“Am I Missing Something?” (Mark 9:30-37)

“Am I Missing Something?” (Mark 9:30-37)
Preached by Sam Locke at St. Peter's United Church of Christ (Carmel, IN) on 9/23/18



Some of my fellow seminary classmates joke around that interns always get the worst preaching assignments - right after a holiday, obscure texts, the scriptures that are scary and don’t have any practical application to today. That’s one of the many things I love about being here at St. Peter’s - that has never been true for me, and this week’s lectionary gospel passage serves as living proof. There is enough here to write multiple sermons. The lectionary gospel readings have been so rich the past few weeks that we’ve only picked out parts to share in the bulletin.


This week, the entire suggested passage is in the bulletin and we’ll get into why but, first, let’s take another round at reading through it.


In your pew Bible, the first bit has the heading of “Jesus Again Foretells His Death and Resurrection.” This seems important.


30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it.
There is the first potential sermon. Why does Jesus want us to keep this big news a secret? We’ll save that one for another day.
31 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.”
This is the Easter story, perhaps the most important story of our Christian tradition, succinctly summarized in one verse. A big deal, but not today’s lesson.
32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
The Gospel of Mark constantly describe the Disciples as not “getting it”, this is news we’ve heard before.
The second section in the pew Bible is titled, “Who Is the Greatest?” It seems like a bit of a non sequitur, but let’s continue.
We hear this big news - the keystone news of the Christian faith, and then proceed as though nothing had happened at all. Not only that, we go from a passage focused on Jesus’ sacrifice of everything, to one where the Disciples are focused on their own egos.
33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
Ahh, those Disciples again.
35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
This is a passage so rich it practically preaches itself. Selflessness. The idea that we are all children of God deserving of radical love and welcome from all other children of God simply by virtue of being children of God. Amen to that.
So, there you have it. Five sermons in just a couple of minutes. Since the boss is gone today, we could just call it a day but, since my professor and the President of the seminary is joining us, we should probably keep going a little bit.
For me, while all of those potential messages are important and powerful, I was left with the feeling that I was missing something. Let’s take one more quick look:
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 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.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.


33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
I feel like something is missing. Or maybe I’m just missing it. But it seems like something should be in the middle of these two passages.
One option could be something like this:
32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
But they did ask him and he said, “This will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Get ready for it.” It will start a new era of love and acceptance and I want you … yes, the twelve of you and more to be my leaders. I want you to spread this good news to everyone you see.” And the Disciples started talking about all the possibilities, about all the creative ministries they might develop. This quickly became competitive and, while happening for the right reasons, quickly got out of hand.
In this transition, the argument between the Disciples was about being great, but not for their own sake. It was about who could bring about the best outcomes for God. Each trying to do a little better than the last. Still a problem to fix, but not on the same level of the passage we were left with. Social media has taught us about the humble-brag - annoying sometimes, but usually pretty harmless. You can give 10%? So what, I can give 11! You have 200 people in worship? So what, I have 300! This attitude is problematic and pointless, but not the end of the world.
Another section between the passage could be along the lines of:
32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. So, they ignored him all together, and proceeded about their business. They didn’t really know what was coming, the magnitude of what they were apart of, but that didn’t stop them from daydreaming. Jesus had promised the Disciples great things and they could not wait for the personal greatness that would surely be just beyond the horizon. They had worked hard for this.
In this transition, the Disciples hear Christ’s message but are not impacted by it, they know there is something big happening around them, but what is happening for them is of far greater importance. This devolves into delusions of grandeur, with each Disciple posturing himself to be the best, the one with the tightest claim to Jesus. The one closest to the truth. This is what happens when we want the same thing as a Christian community but have endless fights on the process of getting there. This is what happens when we think that our claim to the truth is the only claim to the truth. We talk past each other and ignore the unifying force that is right in front of us.
But neither of these transitions are given to us by the author of Mark, and I suspect the author wanted it that way. What happened on that walk? Was it something like one of these two narratives I whipped up, or something completely different? Of course, we don’t really know.
I don’t think I’m supposed to have a favorite Gospel, but I do. I love the Gospel of Mark. We are trained to believe the three synoptic Gospels are all basically the same, but Mark exudes a unique character to me. There is no silent night, no sweet baby Jesus. Heck, there is barely even an Easter. The end of the Gospel shows how the church had to painfully add two different endings to suit the needs of the time. The gospel according to Mark centers around Jesus as a cranky and frustrated thirty-something minister. Maybe that’s why I like it. Despite this crankiness, Jesus is still patient and loving, and still the character we can model ourselves after - however much we choose not to sometimes. In this story, Mark gives us an important lesson with language that isn’t spoken or written at all.
It’s a message about the things we miss, the things we gloss over in our strained efforts to be the best, to maintain our privilege, and to enjoy all the trappings of the old-world lifestyle that Jesus is trying to liberate us from.
A simple find-the-hidden object worksheet illustrates how easy it is for us to do this. The worksheet in your bulletin and discussed with our children this morning is far from complex, even compared to some tougher Highlights or Where’s Waldo versions of the same activity. It wasn’t hard to find the enormous paddle in the tree, but we may have missed the huge forest in the background. It wasn’t hard to pick out the banana in the water bottle, but can you tell me without looking the kind of dog that is in the picture? I bet we all found the ice cream cone, but did you notice who was eating and who wasn’t? You get the point.
The Disciples in this passage were so focused on who was going to be regarded as the greatest among them that they completely glossed over the greatest story our faith has ever told. Even after Jesus calls them out, they are still partially in the dark, not appreciating the magnitude of what would soon be before them.
It’s what we do too, isn’t it? I believe the author of Mark is calling us to be as critical about our own behaviors as he is of the Disciple’s behaviors.
We debate about immaterial issues and things, not remembering that we are but one part of the story. The real power of Christ’s love comes when all of our small parts our joined together.
We point out the sins and flaws of everyone around us, forgetting that we have all been assured of forgiveness.
We focus on earning more money, more Twitter followers and seeking the assurance that our position is right, losing site of the new covenant that has been promised to us all, a covenant in which these things are simply irrelevant to God.
We are quick to judge and fast to trounce on people with gleeful gotchas, simply glossing over the fact that we are all the recipients of irresistible grace. God loves us just as we are and there isn’t anything anyone … including ourselves … can do to stand in the way of that assurance.
We have problems. As individuals, as a community, as a church, and as a nation and we’d be wrong not to address them in a faithful and spirit-filled way. But we have something so much greater than our collective problems. We have Mark’s cranky Jesus, calling us back to task when we get a little too big for our britches. Mark’s Jesus remind us that it’s not about us or our individual parts, but rather the role we play in bringing the collective goal of the Christian faith into being - a world liberated from woe and hardship and placed into communities where we gracefully love one another. Think of what we can do when we read between the lines, paying attention to the signs of God’s love that are all around us, if only we take a moment to look at them. Amen.


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