Mark 9:30-37
In this passage we find Jesus and his disciples traveling through Galilee on their way to Capernaum. Capernaum was where Peter’s family lived with his mother-in-law. Their house apparently was the home-base for Jesus’ ministry.
In vss. 30-31 we learn that while they were traveling Jesus tells them that he is going to be killed and that God will raise him up after three days. This was the second time Jesus said this. You may remember that the first time, Peter objected saying “don’t talk like that, this must not happen to you!” Jesus had to rebuke Peter, saying, “Get behind me Satan. You have in mind merely human purposes, not God’s purpose.” So this time, when Jesus tells them about his death, the disciples don’t say anything. They remain silent.
Vs. 32 tells us that the disciples didn’t know what Jesus meant when he said that he would die and rise again. There were two good reasons for their lack of understanding. For one thing, Jesus usually spoke in parables. Normally, he was not speaking literally. Rather, his stories and sayings had a deeper meaning, which he would explain to his disciples afterwards. So here they don’t realize that Jesus is speaking plainly. They assume that he wasn’t really going to be killed. That his real meaning was different.
The other reason they misunderstood was that no one had ever imagined a crucified Messiah. People believed that the Messiah would come at the consummation of history to usher in the Reign of God. Not in the midst of history, and certainly not to be crucified.
What Jesus was telling them was outside of their worldview, outside their interpretation of Scripture and God’s will. Jesus was speaking, as it were, a new language, that the disciples simply had no way to understand. It was only after Jesus’ astounding resurrection that they finally understood the true meaning of God’s kingdom, and of the new way of life Jesus was calling them to.
We too sometimes have trouble hearing what God is saying. Especially when it’s something that challenges our previous thinking. When the Holy Spirit guides our life in a new direction. Or opens us up to a new understanding of God’s purposes. It’s natural to reject new ideas. As Jesus says, “No one wants to drink new wine after tasting the old. They say, ‘the old is better.”
Personally, I confess to being resistant to anything new. As Diana can tell you, almost always when she or someone else asks me something that seems new or strange to me, something I haven’t considered before, I immediately respond “No, no way.” Maybe some of you are like that too!
Often the next day I reconsider and say “yes,” or at least “maybe!” But sometimes it takes me longer to really hear what was being said and to come around. Surely it is better to have a readiness to listen to other people and to God, and to have a heart open to change.
When the group got to Capernaum Jesus asked them what they were arguing about on the road. Again they were silent and embarrassed. They had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest.
This seems appalling in view of what Jesus had just told them, that we would be killed soon. But, again, in spite of Jesus’ words, they still thought that he was going to wage a military war to throw out the Romans and set up a political kingdom. They thought the time was near, and they expected to rule with him. They were arguing about which of them would have the best positions, sitting on thrones on Jesus’ right and left side.
For three years the disciples misunderstood Jesus’ ministry and the nature of God’s coming kingdom. But it’s unfair to think of them as unusually slow and dim-witted. After all, we Christians have misunderstood the nature of Jesus’ kingdom for the past two thousand years.
Christians throughout history have used political and military power to set up worldly kingdoms in Jesus’ name. Even today some Christians want to make America a “Christian” nation, whatever that might mean. That’s the same misunderstanding the disciples had. Thinking that Jesus wants Christians to rule politically in this fallen world. But Jesus rejected the satanic temptation to be a worldly ruler. And he told us to reject it.
Followers of Jesus can and should seek to influence nations and governments to act with greater compassion and justice. But from below as witnesses and servants, not as rulers in Jesus’ name. Because God’s power is the power of love.
In vss. 35-37 Jesus responds to the disciples’ argument about greatness. He says to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and the servant of all.” That’s a hard saying. We naturally prefer to be served rather than to serve. It’s difficult to set aside our egotism and serve others with self-giving love.
To illustrate his point, Jesus picks up a child and says, “Whoever welcomes a little child welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the One who sent me.” In our culture today children are usually cherished. But in the ancient world children were devalued. They were ignored and dismissed by the men in a male-dominated society.
Perhaps one reason for this attitude was that in the ancient world, half the children died before the age of ten. Children were viewed almost as non-entities. They were part of the domain of the women, who themselves had little social status.
So when Jesus embraced a small child to himself he was doing something unexpected and uncommon. He was elevating children’s worth and status. By this action, Jesus is telling us to embrace the least valued members of society. Children, and all those who society dismisses as nobodies. Jesus says that when we embrace society’s rejects, we are inviting God himself more into our lives.
Jesus is showing us the wideness of God’s mercy and breadth of God’s inclusion. He’s also illustrating his lesson about greatness. About those who are great in God’s eyes. It’s not the so-called important people. But those who like a little child have nothing to offer except their trust and love. Those who can make no claim on God’s favor. But can only give themselves, just as they are.
Jesus-followers acting on Jesus’ words have been pioneers in caring for orphaned children, for people who are hungry and homeless, for those suffering from addictions and afflicted with AIDS, for the poorest of the poor. When we act with compassion for those who are devalued, Jesus says, we are caring for Jesus himself and are welcoming God into our lives.
It’s all so upside-down and backwards, isn’t it? Fulfilling God’s purpose by dying rather than by killing. Finding greatness in serving rather than by dominating. Embracing the most ignored and despised members of society. Sharing our lives with the lowly and the weak. Helping bear the pain of the world.
This is a different way of life than people usually think of as desirable. A different view of happiness. It’s no wonder that the disciples couldn’t grasp what Jesus was telling them. It’s no wonder that we ourselves find it difficult to hear Jesus’ true call. We can’t live this way on our own strength. But we can invite Jesus to live his life in and through us.
And so Jesus summons us to change our thinking. To think in terms of God’s purpose rather than merely human purposes. To turn around and live by a different set of values. And to find happiness in the upside-down way of life to which Jesus calls us.
The hymn Simple Gifts expresses Jesus’ call. I’ll read it, and then we can sing it together.
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come around right.
Amen