try being a faithful Mennonite trying to live a life of simplicity in a world becoming more and more technology driven. Faithfulness is more difficult to those that aren't in the mainstream.

We are. We can try to be counter-cultural all we want, but mainstream Christianity is still an incredible image of society at large.

And why not. We don't take our own baptisms seriously, why should society. What makes us different than the rest of society? Our jewelry? Look at MTV. A cross is just another fashion statement. Our behavior? That's the test isn't it?

Do we live as though our baptism has meant something to us and to the world?

Too often I think we as a people, and I am every bit as guilty as anyone else, practice our Christianity up to the point it becomes difficult or painful. We live into our Baptism as long as its convenient. We come to church (when we can) to say our prayers and worship God. But it's just not convenient to come back for a bible study. It's not convenient to attend evening classes. It's not convenient to take a weekend off for a spiritual retreat. It's not convenient to take time every day to pray (my personal weakness). It's not convenient to give more (another personal favorite). It's not convenient to live a life of strict Christian morality and ethics. Sometimes it's just not convenient to be a Christian.

For millions, it's not only not convenient, it is fatally dangerous. Yet they do it.

Perhaps for our sisters and brothers in the Sudan and Pakistan and China the image of Isaiah's suffering servant is more real than it is to us, because they see it day in and day out. And may God protect us that we don't have that same opportunity here.

But we do have Jesus' words. We do have his command that if we want to attain to power in the kingdom of God it is done as a servant. The power of a servant. Slave actually. The power of the powerless. The privilege of the underprivileged. The strength of the weak. The wealth of the poor. The joy of the suffering servant. In this turn-upside-down world of Christ's kingdom it is not power and prestige that matter, but our servant hood.

Christ showed us that he was the king of this kingdom by being the suffering servant. By carrying not only our packages, but our sins. By taking not only our orders, but taking our lashes.

Christ showed us the power of the powerless by dying for us on the cross and bursting from the grave so that we could follow.

It is to that servant hood that we are baptized. It is in that servant hood that we live as disciples. And it is from that servant hood that we gain our place in Christ's kingdom..