WEEKLY SERMON
Pentecost 18 / Festival of Friendship
Mark
9:30-37 30They left that place and passed through Galilee.
Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because
he was teaching his disciples. He said to 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." 32But they did not understand what
he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33They
came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were
you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because
on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting
down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he
must be the very last, and the servant of all." 36He took a
little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he
said to them, 37"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."
PowerPoint Illustration: Jesus with a child in his arms
Introduction
– All Creatures Great and Small is a book about an English veterinarian
who worked in the rural areas of England before WWII. The title of the
book is from an old hymn: All
things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things
wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all. The veterinarian had
the opportunity to treat all kinds of animals, from cows to cats, from
those that are great in size to those that are small.
But we use the words “great” and “small” in other situations as
well, don’t we? Sometimes we use those words to talk about a person’s
life. In our lives, some would say that very few people are destined to
live lives of greatness, like world leaders, famous scientist,
well-known celebrities. The rest of us live very small simple lives.
Others would say that each and every person is great in the time and
setting in which they live.
Well, which one is it? Are we great or we you small? It was a
question that Jesus’ disciples were itching to ask Jesus as they had
high hopes for the future. But it was a question that they may have been
afraid to ask. Aren’t we often eager for answers but afraid to ask the
questions because we might not like the answers we hear? For our
confidence, our self-esteem, our joy in life, we might often think it is
better to see ourselves in the mirror as someone great. But Jesus has
the opposite perspective today. He emphasizes an important point with
his disciples, that:
It’s Okay to be Small
I. The Life of Jesus Christ is about being small, not great
II. The Life of Jesus’ followers is about being small, not great
I. The Life of Jesus Christ is about being small, not great
The ministry of Jesus Christ of Nazareth lasted about three years,
beginning when he was 30 years old. The early part of that ministry was
spent mostly in the region known as Galilee, near his hometown of
Nazareth and also the town of Capernaum on the north end of the Sea of
Galilee. These towns were quite a ways north of Jerusalem, the religious
and cultural center of the people of Israel.
In his early ministry, Jesus became especially famous for his
miracles of healing. People often brought their disabled friend to
Jesus, so that he would heal them. And Jesus did not turn them away. He
showed them that he was someone special, someone to look up to and
someone to follow, someone with the potential to be a great leader.
Jesus was different from the other religious leaders of his day. He was
full of compassion and understanding.
The extraordinary life of Jesus Christ took a turn, however. It
became clear that many people wanted to follow Jesus for the wrong
reasons. Even though he healed their diseases, in his teaching, he made
it very clear to people that the main purpose of his ministry was not
healing the sick. The main purpose of his ministry was to call people to
leave their lives of sin, repent and turn to God for his forgiveness,
and trust that he himself was the only one who could save their eternal
souls. Jesus was concerned that people recognize the truth about
themselves and the deep need of their souls to be cleansed of their
guilt. He offered them hope and healing by proclaiming himself as their
Savior.
Jesus, however, rejected their desire to make him their king, a
desire that even some of his closest disciples seemed to have. Jesus
showed the people that greatness is found in humility and he
demonstrated the clearest example of that in his own life. Whereas he
could have chosen the path of a great political leader, he chose the
path that God the Father set before him. He chose rejection, submission,
and death to bring you peace with God, an exalted place in heaven, and
eternal life.
Following Jesus may have seemed a little like one of those roller
coasters at Great America, like the Raging Bull. The popularity of Jesus
seemed to be rising and rising, his potential for greatness reaching its
maximum height . . . and then this:
“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.” From everything looking up and up, suddenly events
took a sharp drop downward. Wow! What? Why?
Why go to Jerusalem and let the rulers take your life? Surely you
can stop it from happening! Look at all the great things you’ve done. In
your home town, they tried to throw you off a cliff and you walked right
through the crowd. If you could do that when you were right in the
middle of danger, Jesus, how hard would it be to totally avoid the
rulers of the people who want to kill you?
Fair questions. The type of questions that Jesus’ student Peter
tempted Jesus with and Jesus harshly confronted him for his lack of
trust in God and said that Peter did not have in mind the things of God,
but the things of men. How could wanting to protect someone’s life,
especially this person’s
life, not be something God wanted? Jesus’ followers seemed willing to
fight and die for him, but here he seems to be willing to die without a
fight.
That is exactly it. Jesus was willing to die without a fight.
Jesus knew the purpose of his life was about being small, not being
great. By the standards of human culture, I mean. He didn’t come for
popularity. He didn’t come for power. He didn’t come to have the image
of his face engraved on a gold coin or his statues erected in the town
square. Jesus came to be betrayed, like a helpless victim, killed like a
common criminal, and he came to vacate his gravesite with quiet victory
over death. Wow! What? Why?
Because, as Jesus said,
“If anyone wants to be first, he
must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus came to be the
servant of all. He offered the greatest service to you and me that
anyone has ever offered. He carried out the ultimate trade. The
punishment of the Son of God in exchange for the freedom of the human
race – your freedom and my freedom. Freedom from the fear of death.
Freedom from the burden of guilt. Freedom from the justice of God. He
made himself nothing, because we refused to humble ourselves and follow
God’s will. He set aside the glory he had with the Father since before
all things were created because so often in our self centered nature, we
want the attention. He suffered the death of a criminal, the death we
deserved because of our stubborn refusal to follow God’s ways every
moment of our day.
Jesus is the ultimate servant. But he is also great. Not in this
life. Not as the ruler of a great empire that covers the globe. Here, in
spite of the great miracles and great teaching, he was small, hardly a
footnote in most history books. But your living Savior is at the right
hand of God with power and glory. After his service was completed, he
became the master once again. Though we do not see him, we believe that
the one who died in the humblest, most shameful of ways, came alive as
the first to rise in glory, offering hope and healing to every believer
in Jesus Christ who mourns the loss of a dear friend of family member,
and looks ahead to the day when life here will be done and life in the
presence of God will begin.
II. The Life of Jesus’ followers is about being small, not great
The life of Jesus Christ shows us that there is greatness in humility.
There is strength in weakness. Humble service in the eyes of the world
is great work in the kingdom of God. The world may look at people
without power and influence and people who even have physical
limitations as being weak, but in God’s eyes, if that person has simple
faith in Christ Jesus our Savior, that person has greater strength than
all the armies of the world, a strength that can withstand ever
challenge and trial in life and face the end of life with the hope of
eternal glory.
Jesus’ disciples did not want to ask Jesus about the prediction
of his suffering, death and resurrection. But deep down, they still
seemed to understand that he was the One, the Messiah. And they knew
that as his pupils, they would get to share in the wonderful kingdom
that he would establish, according to the Old Testament prophecies. But
they wondered if they would have an equal share. Sometimes Jesus would
take Peter, James, and John along with him on special assignments,
leaving the others behind. Were they going to have higher positions of
authority in the kingdom of Jesus? No, they didn’t want to admit it,
but, yes, like a bunch of kids or macho guys, they did argue about who
was the greatest.
So Jesus taught them the difference between being childish and
childlike. “He took a little
child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to
them, "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."
For a group of guys who were looking to be great, looked up to by
everyone else, this must have thrown them for a loop. What is so great
about welcoming a little child? Taking care of kids doesn’t seem like a
job for princes in the kingdom of God. Aren’t there more lowly people
that can do that? That was exactly Jesus’ point. Whatever job there is
to do that seems the lowliest, Jesus says that is more fitting for a
Christian to consider than arguing about who is the greatest.
“Sitting
down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he
must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Being a servant of all obviously wasn’t what the disciples had in mind.
Be last to be first? That doesn’t make sense. You don’t get ahead by
letting everyone else get ahead of you. You don’t get promoted at work
by refusing promotions. You don’t get to the top of the pay scale by
turning down raises. You don’t win the race by running the slowest or
winning the championship by letting everyone else score the most points.
It may be hard to humble
ourselves and buckle down and do the work that God calls us to do, when
that work makes us uncomfortable, when it seems to take too much of our
time, when it involves working with people that we may have had
conflicts with in the past. Being small is not always easy if we are
worried too much about what people will think of us and not worried
enough about what God expects of us.
What is the cure for a heart that doesn’t want to be humble, a
person who is unwilling to be small for the Lord of all? The cure is the
stark realization that we are what we are only by grace. If God would
evaluate our lives based on how good we are, we would always fail,
because his standard is too high. The person who volunteers to do
hundreds of hours of community service and the person who stays in her
room and surfs the internet all day are alike in God’s eyes. “All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We cannot achieve what God
expects. We must come before God and bare our souls and admit our
failure with sincerity and honesty, understanding that God threatens to
punish all who disobey his commands.
And then we must take God at his word and believe presented his
life as a sacrifice, to destroy the conflict between God and humanity,
to bring peace and reconciliation between God and the people of our
world. Believe that for the sake of Jesus Christ and the payment of his
life, the Judge of all pounds his gavel and says, “Payment for your soul
has been made. You owe me nothing.”
Humbling, isn’t it? Such a great gift for young and old, male and
female, for people of every nation on earth. How do you feel when you
receive a surprise gift? Small? Unworthy? That is exactly what we are.
How can we thank God for all he has done? By considering how we can
humbly serve him with our time here on earth until we get to be with him
in heaven. There is no doubt about heaven. We have a home there through
Christ, who has set us free.
Conclusion –
If we are so worried about being great, it seems pretty clear that the
greatest one of all, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, well no
longer fit in our lives. The one who has given us eternal life will find
that he is not welcome in a life that is all about us and our wants and
desires for greatness. But when, in the name of Jesus, we humbly accept
his word and serve faithfully in his kingdom, we can be confident that
the Lord is with us. Because of God’s gift of salvation, we belong to
him forever, not because of anything we have done. May God keep us
small, every day, recognizing that only in him is there true greatness.
Amen.