Who is the Greatest?

Proverbs 31:10-31; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37

Our gospel lesson for this morning is describes the ministry of Jesus as he preached around the area of Capernaum a major city in northern Palestine at the time of Christ. And as he was there he took some time out from his public preaching to do some private teaching of his disciples. In fact, in our lesson for this morning Jesus has just told his disciples some very dis turbing news. He has told them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."

Of course, the disciples didn't know what to think about this news. It didn't make sense to them. After all, they believed that Jesus was the messiah. And they believed in a messiah who would be a victorious conqueror over the Romans and those who had collaborated with the Romans. So, in their minds it was impossible that Jesus would be betrayed and that he would be killed. And, of course, they certainly didn't know what to think about the part about rising from the dead.

And so, they were afraid to ask Jesus to explain what he was talking about. Instead of learning more from Jesus they got into a silly argument over who among them would be the greatest, so that Jesus had to quell their argument by telling them that "If anyone wants

to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." And, of course, that made about as much sense to the disciples as what he had said about being betrayed, being killed and rising from the dead. They couldn't understand it. It was a mystery! It's hard for us to understand.

Nevertheless, that is what I'm going to be talking about this morning: These three points concerning the mystery of the cross; that, first, the messiah had to be betrayed, killed, and raised from the dead for our salvation; and that , secondly, we often miss this point and find ourselves dealing with political issues within the life of the church, rather than working as disciples; and that, third, Jesus has to remind us from time to time about where our true ministry lies – that it isn't to be found in one's position in the church, but, rather, in serving the least of the world.

So, again, we have a three point sermon to deal with this morning! And I'm going to start out on the first point: where Jesus told his disciples that he was going to be betrayed, be killed, and rise again from the dead.

Of course, this is a mystery for us. It is probably just as hard for us to deal with this as it was for the disciples. For as I said last week, none of us wants to deal with suffering. We'd rather focus on Easter. But the fact is that in order to save us Jesus Christ had to suffer betrayal and death. In order for there to have been a resurrection from the dead, the powers of death had to have their day. And in order for us to be saved from the ultimate enemy – which is death -- the Savior, himself, had to fall to that enemy, as well. So, the Son of God was sent to earth by the Heavenly Father, the Christ became flesh and blood and went through everything in the way of suffering and more than any mortal can expect in a lifetime. In his life Christ assumed every thing that we might go through in this life. And, yet, he rose from the dead, victorious over the powers and principalities of evil. And that is why we must identify with him and find ourselves in him. That is why we must be clothed in his righteousness. That is why we must believe in him. For when we do the same victory that was his is given to us, as well. And this is important and good to believe. For this, my friends, is a summary of the gospel, just as much as is John 3:16 that reads, "For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Now the problem here is the implications this has for discipleship. Back in Jesus' day, it was believed that the Messiah would come and rescue the people of God from the evil oppressors of the day. There were many religious groups that seriously believed that the Messiah was com ing at any moment; and that this Messiah would bring with him the armies of heaven to over throw the wicked armies of Rome. And as soon as this was accomplished a new heaven and a new earth would come down out of heaven wherein all who were faithful to God would be re warded.

And, so, this was the understanding that the disciples had of Jesus. And you can under stand why they were a bit confused by his telling them that he would be betrayed and die and rise up from the dead. These disciples thoroughly believed that by following Jesus they would soon be at the top of the heap when it came to their place in the kingdom of God. And they even be gan to argue over who would be the greatest among them.

It's interesting that even with Christ's great commissioning before us, we continue to do what those disciples did. And what was it that Jesus said in the great commission? Wasn't it, "Go out into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?" In spite of these words, in spite of Christ's own example of suffer ing and dying for the world, we are still reluctant to follow that commission and his example. Instead, of going forth with the gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing it with our neighbors, we get into other entanglements that simply take up our time. Instead of doing the real work, we get in volved with busy work that simply takes the place of the real work that Christ wants us to do. Sometimes for us pastors, that busy work takes the form of going to endless meetings. So by the end of a day or at the end of a week of meetings we go home tired and pat ourselves on the back because we were so busy for the Lord. And, yet, when it comes down to it, we have to ask our selves if we really did anything for the Lord, at all. Or weren't all those meetings, rather, a jock eying for position with other clergy? Or weren't they simply a means of keeping ourselves busy while feeling inadequate and reluctant to do what God really wants us to do?

I was talking with a friend, yesterday. She is an African-American pastor in the Ann Arbor district. And after I described my churches to her she spent about an hour giving me ad vice. And one of the things she told me was that it might be a good idea for me to do house-to- house calling in the neighborhood around the churches where I serve. Well, you can imagine how I might have felt a little bit uncomfortable with hearing what she had to say. I mean, some of the folks who live around my churches might think it strange if someone who looked like me suddenly appeared at their door. They might think I was a bill collector or a rent collector or someone from the court. So, they might tell me to go away. I might not be received well at many of the homes around my churches. And, yet, this was the advice of a friend who knows what she is talking about. And I had to agree with her. And she even suggested that I find be friend a young person from the neighborhood to go with me – to introduce me to the neighbor hood children and youth. And, again, I knew she was right. I knew that this is something that I should do. But, will I do it? After all, that's what God wants me to do. Or will I find something else to keep me busy? Will it be easier to go to some meeting somewhere? Will it be easier to try to look busy by doing something else?

Of course, laity get into the same rut. We know what God wants us to do. We know that God wants us to study the scriptures. And, yet, when there's a good old fashioned Bible study, do we attend? Or do we find "Days of our Lives," or doing the laundry, or weeding the yard a more important activity? Or when God wants us to get involved with a community activity that might get us to cross paths with persons of a different background than our own, is our comfort level disturbed to the point that we find ourselves going the other direction to find something else, something more comfortable to get ourselves busy with?

Certainly, that's what the disciples did, isn't it? They didn't like to hear Jesus talking about suffering because they knew that they would be asked to follow his example. So, instead, they busied themselves with a silly theological argument about who would be the greatest. And it was here that Jesus was able to tell them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." And then he took a little child and had him stand among them. And tak ing this little child in his arms, Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

Now, as Jesus used this example of a child to talk about our status in God's kingdom, it might be easy for us to misunderstand what he was talking about. In our world, where children are the apples of their parents' eyes, the virtual princes and princesses of the famliy , we are apt to miss Jesus' point. For you see, in the Greco-Roman world, including the world the of Jewish people, children were thought of as unbridled little bits of chaos. They were not considered na ive, innocent, sweet, and trusting. Instead ancients regarded children as terrible nuisances who were to be disciplined and tolerated until they became useful, reasonable adults. In Greco-Ro man culture children were without status, and they possessed no power to give them position. There was no profit in taking in spending much time or resources on such temporarily useless people.

So, when Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me," . . . what does he mean? It means that God in Jesus Christ demonstrates a gracious acceptance of humans who have nothing about them to lay a claim on God's generosity. But, it is the character of God to be gracious. Thus, God gives service to all, despite their absolute inability to do anything for God's benefit. And Jesus says that people who treat others as God treats them are great. Why? Because they live like God, and God is great.

So, do you want to be great in the eyes of God? Then love those who are considered by the world as least. Open yourselves up to those who might otherwise be considered terrible nui sances. Become a friend to someone who may not be thought of as useful! Give time to some one who doesn't have any status or power or position. For in doing that we start looking a little more like Jesus. We begin to live like God. And God is great!

Amen.