by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Mark 9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for 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.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
I often look back at sermons I have preached in the past to refresh my understanding of the gospel for the coming Sunday. Some gospels, like the one you just heard, I have spent a lot of time with, and am grateful for that. The gospel this week, among other things, speaks about children in the first century. It has much to teach us. So, in that vein I thought I would share a story about learning something from a child.
One day, a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country so he could have his son see how poor country people were. He wanted his son to learn to appreciate all that they had.
They stayed one day and one night at the farm of a very humble farm family.
When they got back home the father asked the son, “What did you think of the trip”?
The son replied, “Very nice Dad.”
Dad said, “Did you notice how poor they were?”
“Yes”.
“So, what did you learn from this trip?”
“I’ve learned that we have one dog in the house, and they had four. We have a fountain and imported lamps in our garden. They have a stream with no end and the stars in the sky. Our garden goes to the edge of our property. They have the entire horizon as their back yard.”
The father was speechless.
Then his son said, “Thank you Dad, for showing me what true riches really looks like.”
Isn’t that a great story? The young often have wisdom beyond their age and are able to see things we cannot so readily see.
The gospel today is a uniquely special one in my books. It speaks to an important way of being in the world and with each other. Let’s take a look.
First of all as we heard, Jesus tells those listening that he will be killed and be raised from the dead on the third day. They of course cannot get their heads around this announcement as he is still with them, and people do not routinely come back from the dead.
But we have a different perspective. We know the rest of the story, and we recognize two things. First, because of his sacrifice on the cross we have eternal life, which frankly is as hard to understand today as his coming resurrection was for those listening in the first century. Second, we have an incredible example of servant leadership in his willingness to die on our behalf. More on this in a little bit.
Then we heard the two brothers who had been arguing about who was the greatest. We are unsure about whether they were talking about each other or the group, but we recognize that this was a normal subject of conversation in the Roman Empire. (As an aside it seems to have become a normal subject of conversation in this day too.) Yet, when Jesus asked them about what they were talking they did not easily answer him. We assume they were probably ashamed.
When they got home to Capernaum Jesus had something incredibly profound to say. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Think about that for a moment. Step back and hear Jesus. In his day and ours this is completely counter-cultural. Instinctively we know he is right. His is a better way. If we are honest, it probably makes us uneasy, but we know he is right.
To illustrate, and flesh out his message, he took a child and, placing his arms around the child, said to them. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
I have no doubt that children were loved in the first century by their families. How could they not have been? In scripture we hear fathers and mothers seeking out Jesus to help their kids in time of need and demonstrating the love and care we are sure they possessed. Yet we must also remember that children were thought of in entirely a different way than we in this room contemplate them.
Children weren’t welcomed in the first century in the same way they are welcomed today by most of the populace. They were tolerated instead, and thought of as a commodity waiting to mature. For an example women had to get pregnant at least seven times just to keep the population from declining. Children had a 50-50 chance to live to age 17. Women generally gave birth until they could no longer do so or until they died in childbirth.
I am sure children played like all kids do, but children were primarily an economic asset, able and expected to work very early in life, much earlier than we would put them to work in our culture. They were property until they were either old enough to own property themselves — the boys that is — or sold in marriage to another male — the girls. They were expected to become their parent’s economic security in their old age as there was no social security in that day.
Children couldn’t speak for themselves. They had no power whatsoever. They were in fact the lowest rung on the ladder of influence and power. Nobody was lower.
And yet, Jesus is telling them and us that to welcome a child is to welcome him and to welcome him is to welcome God. Put another way, put children and all others ahead of yourself if you want to be the greatest.
If you wish to be the greatest you must choose to be the least. Jesus himself put an exclamation point on this when he chose to be executed so that we might have eternal life. He made himself the least, and we would say that by doing so he became the greatest.
This is a special Sunday for me. My first Sunday here was September 18, 2011, ten years ago. Much has happened since then in this church, much of which to be proud, but perhaps the most important idea has been the fact that we remind ourselves to do the loving thing on a regular basis. We do it every time we are about to reenter the world around us. Doing so comes directly from today’s teaching and others like it from Jesus.
I would submit to you this morning, in the 21st century there is no more important and life-giving idea. If all the people who have heard Jesus express this simple concept could sincerely attempt to follow his advice, imagine what might happen. It’s mind boggling, isn’t it?
