SEPTEMBER 24, 2006 PASTOR SCOTT FULLER
JER 11: 18-20; PS 54; JA 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; MK 9:30-37
Last and First
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we believe and in believing we obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We have to be careful with this Gospel lesson from Mark. Having read it, the temptation is to shake our heads and frown at the folly of Jesus’ followers; to ridicule their ridiculous behavior; to poke fun at their propensity for practicing poppycock.
The tone of Jesus’ talk is solemn, somber, subdued. He’s trying to prepare his friends for the pain that lies ahead. This is the second time that he tells them: Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. The Son of Man will be betrayed and killed before rising from the dead.
In this way he sketches the main points of what the future holds…but the disciples can’t quite connect the dots. Says verse 32 They did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. So instead of coming to Jesus with their questions, they find something else to talk about on their walk through Galilee. And here Jesus experiences that old parenting precept: If the kids are too quiet, they’re probably up to no good.
Settling down for the evening, Jesus asks what they were discussing on the road…and nobody says a word. Immediately their eyes are drawn to: their hands, the floor, out the window – anywhere but to Jesus. For after he had finished talking about the Son of Man’s death, they started to argue about which of them was the greatest…
I find it ironic that Jesus pulls a child into his arms as an object lesson for his little sermonette. My wife told a story of being in a kindergarten classroom last week. When her lesson was over, the teacher asked the children to line up at the door. One little boy, when he finally figured out what was going on, pushed his way to the front of the line. Carolyn had to smile as the teacher explained that lining up means getting next in line, not first in line.
That’s similar to one of my kindergarten memories. Also told to line up at the door, a few of us also pushed our way to the front. Our teacher didn’t say a word, just waited for the hubbub to die down. Then she asked us all to turn around in our spots as she placed herself at what had been the end of the line. Off she lead us on a little trip around the desks and back to the door. Only, those of us who had been first, discovered that we were now last.
So arguing about who is first or the greatest is not an issue only for adults… which makes me wonder what Jesus was trying to say. Let’s take a look at that for a minute…What are some characteristics of childhood? What are kids like? What do they experience?
POSITIVE: innocent, trusting, humble, eager to love, to share, to help…
NEGATIVE: holy terrors, terrible twos, scared, selfish, cruel, unthinking…
One Gloria Dei parent recently said of her children, It’s a good thing that God made little children cute! I detected in her voice equal parts adoration and exasperation, though when she looked at her kids, her eyes were filled with love. So I think we can say that children have an abundant supply of qualities that both compliment and condemn them at the same time.
It was also true in Jesus’ day that children were a liability…both emotionally and financially. Writes one author: More than half of them did not live to be adults. Many were killed at birth (particularly girls)…In times of shortages of food, children were fed last…children had no rights. Parents could do to them whatever they thought necessary to make the children obedient or (earn money) for the family (Richard Fairchild, sermon, The Greatest Among Us).
This sad truth continues to play itself out in some areas today. Our dear friends from Tacoma, Vicki and Pat Michel, just sent their son, Andy, off to Kenya. He wanted to experience a little of the world before jumping out of the frying pan of high school into the fire of college.
His wish has been granted. For the next six months, Andy will be volunteering in an orphanage filled with children whose parents have died from AIDS. The children he teaches, connects with and befriends are officially liabilities to the government. So in that regard, they are perfect examples of what Jesus intended to convey.
Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
And
Whoever welcomes such a child welcomes me…and the One who sent me.
Andy will come back to our country a changed person. I’m sure that he will have a deeper appreciation for the basic comforts that we all take for granted. And I’m sure he’ll need to time re-enter a society that places such importance on image and entertainment when so much of the world is concerned with simply finding something to eat and drink.
So it is that Jesus’ simple words start to work their way through our ears and into our hearts. When the God-who-became-flesh uses such a concrete image that is so radically new, we can’t help but take notice. The question is, how will this new-found knowledge work itself out in our lives?
In order to help his disciples discover the truth about greatness, Jesus placed before them a child. With no political importance or financial future, unable even to provide for its own care, those who would be the greatest, we are told, should work hard to welcome the least. Thanks be to God that we have something to eat and drink that promises to help us figure out how to do just that, how to be last and first in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.