Bible Passage: Mark 9:30-37
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: September 22, 2024

Bulletin September 22, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

The pulpit should never become a place for politics.  But given the fact that we are nearing a national election in our country and one cannot use any type of media right now without seeing some candidate’s ad, please permit a simple observation.  Long ago I was taught that elected officials are called “public servants.”  Servants.  Those who aspire to high office should want to be servants who serve the citizens.  Here’s the observation.  As I see and hear political ads, I don’t often see what I might call aspirations for service.  It seems sometimes like people covet high office because of the power and perks.  And many candidates attract “clingers” who want to come along and be rewarded in the end with some cushy appointment.  We see aspirations for greatness and glory, not aspirations for service.

I believe it demonstrates the long-ago-stated truth in the Bible that there is nothing new under the sun.  People have been messed up on the idea of “service” and “greatness” since the fall into sin.  “Servanthood” is despised and looked down upon; being served by others, this is greatness!  It happened even among Jesus’ closest followers, the Twelve.  In our text today, Jesus, the Servant of all, will teach his disciples that greatness is aspiring to be Servant of All.

Did you cringe?  Did you cringe when you listened to the conversation Jesus had with the disciples when they reached the home in Capernaum?  They get inside and Jesus asks them, “What were you guys talking about back there?”  Silence!  The disciples don’t look Jesus in the eye.  Maybe they look down, to the side, anywhere other than the eyes of Jesus.  Maybe their cheeks are flush and red.  They are blushing.  They’re embarrassed; they’re ashamed.  They should be.  On the way they were talking about who is the greatest.  One wonders what the conversation sounded like.  Here’s what we know.  It must have been bad because the disciples don’t own to it before Jesus.

I once heard conversations like the one the disciples had compared to two men sitting on a manure wagon arguing whose aftershave smells better.  What a ridiculous conversation to have!  They both stink!  Who is the greatest disciple?  None of them are all that great!  There was once a legendary golf instructor who was getting dressed for a dinner where he was to be given an award.  As he tied his tie, he said to his wife, “Wow!  How many great golf teachers do you think will be there tonight?”  His wise wife said, “One less than you think.”  There resides in each of us this gnawing restlessness to be thought of as “great.”  And if I have to put others down to appear great, so be it.

The thing that makes the discussion of the disciples so jolting, even disturbing, is what came before.  They have just been with Jesus away from the crowds.  He wanted a little time alone with the disciples to take them deeper into God’s great plan.  Jesus had told them, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him.  But three days after he is killed, he will rise. (v. 31)  Jesus hadn’t taken them aside to tell them how great he is!  He took them aside to tell them how far he was going to humble himself to SERVE them.  He would be betrayed!  One of those guys who would argue how great he is with the other disciples would plant a kiss on Jesus to turn him over to his enemies!  These enemies will humiliate Jesus!  They will strip him of his clothes and cover him in blood and spit and insults.  He will die humiliated.  And then, he would rise again.  The disciples had just been privy to the story of the greatest act of love, the most astounding humility conceivable!  And they walk away and discuss who is the greatest.

That’s the thing about pride.  It is stunningly out of place.  It is stunningly out of place when I think I am better than another.  It is stunningly out of place when I make little of someone else to make myself appear bigger and better.  I am not!  It is stunningly out of place when a spouse refuses love or kindness or forgiveness to a spouse because the other is not “worthy.”  And I am “worthy” of such grace?  It is stunningly out of place when teens bully, or mock, or shame the least of these to be “funny” or “cool.”  Let’s face it, to be “great” in the eyes of the world.

Jesus wants to tip worldly ideas of greatness upside-down.  He says to the disciples, If anyone wants to be first, he will be the last of all and the servant of all. (v. 35)  He just described himself!  Jesus is the Servant of all!  That betrayal and death and resurrection he had just been talking about, that was all in service to a world of sinners.  Jesus summed up the purpose of his coming once by saying, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to SERVE, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)  Because we cannot save ourselves from our damnable pride, the Son of God humbles himself to die and rise to serve and save us all!  There – on the cross – is the greatest of all!  There is the Servant of all!

So what does that look like in our lives?  You and I are not called upon to die to save anyone.  That has been done by Jesus!  Jesus shows what it might look like in our text.  Then he took a little child and placed him in their midst.  Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little ones in my name welcomes me.  And whoever welcomes me, welcomes not just me but also him who sent me. (v. 36-37)  Jesus scooped up a child in his arms and gave him a big hug!  And he said, “Do the same, because you love me!”  Why a little child?  Because there’s absolutely nothing in it for you!  You stand to gain nothing.  They won’t repay you, reward you, promote you, compensate you, or praise you.

Isn’t that great?  Indeed, it is great!  But it’s Jesus’ definition of greatness.  It is great because it is the willingness to be servant of all, as we are called to be by the one who has truly shown us what it means to be the Servant of all!

Amen.