Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 19-20, 2009

“True Greatness”

Mark 9:30-37

 

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our heavenly Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

              We understand competition and the search for greatness in our world, especially in a sports-crazed culture such as ours.  That’s not a bad thing; I’m a bit sports-crazed myself, and there are far worse things to be enthusiastic about than football or baseball.  We’re watching the stretch drive on the baseball pennant races now, although most of them are wrapped up, which means we can look forward to the postseason and another march to the World Series.  For football fans, another road to the Super Bowl is underway, although for some reason not everyone seems to be rooting for the Steelers to get back there again.  Rumor has it there are 31 other teams in the league that some people like, but I haven’t verified that.  And we’re seeing the early-season jockeying for position in the BCS bowl standings in college football, although most of the big schools are still in the cupcake portion of their schedule.  But we understand competition; we understand the drive and the desire to be great, or even the greatest, at something. 

              And even in everyday life, that desire is ever-present.  Who is first and who is last confronts us with great challenges to our patience and genuine love for others.  How do we meet those challenges?  In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus called the disciples together for a no nonsense lesson on the subject, and what He shows us in that Christians get ahead, not by being in front of others, but by making the service of others a top priority.

              Now, in truth, I wouldn’t say that most of us have a desire to bask in the limelight, necessarily.  I suspect very few of us actually aspire to be celebrities, and to live with the constant scrutiny and paparazzi coverage that goes along with fame.  Besides which, that status of fame and fortune is in all honesty out of reach for most of us, and that’s ok.  We’re common folk; good, sensible, level-headed Midwesterners, who just want to be left alone to live our lives.  We’re comfortable not striving for greatness.  And yet, private persons that we are, we still cannot escape Jesus’ words, “If anyone would be first…”  Now this is more like us.  Whether it’s deserved or not, we do like to be given preferential treatment.  Getting ahead of others, taking precedence over others, pulling rank on others could be a kind of subconscious quest for greatness.

              Jesus’ disciples were coming off the letdown we heard about last week, in which they had not been able to cast an evil spirit out of a boy.  They had discovered that they weren’t so great in themselves, after all.  After that incident, they all went on together through the region of Galilee.  They traveled on foot in those days, so no doubt small talk along the way was quite common.  But the disciples could not get past their frustration and embarrassment from the recent events.  Their bruised egos wouldn’t let them cope with the letdown.  It was far more soothing to think about the powers they had been given by Jesus and had used in certain situations.  That was great power, and it led quite naturally in their sinful human nature to a discussion on who was the greatest.

              Their conversation had taken a wrong turn.  So at some point along the way, Jesus reminded them that He was on a journey of supreme servanthood.  He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.”  But as usual, the disciples didn’t understand, and were hesitant to ask Jesus more about this, perhaps not wanting to know more about the cross, suffering, and dying. 

              Such a prediction by Jesus of His messianic servanthood should have toned down the disciples’ boasting about their own greatness.  And in truth, it should give us pause as well.  Baptized into Christ, we are linked by that Baptism to that very cross, suffering, and death, as well as to His rising again.  And  yet, how often is servanthood the farthest thing from our minds?  We press ahead, with our egos searching to be first over others, just as with the disciples.  When they arrived at Capernaum, most likely settling for a bit at Simon Peter’s house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”  They were on the spot.  Coming to the surface, quite uncomfortably, was their misguided arguing over personal greatness.  I think we can understand their discussion, as our own sinful nature pushes us to seek to be first over others.

              Let’s face it, most of us want to be first in some way.  Nothing is more aggravating than taking number 39 at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, when they are currently serving number 22.  We’re agitated when other people seem to get ahead on their personality, or their good looks, or their race or gender, while we work and gain experience, only to be passed over.  “Nice guys finish last,” we complain, because we want to finish first.  We want to be waited on, get the promotion, the better pay, the advancement over others.  We want to be first.

              Jesus took this as a teachable moment.  He found a chair, sat down, called the Twelve to Him, and taught them a lesson of eternal importance.  Looking at His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”  I’m not sure we always appreciate how stunning that statement is.  Such a teaching is contrary to everything our selfish world is about, a total reversal of dominant ideas of rank and greatness.  How can we get ahead in life by serving all, by settling for last place in order to help others be first?  Jesus had to be shaking His head in frustration just a bit.  He had spoken to His disciples about His own servanthood, even to death on a cross, and they went on arguing about their own greatness.  They just didn’t get it.  We just don’t get it.  We don’t catch on to what this truly means.  We’ve grown comfortable with getting ahead for ourselves and being first.  We don’t easily let go of our aspirations of greatness; we enjoy too much the discussion, the debate, the argument. 

              In our text, Jesus decided the disciples needed an object lesson.  So He takes a small child, a little boy who probably came running through the room as toddlers do, sets him in the middle of the Twelve, puts His arm around the boy, and says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but Him who sent me.”  Oh, how that disarms the human ego.  Whoever receives and serves a little child, Jesus says, receives and serves me and our heavenly Father.  Think about it.  A child is completely unassuming, full of needs and wants.  You can’t ignore the cries of a child, and once you serve him and fulfill his needs, will he repay you or return the favor?  No!  So there you are, having worked, provided, given of yourself, and receiving no thanks at all because you dared to place yourself last and the child first.  But the person who does this for a child honors our Lord, and our heavenly Father who sent Him.

              The only proper way to be first is to step back and be last, and from that lowly posture, to serve others in all that we do.  Becoming first by serving is the very fabric of the new world Jesus brought to pass when He descended so very low, taking on our human flesh, dying on the cross, setting aside the brilliant light of the glory of heaven, to assume the form of a servant, the Suffering Servant, reshaping all of life on this earth, transforming it from selfish ambition to selfless serving and giving.

              On every avenue of life in our communities, at the workplace, in the Church, in our homes, there is the opportunity to gather before Jesus and hear His words, “If anyone would be first, he must be last and servant of all.”  He continues to serve us by coming to us in His Word, in the grace of our Baptism, and in serving us with His very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  And as His people, we are called not to lives of personal greatness and ego-building success, but to lives of service and works of mercy.  It is the way to live, and the way to be first in the Kingdom of God.  So may it be for us to life everlasting.  Amen.

 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep both your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.