Sermons

      A few weeks ago, we sang the hymn, “Will You Let Me Be Your Servant”; the lyrics may seem a bit odd as in them we ask for the opportunity to serve another, to be “as Christ to you.” Perhaps it sounds unusual because it is so counter to what we often hear in our world, that being better, bigger, greater, more powerful than others is the accepted and expected norm.

     Being willing to lose rather than win, to serve rather than rule, well, that’s not who we are in 21st century America. Nor was it the norm, evidently, in the first century. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus was teaching his followers what will happen to him soon: “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.”  

     This was not the first time he had explained what is to come; in Mark 8, after Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus described his future suffering in greater detail, causing Peter to pull him aside and rebuke him, which earned Peter a tongue lashing of his own for focusing on human, not divine, things. Then Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross, and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it.”  (Mark 8:34-35)

     Even after all that, the disciples do not understand this talk about suffering and death, and they are afraid to ask for an explanation. Perhaps that was because their ideas about the Messiah, which was all about conquering and prevailing with power, got in the way. For them, the Messiah was someone who would deliver the long-suffering people of God, vanquishing the enemy, and emerging as the mighty victor.

     That’s not, however, what they heard from Jesus, who points to a “descending way of greatness”, not winning with power, not seeking prestige, but changing the world through service and sacrifice.

      As Pastor Alex W. Evans notes using the phrase “descending into greatness”.  “Greatness, for Jesus and for us, is never about power and prevailing, never about dominating and doting over another, never about asserting ourselves and our way. Greatness is about serving, sacrificing, caring and sharing.” (1)

     This was too difficult for those first disciples to grasp, so they focused on what was familiar – the question of who among them was the greatest. They might have been thinking in terms of who was the most powerful, influential or intelligent, or perhaps it was who was the most dedicated to Jesus, who understood the parables the quickest or who was boldest in introducing people to their Lord.  In any case, they argued about it among themselves, and Jesus, no doubt shaking his head in dismay over their lack of understanding, told them once again: “Whoever wants to be first, must be last of all and servant of all.”

     Our struggle with that concept gets played out in all types of scenarios. Pastor Harry D. Adams writes about a time he was responsible for making the seating arrangements at a head table. At one end of the table a person with experience was placed next to a newcomer in order to make him feel welcome. When the experienced person saw his place card, he promptly picked it up and moved it to the center of the table, next to the person who would be presiding. It’s sad, said Pastor Adams, for a person to be so insecure in who he is, so consumed with what others think about him, that he would change place cards. (2)

     Yet, that is often the way we live until we are liberated from such striving by realizing that those who find status before God do so through serving, which requires humility.

      The passage ends as Jesus emphasized his point that the last will be first; he took a little child in his arms and made the astounding statement that whoever welcomes a child, welcome him, and thus, welcomes God. This is notable because in the ancient world, children had no status or rights. The Greek word that Jesus uses, which is translated “welcomes” is not a generic greeting, but means to literally receive someone into one’s arms.

     I like how commentator Scott Hoezee describes this: “The picture we should have in our heads is not of someone in an airport quietly holding up a little “Welcome Home” sign on a piece of paper, but of a parent or grandparent down on his or her knees, arms splayed wide open and just waiting for the loved one to come running down the ramp into those waiting arms. That is the kind of welcome Jesus want to give the lowly of the world. Because when they come running into our waiting embrace, so does Jesus, and so does his Father. And this is an image that boggles the mind with joy.” (3)

     Throughout his ministry, Jesus associated with the least and the last in society, including Gentile women, unclean women, lepers, raging demoniacs, tax collectors and other notorious sinners. On more than one occasion he welcomed children, which his disciples complained about in Mark 10 even though Jesus has already told them that doing so is akin to welcoming him, and God.

     His enemies condemned him, to a large degree, because he declared the forgiveness of sins and associated with those whom they rejected. As commentator Elisabeth Johnson writes, “They could not tolerate the radical grace of God that Jesus proclaimed and lived. Greatness on Jesus’ terms means being humble, lowly and vulnerable as a child. Greatness on Jesus’ terms is risky; it can even get a person killed. But as Jesus teaches repeatedly, his way of greatness is also the path of life.” (4)

     Jesus’ path to greatness, to being first, was and continues to be difficult to grasp, especially because it is so counter cultural. I recently read a meme on Facebook – I’ll only quote the part that applies here – which said that the contemporary task of the church is to make the church counter cultural again, which means we must see how counter cultural Jesus’ ideas actually are, as in: enemy, love them; violence, renounce it; money, share it; foreigner, welcome them; sinners, forgive them. And, I would add, children, celebrate them.  May we be as Christ to each other and find the freedom of descending into greatness. AMEN

1. “Descending into Greatness” by Pastor Alex W. Evans, September 19, 2021, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA.

2. Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 4, edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, pgs. 95-96

3. Sermon Commentary on Mark 9:30-37 by Scott Hoezee, September 20, 2015, www.cepreaching.org

4. “Commentary on Mark 9:30-38 by Elisabeth Johnson, www.workingpreacher.com