"Servant of all"-Sermon for Proper 20, Mark 9:30-37
It’s quite ironic, don’t you think, that in our gospel lesson today Jesus uses the example of a child to point out his grown-up disciples’ childish behavior. As we just heard read together, that childish behavior was an apparent debate, and heated one at that…for what Jesus overheard he described as an argument…so a heated debate of who among them was the greatest. Now, in this context…that is being one of Jesus’ 12 disciples…I am not even sure what that means. Who does Jesus love the most? Who does he think among them is the wisest, the funniest, the most dependable, the humblest…of course the whole argument being about who is the greatest would rule out that last one. Perhaps…as Matthew’s telling of a similar story might suggest…they were jockeying for best seating at the heavenly banquet that awaited them all when Jesus ushered in his kingdom…wanting to be seated closest to the head of table where all the cool kids, the movers and shakers, get to sit. I really don’t know what it might mean to be the greatest among Jesus’ closest friends and first followers. Especially when considering that the one they are following has come into the world with a message that God’s love is for everyone, equally…and that we should love all of our neighbors as ourselves…and that, as Jesus will go on to say to them…and not for the first time…“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” If we really consider both the person who these disciples are following and the teachings he is sharing…the argument of who among them is greatest…seems woefully misguided at best…and, again, entirely childish at worst.
I mean really…are they even paying attention to what is happening all around them…paying attention to what Jesus is doing, what he saying and, even more so, who he is. God in flesh…who breaks bread with social outcasts and sinners…who recruits tax collectors working for Rome and, thus, despised by his fellow Jewish people…into his closest circle. God in flesh…among whose closest followers are women who were grossly considered, at the time, something less than men. God in flesh…who touches lepers, who were considered physically, socially and spiritually unclean, and who heals all those who come to him without distinction. God in flesh…who intervenes in the stoning of an unfaithful woman…saving her life…by reminding all those gathered that we are all broken and stand in need of grace…therefore who are we to judge. God in flesh…who reminds us that when we embrace those considered the least among us…we are, in fact, embracing Jesus himself. God in flesh…who defines our neighbor, who we are, again, to love as we love our own selves…defines our neighbor as anyone needing our help, even if real sacrifice is required in our helping…and even if that person looks, loves, and believes differently than we do. I could go on…but I am sure you see my point…in Jesus, God took human flesh to stand shoulder to shoulder…to stand with…to love, serve, heal and save…all of God’s people…regardless of the ways we humans devise insiders and outsiders…regardless of how we humans devise systems that call some great and others not great. And, in doing so, Jesus…the one who created us and sustains us…affirms the inherent dignity of every human being created in the very image and likeness of God…the very image and likeness of love alone. And, friends, as Jesus’ contemporary followers…those who seek to be like Christ in and for the world…we should do the same…and do so always. The question we should be asking ourselves is not if we are the greatest…or, even, if we are the worst…but, instead, today…in this very moment…how are we…and how can we more and more…love all people…just like Jesus.
Now, before I go much further, I do think it is important to note that the sort arguing over greatness that I am suggesting is spiritually problematic is not say…arguing if the Houston Astros have been the greatest professional baseball team over the past decade…they just have. In all seriousness, recognizing and appreciating a greatness that flows from someone’s God-given giftedness and hard work is a good thing…in whatever form those talents might take. Expressing appreciation and gratitude for such giftedness and, even being inspired by it, is appropriate and can be life-giving for both the appreciated and the appreciator. Thus, what I am suggesting is spiritually problematic is the desire to claim a greatness over another person on a more fundamental level…that is the belief that God, indeed, loves me more or prefers me more, because of what I look like, or who I love, or what I have accomplished or accumulated, our even what I believe. That thinking is a sort of condemnation that denigrates the integrity of others. It belittles what and who God has made and loves. It dehumanizes another person and ourselves in the very same act.
Further, before I get lost in pointing out the speck in the disciples’ eyes while neglecting the log in my own, I want to acknowledge that I have thought about what it means to be great. Friends, questions of greatness…who is the best, brightest, wittiest, wealthiest…and the desire to be counted among them…is altogether human. It is rooted in our DNA. If we break such social constructs down to their smallest part…I believe you find underneath them the instinct to just survive. We fear irrelevance and the social, psychological and physical suffering that often comes with it…it is a sort of death. And, so we strive to move up the ladder of relevance…even if just one step above where we are…and, on one level this is totally understandable…totally reasonable. But, at the same time…at times…perhaps when at our worst…humans are willing to commit all sorts of evil, inflict all sorts of pain…whatever it takes…to move up. And, that is soul-crushing to others and ourselves, again, in the very same act.
Now, setting aside all of our 6###sup/sup###-8###sup/sup### graders at St. Julian’s because they are all life-giving, love-filled boogers…and I love you all more than words! But, if you want to see this relevance ladder climbing in action, be a fly on the wall in any middle school cafeteria, or gym, or during free time when the teachers aren’t watching. Our children learn way to early, as social scientists will tell you, that meanness is social capital…that exclusion and indifference and humiliation…along with some proper branding…is the way to move up that ladder of relevance…to survive. And, a world that shapes our future, for our children are our future, in that sort of cauldron…is going to create people concerned with the sorts of questions of greatness that are, indeed, spiritually problematic. Which, as an aside, is why our ministry with our youth and children is so very important at St. Julian’s. For here we do our best to remind them that each is God’s own beloved…that they are breathtakingly beautiful as the unique person God has created each to be. Here we seek to foster peer relationships that are healthy and life-giving, where they learn to lift each other up…love and care for each other…and celebrate the gifts, the greatness that each brings to the life we share. For, I believe the ability to love, care for and nurture ourselves and others well…begins with the certain knowledge that the one who made us and sustains us…God our Father and Mother…loves us across the universe and back again and will never let us go. And, if there is one thing that I hope our young people come to learn in this place…it is that.
And, so back to the gospel lesson before us today, in response to the very human and very wrong-headed argument among the disciples about whom among the is the greatest, Jesus like a loving parent…perhaps with a head shake…but I believe also with kindness…reminds them that greatness in God’s kingdom is not a top down social order that values some over others…but that greatness is found in a willingness to serve one another. Which is never being a doormat to walk all over, but a willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity as beloved siblings; to lift one another back up to a level playing field when we have fallen or been pushed down; to speak out and speak up when other are being denigrated or abused; to, as our Baptismal Covenant reads, work for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being; to lead the way in seeing the face of Christ in every human being; to be quick to express gratitude for each other and remind each other how breathtakingly beautiful each of us really are. That’s what loving service really looks like.
And, to make his point, he takes into his arms a child. We don’t know the age of the child…but maybe a middle school aged child, and he says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me”. You see, children are indeed vulnerable. They need loving adults to help shape them more and more into the people God has created them to be over a life-time. And, children in the first century were often seen as a commodity as much as a human, and that commodity was seen as less valuable than adults. Thus, Jesus is saying to his friends and followers, including each of us, when you embrace the vulnerable and care for them, lift them up…when you embrace those considered less valuable and remind them that they are, in fact, as valuable as any other human being…that is, again, lift them up…you are in the very midst of the divine. For both the one doing the lifting and the one being lifted, and make no mistake over a life-time we are each both, are God’s own beloved. And, at least in that moment, we see, we experience what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God, where all people stand shoulder to shoulder as friends and siblings…standing in a great circle…with a place for everyone and everyone with a place…with the God of love alone who made us and loves us present…in the middle. And, then our greatness is finally discovered…for our greatness has been, is now, and always will be tied up in each other…in the love, God’s love, we share…and with which we serve…each other. Amen.