There are several stories I have used for decades, and now find that they have revealed more about me than I would have thought or wanted. One of these I found years ago in a book about Zen Buddhism.   

There was a young man who sought enlightenment. He travelled many miles across many countries to sit at the feet of a great master. When he saw him, he ran to him, cast himself at his feet and told him that he wished to be Enlighted. The master asked him how much he wanted to be Enlighted and he responded more than anything in the world. The master slapped him across the face and told him to come back when he was serious. The young man said had crossed deserts and mountains to see him wasn’t that proof enough. The Master slapped him again, only harder. The young man went away, got a job in the town and studied harder. The next year he returned to the Master, said the same thing, this time the Master smiled but said nothing to him. He returned to his job, waited another year but this time did not visit him in public but found  him while he was bathing in a river. He waded out to him and again told him he wished enlightenment, the master asked again how much, and he answered more than anything in the world. The Master took him by hair and with surprising strength pushed him under the water. The young man struggled but could not break free, finally when he was about to drown he master released him. When he came out of the water, gasping for air, the Master calmly asked him “What did you think about under the water. He answered: “Air”. The Master told him to come back when he would think only of enlightenment.  

Rich Romans placed seats at the front gates of their town houses for their clients. Clients were people dependent upon a patron for their jobs and intervening for them with higher authorities. When the patron went to the market or to court, his clients walked behind him to show his importance. There were literally his followers. The patron will in turn have been the client of someone greater and would have followed him to the Senate or another place of great importance. Mark’s gospel was written by and for Roman Christians and Mark seized on today’s story to show that Christians are not Jesus’ clients but his disciples and that disciples do not have clients but sisters and brothers. It is a hard lesson to learn, and one needed to be relearned in every generation, especially ours.