Pentecost 17 – 20 September 2015 – Year B
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 9th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 30–37:
30 They
went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to
know, 31 for 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.” 32 But they did not
understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.33 And
they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But
they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was
the greatest. 35 And 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.” 36 And
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.”
As our
Gospel readings continue on through the Gospel according to Mark, we come again
to that milestone that every Gospel account has. Jesus begins preparing the disciples for His
upcoming death and resurrection.
So
today’s Gospel begins with these words: They
went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to
know, for 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.” But they did not understand the
saying, and were afraid to ask him.
The
disciples were simply not equipped to understand Jesus at this time in their
instruction. The idea that main mission
of the Messiah was to die on a cross was not part of their thinking
process. The idea that Jesus was just
telling them the literal, objective truth was just not an option for them. Their idea was that the Messiah would be a
political Messiah who would drive the occupying Roman forces from the land and
clean up the corruption of the religious establishment in Jerusalem. He would once again establish the empire of
Israel as it had been under the reign of David and Solomon.
So Jesus’
words totally stumped the disciples.
Once you take the idea that Jesus was telling the literal, objective
truth off the table, then what could Jesus possibly mean? Is it a parable, a metaphor, an exaggeration? Who knows?
It was not until after the crucifixion and resurrection that the
disciples understood that Jesus had simply been telling them exactly what was
going to happen to Him.
We do live after the resurrection. That gives us 20 / 20 hindsight. We can read the Bible and know exactly what
Jesus meant. We simply cannot place
ourselves in the position of the disciples when Jesus foretold these things to
them.
Given that we have 20/20 hindsight, why is it that we
still fall into the same trap that the disciples demonstrated in the second
part of today’s Gospel? As Jesus and His
disciples returned to their headquarters in Capernaum, Jesus asked them,
“What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had
argued with one another about who was the greatest.
Given the fact that the disciples did not understand the
main mission of the Messiah, we might cut them a little slack. The disciples had not yet witnessed the
crucifixion and the resurrection. They
did not understand that Jesus must die for their sins. They did not yet have the complete
picture. Yes, they were competing for
positions of importance in God’s Kingdom as they saw it. Yes, they were wrong. Yes, they were acting out of selfishness and
pride. But at least they were consistent
with the way they perceived the world.
They did not understand Jesus’ words and their errors were consistent
with that misunderstanding.
Jesus used the discussion among the disciples as an
opportunity to teach them and us what it means to be a leader in His
church. “If anyone would be first, he
must be last of all and servant of all.” In God’s family, the leader serves. The one who is the highest makes himself the
lowest. The leader in God’s family
sacrifices not to get power, but to serve others.
Jesus nailed this point home by taking a child in His
arms and telling the disciples to serve the child. “Whoever receives one such child in my
name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent
me.” With these words, Jesus tells
us that anyone who cares for a child is caring for God, for the one who sent
Jesus is none other than God the Father Himself.
When Jesus used the child as an example, He was
emphasizing what He meant by serving all people. He was talking about the entire spectrum of
society. He was not only asking us to
serve those who are young physically, but also those who are young spiritually
or mentally even though they live in older bodies. He was asking us to serve all people.
So, how are we doing?
Are we willing servants? If we
are servants, do we serve because we want to share God’s love with others or do
we serve so that people will notice us and tell us how wonderful we are? Do we get angry when we serve, but people
fail to acknowledge our contribution? Do
we serve with all our heart or is our service only skin deep?
God judges by the heart.
He examines our motive. Do we
serve in order to get noticed? Then it
really isn’t service. Hear what Jesus
had to say on this topic in the Sermon on the Mount: [Matthew
6:1–4] “Beware of practicing your
righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you
will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no
trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received
their reward. But when you give to the
needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that
your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward
you.” This passage
from the Sermon on the Mount contains some of the saddest words in the Bible: “They have their reward.” For if they have their reward now, then there is no heaven for them later.
So, how are you doing as a servant? When I examine the teachings of Jesus, I’ve
got to admit that I am a lousy servant.
How about you?
What is our excuse?
At least the disciples could say that they hadn’t witnessed the death
and resurrection. Unlike the disciples,
we know that Christ died on the cross for our sins. We know that He rose from the dead. We have heard this Gospel before and we know
that the role of a Christian is to serve others. Never the less, we don’t want to be true
servants. We want to be the big
boss. We even want to judge God when His
teachings are not what we want them to be. We consider ourselves to be the greatest –
even greater than the teachings and revelation of the God who created us.
Even though we are arrogant and self-righteous, God still
wants to rescue us. He still wants us to
be part of His family. He still wants to
rescue us from our own arrogance and all our other sins. That is why He sent His Son to become one of
us in this world.
God sent His son to be the servant we could never
be. The Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to
speak of Him before He was even born: [Isaiah 52:13; 53:3-6]
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and
shall be exalted. He was despised and
rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief; and as one from whom men hide
their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our
sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
God came down to this earth to serve us and we beat Him,
whipped Him, and hung Him on a cross.
Never the less, He served us perfectly.
He deserved service from us, but He served us with His life. He sacrificed Himself in order to save us
from our sins. Although He deserved to
be first, He made Himself last for us.
This perfect servant who sacrificed Himself for us is Jesus Christ - the
same Jesus Christ who hugged children and told us to receive them as we would
receive God the Father.
Jesus Christ, the perfect servant, sacrificed Himself on
the cross in order to save us from the condemnation of our imperfect
service. God the Father honoured the
service of His sacrifice by calling him out of the grave. Christ rose from the dead to eternal
life. God the Father now sees our
woefully inadequate service as perfect service.
For Christ’s sake, He now deems us worthy to receive Him even if it is
in the guise of a little child.
Jesus Christ, our Saviour who was once dead, but now
lives forevermore, serves us today. He
serves us with the forgiveness of our sins.
He serves us with His Word, the Holy Scriptures. He serves us with His life giving body and
blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the sacrament. He continually serves us with His living
presence.
Ultimately, it is the desire of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ to serve us with new, holy bodies that will rise from the dead
just as He rose and then our service will be perfect as we serve Him in
everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. In that place, it won’t even cross our minds
to ask who is the greatest. Amen
The love
and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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