They Didn't Get It

Here are some thoughts on this coming Sunday's gospel text. This was sent electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Let me know what your thoughts are. 

Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

30[Jesus and the disciples went on] and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it;31for 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.” 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

  33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36Then 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.”

You’ve got to be kidding me! Will the disciples never get it? Right after Jesus has taught his followers for the second time that he will be crucified and risen, they are concerned about who is the greatest. Can we say insensitive to what their friend and Lord will be experiencing?

Jesus teaches about upside down leadership, servant leadership. When we see Jesus’ example of a child, we think of cute, sweet, wonderful children that capture our hearts and that we will go to the moon and back for. But that was not the case in first century Palestine. Children were barely considered human. 

If we want to be great in God’s kingdom, we need to learn to be the servant of the least, the lowest, the lost, those on the margins of our society. Who might that be today? Is it the children who have been separated from their families? Is it the poor who seem to receive a different standard of justice than the rich? Who might it be for you?

Only when we welcome these do we welcome Jesus. Do we get it?

Let us pray. Lord, open our eyes, our minds and our hearts to all that we may welcome in your name. Amen. 

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