Listen to the Sermon.
“So what were you arguing about on the road?” It sounds like a question I might ask my children at dinner: So, what did you learn at school today? Jesus asks the question, hoping the disciples will come clean about their conversation.
And he gets the answer one might expect. Heads drop. Shoulders slump. I’m kind of surprised Mark doesn’t tell us one of the disciples said, “Nothin’.” Or my personal favorite, “Stuff.” I imagine an extra element in this scene: Furtive glances at the others, to see if anyone will dare to say something, anything.
This dynamic is reminiscent of last week’s encounter between the disciples and Jesus. An encounter which also followed a Passion prediction. There are three of these scenes in Mark where Jesus foretells his betrayal, arrest, death, and resurrection. Each of these three scenes follows a particular pattern where Jesus tells the disciples about the Passion, the disciples misinterpret what Jesus is telling them in some way, and the passage ends with a teaching about discipleship or following Jesus. The discipleship teachings begin with some version of “Whoever wants to follow me...”
So back to this scene where Jesus is asking just what the disciples were talking about. No one wants to admit they didn’t understand the Passion prediction, or that they had been arguing about who was the greatest. Mark says they all remain silent.
Jesus must have had an inkling about the content of their arguments because he responds to their silence by inviting them to come and sit with him. And then he starts his teaching by talking about “whoever wants to be first must be last of all” (Mark 9:35b). Whoever wants to be greatest must put themselves last.
Some traditions teach that ‘the first must be last’ means that we should always put other people before ourselves. Some of us hear that as we are worth less than anyone else, and that’s why everyone else is better than us or deserves to be treated with more dignity or respect. Some hear that we should somehow not succeed to the best of our abilities, because that would be immodest or prideful, putting our selves and abilities above others. Some, who have often felt like the last, wonder why any small success seems so hard won and remains belittled by those who are so often ‘first.’
And then there’s the current U.S. culture which promotes achieving greatness above all else - a dog eat dog, and let the strongest, most vicious one win mentality. Where last is definitely last, weakest, and poorest - not first in any way.
Social culture in Jesus’ time wasn’t much different than it is today. There were definite social strata - from royalty and wealthy landowners, to merchants, tradespeople and workers, to slaves, and finally social outcasts like the chronically ill, blind, orphans and widows. The upper strata enjoyed privileges and luxuries gained and maintained by the oppression of the lower classes. There were no trade unions, no ACLU, no Southern Poverty Law Center to advocate for those living on the margins. Life was hard and precarious at the lower levels of society.
Jesus intentionally uses a small child to illustrate his point here. Children had no legal standing in the ancient world, except perhaps as property. Of course, their parents loved them but they were not regarded as individuals with rights of any kind. They had no standing, no power, no influence. Jesus tells his followers that whomever treats a child, a nothing, as someone, whomever welcomes them into their home with the honor we would give a guest, welcomes God and thus shows greatness.
Putting others before ourselves does not mean denigrating ourselves, or failing to live into the fullness of life where our gifts are engaged and we feel alive. God desires for every one of us to live to fullness of life - that’s why he sent Jesus to show us a new way to live and love one another.
Putting others before ourselves does mean using our gifts and social power to raise others up, even above ourselves. Greatness is when all people, no matter who they are or where they started out, are free from oppression and bias, free to live into the fullness of their lives.
My friend Holly, a priest in another diocese, recently shared a personal reflection that highlights the difference between greatness as the world sees it and the turned-upside-down way Jesus sees it. With her permission, I share some of her self-reflection. She writes:
When I was in school I worked smarter than most people.
When I was a police officer I worked stronger than most people.
When I was in management and finance I worked longer hours than most people.
I’ve always been able to “rise to the top” by sheer effort, determination, force, and God-given talents; better than some women, better than most men. I always rose to the top of the game; stepping on or over. I never recognized the gender derision... not perpetrated against me, and not that I perpetrated. I’ve not always lifted others with me, nor have I lifted others and stayed beneath to look upward and watch them soar.
Her post ends with her pledge to refuse to play a role in environments of gross misogyny, mockery, ageism, sexism and egoism, except the role of calling it out when she sees it, making amends for when she has perpetrated it, and serving as part of the solution when able.
“Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35b)
What if we imagine that greatness isn’t about power, wealth or fame? [1] What if we measure greatness by how much we share with others? Or how we seek and serve Christ in all persons? How we strive for justice and peace among all people? How we respect and call for dignity and respect for EVERY human being?
Isn’t that the kind of greatness Jesus calls us to live into?
Jesus gave the disciples concrete ways to follow him in the “whoever” statements because he knew they couldn’t always grasp and believe what he was telling them about his Passion. It’s reassuring that in Mark, Jesus doesn’t say we have to believe to be disciples, we just need to follow, to stay with him on the journey as best we can. Part of our journey is being honest with ourselves and one another about the challenges of following Jesus.
As we come before God in prayer and humble confession, preparing for renewing our strength for faithful living, take a moment to think about how you want to and can raise up others, how you can seek and serve Christ in all persons, and how you can start that this week, with God’s help.
Let us pray.
God, who draws near, who comes to our level, whose nature is revealed in lordship laid aside: give us grace to welcome you in the one who tests the bounds of our community: in the child, the outcast, the one who comes with no power save that of remaking our hearts; through Jesus Christ, the one who will be betrayed. Amen. [2]
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[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2018/09/pentecost-18-b-a-different-kind-of-greatness/, accessed 09/19/2018.
[2] Steven Shakespeare, Prayers for an Inclusive Church (New York: Church Publishing, 2009), collect for Proper 20, Year B.
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