Do You Understand?

September 23, 2012


GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 9:30–37
30[The disciples] went on from there and passed through Galilee. And [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying 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.” 32But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
33And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Jesus did not have a regular classroom. Sometimes he taught in homes, in the synagogue, or in the countryside. Often he taught his disciples while he was walking with them from town to town. Walking and talking was a common style with teachers and philosophers in ancient times. In today’s story it seems that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was talking about. Maybe they were not paying attention while walking along, maybe they were sightseeing, or maybe they were talking with each other. Or maybe it was just that they could not understand what Jesus was saying because it did not make any sense to them. That happens to me in Japanese all the time. I can understand every vocabulary word, but still not understand the meaning of what a person wants to say. I do not have the background or understand the culture or that person’s situation. Likewise, the disciples could make no sense out of what Jesus was saying so to them it seemed like nonsense. Oftentimes when people first start looking at Christianity, things do not make sense. People today are just like the disciples. Jesus told the disciples, “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.” If Jesus talked about love and healing, they could understand. If Jesus talked about keeping the Law, or if he interpreted the Law in acts of love, they could understand that. They could not understand how it would be beneficial if Jesus suffered and died. They did believe in the resurrection and eternal life, but they could not yet understand how Jesus could be killed and then rise on the third day. Jesus was talking about his victory over death and the devil, but the disciples thought of victory in only a personal way.

Personal victory is to be better than other people, to be greater than others. While the disciples were walking, they started arguing with one another about who was the greatest. The Law of God says we must do good and must be good. This is the message of the Ten Commandments and all the Old Testament Law. But it is the sin of the human heart that says we must be better than others. Maybe it is the sin of the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet,” “You shall not be jealous of your neighbor’s goodness.” And so people become self-centered and think they have to be better, greater, smarter, richer, wealthier, prettier, more handsome, faster, better job, higher salary, better ancestry, busier, more healthy or even sicker, more popular or even weirder. It is a type of insecurity. It trusts in the Law that says we must be good, and so we try so hard to be good that we try to be better than others. It is not to love the neighbor as oneself; it is to love oneself more than the neighbor.

Ultimately, the desire to be the greater than other people means that we also want to be greater than God, also. Concern for self becomes greater than concern for the neighbor or concern for God. Love of self becomes greater than love for God. We set our minds on the things of this world. God is no longer important. God’s Law is no longer important. Our own body and feelings become the center of our existence. And because the flesh of our bodies is frail and will die, to build your self up is to build on nothing. If we belittle our relationship to God, then we will become little, we will become nothing.

However, Jesus Himself became nothing. He taught his disciples that, “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.” The disciples could not understand that. They could not understand the reason why Jesus had to become nothing. But after his death and resurrection, we now do understand the reason. Jesus became nothing for our sake, so that in him we become everything to God. Jesus was both God and Man. In his betrayal, suffering and death, Jesus became the least of all Men. In his death he took upon himself the sin of the World and became the sacrificial servant of all Mankind. Yet, that was the greatest of all sacrifices. And so in his Resurrection, he became the first to rise and never die again. And so when we are nothing in Jesus, we become everything with Jesus. He died and rose for our salvation.

If we humble ourselves with Jesus, then we become exalted like Christ in the eyes of God. Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

If we welcome a child, then we welcome Jesus, and so we welcome God the Father. In other words, if we do something for the least in society, then we are doing something for Jesus who on the cross became the most least in society, and in that way we are serving God the Father. It is a matter of trust. We are not trusting our own goodness or greatness, but we are trusting the goodness and greatness of Jesus. This is life in Jesus. It is not our own greatness, but his greatness. We do not brag about ourselves, but rather we praise Jesus.

And finally we understand what Jesus is talking about. The disciples also finally did understand Jesus. The believer-disciples of Jesus in every generation in the church have learned this lesson about humility, greatness, and service. We have all received from the Holy Spirit various gifts and abilities, various kinds of the “fruit of the Holy Spirit.” We do not have to argue about who is greatest or smartest or faster or richer or more correct or even who is more humble. And now we welcome the least. This may be a child, someone who needs loving care, the helpless or weak, the sick, the bullied, the scorned, the sinner, the disgraced, those with HIV, those who are different or weird, the criminal, our enemy, the hungry, the poor, those who need to be forgiven – anyone who needs us and needs our love. We welcome them in the Name of Jesus. We do not welcome them because of whom or what they are, we welcome them simply in the way that Jesus would. That is what it means to do something in the Name of Jesus.

These are the ones, like that child, whom Jesus puts in our midst and Jesus puts his arms around them and blesses them. And he blesses us to be his servants. And he said to the disciples and to us, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


Sermon Index

A note of thanks. I got a lot of ideas and help for this sermon from the Sabathology Page at Crossings.org. These sermon helps for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost were written by Timothy J. Hoyer.