September 19, 2021
First Lesson: Psalm 123:1-2
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
Second Lesson: Mark 9:30-37
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Have you ever been to a wine pairing? A tasting of select wines that compliment or bring out the best in crafted foods and the other way around. Eating the food on its own or tasting the wine separately is a different experience than a pairing. The wine enhances the food, and the food changes the bouquet of the wine.
Our passage is like a pairing. The fact that Jesus tells the disciples for a second time about his death and resurrection is like the wine, but it also affects the stories that follow, the food. The stories may appear unconnected, but they are like a pairing influencing each other.
Before we go any further, two things to note: Jesus gathered his disciples to teach them, and secondly, he adds a phrase to the telling, that we did not hear last week: “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands.” As Jesus tries to prepare them for what lies ahead, he also knows that one in their midst will be the one to betray him. As he is sharing the secret of how Jesus will die and on the third day rise, he is also sharing that he knows one of them will betray him, another secret.
Let’s start with the wine, Jesus teaching the disciples about his death and resurrection. How did the disciples respond? They did not understand, and they were afraid. Last week we did not hear their response, but now we know what this news created in them: misunderstanding and fear.
One commentator wrote, “Fear is ubiquitous in Mark. Characters repeatedly fear Jesus (Mark 4:35-41) or some manifestation of the Kingdom of God associated with him (Mark 5:1-20). Fear, in Mark’s gospel, is the paired opposite of faith. For example, in the calming of the storm, Jesus asks the disciples: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Jesus’ statement to Jairus about his dead daughter is similar: “Do not fear; just have faith” (Mark 5:36). Faith in Mark is not intellectual assent to a series of ideas or articles to be believed. Faith is more about what is in your gut, fortitude. (In our passage) we see the disciples unable to ask Jesus about what confused them, which for Mark is emblematic of a lack of faith” (Working Preacher, Micah Kiel).
Think of a time you were afraid. Not afraid for your physical safety, but because something beyond you, something you can’t control and don’t understand creates fear. Insecurity might arise, a desire to control or hide. Maybe you want to go back to the things you know, the time when things felt safe. Living through the year plus of lockdown with Covid comes to mind. A new virus we did not understand. A threat that made us fearful. But unlike the disciples we asked questions. We read everything we could about what this virus did, how we might contract it. We were not afraid to ask questions. Thank God for all the scientists who asked the right questions that led to a vaccine in record time.
The disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what this statement meant. Why he would have to die? What would come next? I get it. Someone once said, “Never ask the question to something you don’t want to know the answer to?” The disciples feared what all of this meant, so not understanding seemed like a better option than asking questions.
For some people this also applies to climate change. If I am afraid of what might happen, then let’s not ask the questions, let’s not look at the science. Let’s just live in the old reality and deny what is right in front of us. Of course, that is not a good solution. But neither was what the disciples did.
“The question that the disciples are afraid to ask is the question that propels so many early Christian attempts to construct an intelligible, if misguided, Christology,” writes Amy Oden. She continues, “Maybe Jesus didn’t really suffer and die (Docetism) or maybe only the human part of Jesus suffered but the divine part was untouched (Gnosticism). Early Christians struggle with what sort of deity lets her/himself get into a corner like that? They needed an almighty God who conquers enemies, not one who suffers and dies” (Working Preacher).
Instead of addressing their fear, their lack of understanding, the disciples fell back into the old ways of status and position. They argued among themselves, “Who would be the greatest?” Yet when Jesus asked them about it, their shame kept them silent. They realized that arguing about greatness dishonored Jesus and what he had just shared. So Jesus takes this teaching moment, letting them know that servants and children are models of greatness. He declares, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” When the disciples wonder who would be the greatest, Jesus give the example of servants and children, the two least powerful groups in society. Jesus is not saying be innocent like a child or work hard like a servant. Jesus is saying that those who truly will be of use in God’s kingdom will be those who are not caught up in status and ego. Not those wondering who will be a leader, who will be the greatest. People who can put the needs of others before themselves.
William Barclay writes, “True selflessness is rare, and when it is found it is remembered. The Greeks had a story of a Spartan called Paedaretos. Three hundred men were to be chosen to govern Sparta and Paedaretos was a candidate. When the list of the successful was announced his name was not on it. ‘I am sorry’ said one of his friends, ‘that you were not elected. The people ought to have known what a wise officer of state you would have made.’ ‘I am glad,’ said Paedaretos, ‘that in Sparta there are three hundred men better than I am.’ Here was a man who became a legend because he was prepared to give to others the first place and to bear no ill will” (The Gospel of Mark, p. 223). I wonder if the 47 candidates running for governor in the recall will be so remembered.
The final morsel in our tasting, of the pairing of Jesus’ announcement of his death with the disciples arguing over greatness is the example of a child. Jesus holds the child in his arms, welcomes her into the circle saying “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” A child had no rights, no status, no position, no power. Yet Jesus is teaching the reversal of all of those things when it comes to following Jesus and being faithful to God. We follow and have faith despite our place in society, not to gain it. When we follow Jesus, like a servant, like a child, then we are welcoming God into our hearts and lives.
In conclusion I want to share an observation by Alyce McKenzie who writes, “I’ve heard sermons on this text that make the point we have to become children to be great. They conclude by encouraging us to focus on our inward lives, on becoming more pure, more innocent, more humble, more spontaneous, more trusting.
It turns out that to be great is to be focused on something quite other than oneself. It turns out that greatness lies in welcoming one who is not viewed as great by the culture, the child, the one who is beyond the circle, who needs a welcome.
So here is the final question. What if we actually did that?” (Working Preacher). Amen.
