Greatest in God’s Eyes

Trinity Church

September 20, 2009

Mark 9:30-37

Shelby Owen

I remember too clearly in college going to class, sitting in a room of somewhere between 10 and 200 students and not always understanding what the professor was really getting at. I remember there being plenty of times when I really wanted to ask a question but was afraid I would reveal my ignorance. Perhaps the professor had just addressed or answered what I had wanted to ask about and if I had asked a question, I would show that I had not been fully paying attention or that I had not completed my reading homework. Or maybe my questions would reveal that I was not smart enough to be in that class at all. So I just didn’t ask. And lived on in my ignorance. (Never mind that my family was paying thousands of dollars for me to get a good education!) I remember one of my best friends being the complete opposite- not even showing up for some of his classes and then going to actually talk to the professor in his office face to face to ask him/her about something from class. No fear at all! Well, I was aghast at his behavior --and a bit jealous!(He turned out to be a pretty decent husband though)

This fear of revealing ignorance seems to be the driving force behind the disciples’ silence in our lesson from Mark today. As Jesus describes to the disciples for the second time in Mark’s gospel that he will be betrayed, that he must suffer, die and then rise again after three days, they don’t understand what he is talking about and are afraid to ask him. Mark shows the disciples to be slow in learning; they must learn and begin again and again. Their silence arises a second time as Jesus asks, “What were you arguing about on the way?” This time their silence reveals the embarrassment they feel as they face Jesus knowing that their argument has been about who among them is the greatest. You can almost hear their inner groaning, see their heads bowed, see the shame on their faces. Jesus knows, of course, what they have been arguing about and treats this as a teaching moment.

In last week’s lectionary reading from Mark, we heard Jesus ask Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Mark is intent on addressing this question of Jesus’ identity as one of his predominant themes. Throughout his gospel, including today’s reading, Mark will show who Jesus is and how Jesus himself reflects what the Kingdom of God is all about. Today’s teaching throws societal convention on its ear. Over the darkness of the disciples’ ignorance Jesus casts a light, shows them another way to live and introduces them to the reality of what it means to be great in God’s eyes, in God’s Kingdom. Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then to make his point clear, Jesus takes a little child in his arms and tells the disciples that whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

For those in Mark’s audience this teaching would have come as a complete surprise. It would have been upside down hospitality. In Greco-Roman culture in both Jesus’ and Mark’s time rank, position in society and honor were very distinct and of great importance, especially in terms of hospitality. And basically children and servants held little to no rank, position or honor. Children and servants were of very little account, and were usually at the bottom of the heap in their standing. Mark’s readers would have understood the child/servant reference as the lowliest, the least in society. In saying that when one welcomes the child in his name one welcomes Jesus himself, Jesus is inverting the accepted norm in society. To be great in God’s eyes, one must be servant to all. These words would not have been easy for Mark’s audience and they are not easy for us to hear.

And yet, these words are not meant to torment or to chastise Jesus’ disciples or us. These words are meant to free us up, to liberate us from ourselves. Jesus reminds us that no, life is not all about us, about our lofty goals, our pursuit of our own ideas of greatness. Who is the greatest among us? Is it the one who has the highest income, the one who has the longest Virginia pedigree, the one who lives in the most beautiful house, has the highest academic degree, the one who got into the best college, the one who has the best sports record, the one who wields the most power, the one who gets her way? Well maybe… maybe not. From the divine eye, it will not be because of these kinds of achievements that one is considered great but because of how one serves others. To be servant of all means we cannot be as full of ourselves as we might be inclined, to be servant of all means to put others ahead of us, to be servant of all means to take a good look around us and see who might be in need and offer ourselves in some way to that need. To be servant of all is to take God very seriously indeed and to take ourselves not so seriously. To ease up on our own self-centered ambitions. To consider what God is actually calling us to be or do.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” It is truly out of God’s love for all of his creation that he sent Jesus to show us the life of perfect service, a life given freely for us. Our call is simply to follow his example, to give our lives to others, to notice those in need, to “respect the dignity of every human being” as our baptismal vows say, and give what we can give, serve however we can serve.

Whatever our place in this life is, whether in our family, or in our workplace or in our circle of friends or clubs or even in our church, the temptation to desperately grab hold of first place is real. Power struggles and posturing take place in our daily lives and we are constantly faced with the decision to enter into that struggle or to let go of the struggle, to take on or give up the quest to be the greatest. Can we begin again? As we begin a new year of Sunday School, can all of us whether we are adults or children continue to learn the ways of God through SS classes, through prayer, through study; can we perhaps let the children of this parish remind us of upside down hospitality, the kind of welcome that Jesus is teaching us, that to be great in his eyes, we would welcome children and any others in his name, serving those who need our help?

Now if we all try to leave the church last instead of first today we will never make it to Sunday School (or make it home for lunch) so we are going to have to take it on faith that God really does want us to leave this place sometime today to get on with his work in the world, and somebody’s got to go first so please don’t take this message too literally! But as we let our quest to BE great dissipate and fade into the background and let God have a hold of us, let him use us as he will to serve others. Then we will find ourselves closer to Jesus, our hearts full of grace, our souls generated by love.

Amen.