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The Rev. Dr. Dennis E. Morey, Pastor
Scripture: Mark 9:30-37
Me First
Have you ever had one of those weeks when there were extra pressures and extra jobs to do, too little time off, not enough time to sleep, you have just grabbed a bite when you can, one thing after another happens, people need you, people call you on the phone, trouble erupts here and there, and it seems that most people are somehow in a different line of thought, on a different wavelength?
That was what was happening to Jesus in today’s scripture. I don’t think any of us can understand just how much work there was for Jesus to do. The scripture never tells us of Jesus ever refusing to talk to someone who had a question, or to heal someone who was sick. He had time for children, he cast out evil spirits, he took time to talk to women, he was always generous with those who had a question, and he was in the midst of all that trying to teach the disciples every moment of every day.
The Passover was approaching. Jesus knew the time was coming when he would be gone, his ministry finished, his death a historical fact. He needed some time to rest, he needed some time to get with the disciples and prepare them for what was coming.
He and the disciples had been on the road, traveling from village to village. He circled through Galilee and then back to the home base of Capernaum.
On the road, the disciples were seriously discussing something. Some of the walking paths were so narrow that just two people could walk side by side. It was difficult to hear the conversations behind or ahead of those who traveled with you on the road.
Jesus had been trying to tell them about his coming death and resurrection, but they seemed preoccupied with their own conversation.
When they got inside, Jesus asked them what they were talking about so intently as they traveled along. They did not want to say, because while they were walking along, they were speculating who deserved to be first in the new Kingdom.
We all like being waited on, don’t we? We go to a restaurant and someone comes to take our order. They bring back exactly what we have ordered the way we like to eat it and they were quick about it, and polite, making us feel that they are so privileged to get our table. The waiter is so grateful for the opportunity to make our life perfect. Then when we have finished making a total mess of the table and surroundings, they return with our check and we are absolutely surprised and delighted at the low, low price. It was such a wonderful experience we are moved to leave a whole dollar tip to the one who made all that possible. Surely this must be what heaven is like.
When children play a game, everyone seems always to want to be first. No one wants to take turns, and certainly no one is eager to be last.
Jesus said, “Listen up. Everybody, listen to this important lesson. Come here, Lily,” and he sat a little child on his knee and said, “You want to know who is the greatest in my Kingdom? The one among you who will honestly work at being the servant of all the others will be the one who makes my Kingdom move forward fastest, and will be considered the most important.
“The one who will pay attention to and look after, mentor and protect even one of these little ones is the one who is paying attention to my Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.”
In my work in the Presbytery, so often we have members of congregations, pastors, and elders who treat the church as if it is their personal kingdom.
It is all about “Me first. You must consider what I want or I will just quit and then where you will you be? Everyone knows if I quit, 22 members of my family quit, and you won’t be able to make the budget.”
Again and again, people who are building their personal kingdom use the amount they give to the church budget as clout in getting their way. “If you don’t fire that preacher, you will be sorry. Get rid of the preacher, or I leave.”
“If you fire the preacher, you won’t have a ghost of a chance to get another. You better keep the preacher and just see what happens.”
“I want to be on the worship committee so I can pick out some decent hymns. Why can’t we just sing the three hymns we know every Sunday?”
“I think the bathrooms should be lavender and orange. I have the paint at home. I will be glad to donate it.… Do I get a tax deduction for that?”
“My kids don’t like Sunday School, so I am not going to give this year. Make it more fun so they want to come and then I will reconsider.”
These days the church is being forced to see itself as a public service that must cater to the wants of its consumers.
“I buy groceries where I can get them cheapest. I buy shoes where there are sales and bargains. I wait to buy a car until I can get the best deal and the highest trade-in. I chose the college whose diploma would look best on my résumé, and a college major I thought would produce the best paying job. I bought my house when real estate was a good investment.”
As consumers we have become wise in shopping for a bargain. It only follows that I would look for a church that will best suit my needs, where I can be considered important, where they sing my kind of hymns, do my kind of mission projects, and, if and when I choose to get involved, let me run my program my way.
Jesus took a child and sat the child before his followers. If he were here today he’d get a hold of Holden Braundmeier and sit him in front of us and he would say, “You want to be a part of my Kingdom, you want to be great in my Kingdom? You want your voice heard and your influence felt? That is going to happen only if you will understand that I have freed you from the stress of having to be number one in your own eyes.
“The way to be great in my Kingdom is to work to achieve the status of servant. The one who is willing to change the diapers and wipe the runny noses is the one who is accomplishing greatness in my Kingdom. Whoever makes a little child feel welcomed and cared for in my Kingdom is the one who welcomes me. Those who welcome me welcome the God who sent me.”
We all know the world is in a terrible place and things are going downhill. We all know that we as individuals and as a nation need to cry out to God for help. Our way of life, the blessings we have known, and the freedoms we have enjoyed are slowly and silently and sometimes not so silently eroding. Many of them are soon to be only history.
We know our only hope is for God to intervene, but that can’t happen unless we accept God’s help. That can’t happen unless we understand that the Kingdom God is building is not our personal paradise where we are the King, where decisions are made for our benefit only, where we get waited on and cared for and it is a real bargain.
This is not about consumerism, about buying shoes where you like to buy shoes and finding the washcloths that are the best bargain. This is about willingly becoming the servant God has designed you to be. This is about our willingly being a part of the church and taking the job of servant.
Instead of looking for a church that can best serve our needs we look to become the church that best serves the Kingdom of God.
How are we going to turn this around? How are we going to ever be able to become the person, the family, the community, the church, the nation, God has designed us to be?
The washing machine may wish it could be the television, but it will never be. It was not created to be the television. It was created to be the washing machine.
You may wish you were the king of the World, or the one in command, but that will never be. You and I were not designed to be in some high position of power and authority. We were designed to participate with God in building God’s Kingdom, calling women and men, boys and girls to place their faith in Jesus Christ.
We can only do that if we will become the most valued workers in that Kingdom, the servants of all.
Why isn’t God’s Kingdom moving forward faster? Why isn’t good winning over evil faster? Too many who call themselves Christ followers haven’t answered Christ’s call to servanthood.
If we love our children and grandchildren and want a better world for them, then we have to understand it is only going to happen when we sign up for servanthood and forget about ME FIRST.
Amen.
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Mark 9:30-37 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (From the
New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible) |
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