September 20, Initial Sermon Notes

Putting It In Reverse

Mark 9:30-37

³⁰They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; ³¹for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” ³²But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. ³³Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” ³⁴But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. ³⁵He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Jesus instructed the disciples privately regarding the coming passion (2^nd time which underlines it’s importance to Jesus’ ministry/identity as Messiah) But they didn’t understand and were afraid to ask what this meant… why it was important.

~ their first response was to confront Jesus because it went against their understanding of what Messiah was; in response Jesus rebuked them. So this time, I believe, they didn’t ask because they didn’t want to be embarrassed for not understanding.

Apparently as they continued traveling after Jesus’ teaching they began to argue about who was in a higher position of influence with Jesus or was going to have the most authority and power in the new kingdom: further evidence that they really didn’t understand who Jesus was and how he was to inaugurate the coming Kingdom of God.

Jesus calls them on it (what were you arguing about) and they don’t think that he knows what the subject was, OR they hope he doesn’t and so like little children they don’t say a thing hoping against hope that the issue goes away. It didn’t go away and he in fact did know but they did not get a reprimand.

Jesus sat down (a position of authority when teaching so the disciples knew what was coming was very important) and said, “whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all.”

To drive the point home Jesus gives a visual example or exclamation point. He takes a child and bringing it within their group he takes it in his arms and holds it and says something very shocking to his disciples, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

What is shocking about this is that the child instead of symbolizing innocence in reality symbolizes powerlessness. Unlike today, children living in that time had virtually no rights (see Galatians 4:1-2). It was not that they were not loved and seen as a blessing to their parents (especially in Judaism), but their were no laws or even social conventions to protect children who were, at times, indentured to others to help support their families (less of a financial burden to care for).

So in essence what Jesus was saying is that in God’s Kingdom (not the world’s) self-denial through serving the needs of those (that the world counts as nothing) is pleasing to God; both in this life and in the life to come.

In doing reading for this I came across a commentary written by an atheist which said:

“The child here is used not so much as a symbol of innocence (which many believe) as he is a symbol of powerlessness. Jesus is telling his disciples to “receive” powerlessness — be receptive to being in a state without power over others in order to be worthy of also receiving the salvation Jesus offers. Receiving the child is also meant literally, of course: in order to be a good follower of Jesus, one must take in the powerless and vulnerable to help them. How many Christians have you met who actually and sincerely believe in the need to receive the Christian message as a powerless individual? This raises an interesting question: if you do become a “servant of all” and thus “last of all” because you know that this is the path to become “first” in God’s kingdom, doesn’t that still make you power-hungry? Can a person who connives to get into power through a back door really be said to deserve the position of “first”?”

Austin Cline @ http://atheism.about.com

Two comments:

1. This is not a passage that mandates that we continually live in a state of powerlessness to assure us of our salvation. It speaks directly to our growing in our life of discipleship, our growing into the character and nature of Jesus who is “first” in the Kingdom of God. Our salvation is based however on us recognizing our own powerlessness over the reality of sin and acknowledging and accepting God’s gift of faith.

1. Becoming “first” is not a self-centered goal if we understand it as becoming more like the ideal of embodying the true nature of God which is self-giving love. As I said before becoming “first” is having the Person of Jesus Christ formed more and more in us. As Jesus becomes more real in us (and as such his character and nature) the desire to live as the world lives (to connive to get “power” through the back door) becomes less so that we do get closer and closer to being “first” as God understands it. In reality we become more like God originally created and intended us to be. That’s Good News.

He does raise a good point however:

To grow as disciples of Jesus we must begin to embrace the principle of powerlessness in our own lives. We must strive to see things from God’s perspective and begin to live trusting him to provide our needs both for today and for the future. That will free us to welcome and serve the powerless or the least of these (see Matthew 25). One of the best recent examples: Mother Theresa.