Mark 9:30-37<\/em><\/strong> [English Standard Version, \u00a9 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]<\/em><\/p>\n 30\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, \u201cThe Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.\u201d 32\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.<\/p>\n 33\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, \u201cWhat were you discussing on the way?\u201d 34\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, \u201cIf anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.\u201d 36\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u201cWhoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n The text for the sermon is the Gospel reading for today from Mark chapter 9.<\/p>\n The Gospel today is really two different ideas and themes.\u00a0 The first is Jesus\u2019 prediction about His suffering and death, what we call His Passion. The second is another issue entirely but still closely related to the first: \u201cWho is greatest in the kingdom heaven?\u201d\u00a0 Remember what has just happened, Jesus had taken Peter, James and John up on the transfiguration mount and revealed His glory in their presence.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t read that story recently, we skip it here so that we can have the transfiguration on the last Sunday before we begin.\u00a0 It can be a little confusing, I know.\u00a0 So Peter, James, and John saw Jesus\u2019 glory up on the mountain, while back down the mountain the rest of the disciples couldn\u2019t cast the demon out of the man\u2019s son.\u00a0 That was last week\u2019s lesson.\u00a0 Given that set of circumstances, it\u2019s not a wonder that a discussion arose among them as they were walking with Jesus about who was the greatest.\u00a0 Remember how exasperated Jesus sounded last week?\u00a0 \u201cAnd he answered them, \u201cO faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.\u201d (Mk 9:19)\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking it was pretty evident it wasn\u2019t the disciples who had failed to heal the boy.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the setup for this week\u2019s reading.\u00a0 The first part is pretty straight forward.\u00a0 As they went, Jesus taught the disciples quite plainly, \u201csaying to them, \u2018The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.\u2019 32<\/sup>\u00a0But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him.\u201d (Mk 9:31\u201332)\u00a0 The New Testament scholar Tom Wright says that he doesn\u2019t know whether Mark wants us to feel sorry for the disciples at this point or not but he sure does.\u00a0 Jesus had been teaching using some parables that were not easy to understand and because they were so different than what they had learned to believe up to this point, they really didn\u2019t understand what He was teaching them.\u00a0 When Jesus has told them to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, they thought He was making a comment about them forgetting to pack the bread.\u00a0 They had really struggled to try to understand something beyond the surface level of what Jesus was saying.\u00a0 And now Jesus is speaking plainly with no secrets about what will happen and they don\u2019t understand that either.\u00a0 \u201cHe will be handed over; he will be killed; he will rise again.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Pretty clear stuff.<\/p>\n We should probably ask the broader question of ourselves: \u201cWhen are we like the disciples here?\u201d\u00a0 When do we read or hear a Word from the Lord and it runs counter \u201cto what we\u2019ve always known\u201d and so we dismiss it?\u00a0 I think this happen to us more than we want to admit.\u00a0 We\u2019re quick to explain away Jesus\u2019 commands like \u201cturn the other cheek\u201d and \u201csell your possessions and give everything to poor.\u201d\u00a0 We don\u2019t see anyone else doing it and if we do, then they\u2019re the odd one out, the anomaly, the outlier, the freak.\u00a0 \u201cJesus wouldn\u2019t want me to be a doormat,\u201d we say.\u00a0 Except that way of reading Scripture infects our way of hearing other passages as well.\u00a0 Perhaps even this passage.\u00a0 If Jesus is the Son of God, why did He have to suffer so?\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s tantamount to divine child abuse.\u00a0 God must be a wicked Father to use His Son like this,\u201d they say, and dream up other meanings of why Jesus went to the cross.\u00a0 Maybe He didn\u2019t really know what was going to happen, they speculate, ignoring how this destroys not only the divinity of Christ but the foreknowledge of Son of God to participate in the plan of God\u2019s rescue of the world.\u00a0 And so now it\u2019s important to ask ourselves the narrower question, \u201cWhen are we like the disciples and understand nothing of what it means that Jesus willingly went to His death for us, for our sins?\u201d\u00a0 When do we not understand that Sunday, in fact every day, is about the new life we have in Christ on account of His death in our place?\u00a0 In 1 Corinthians, Paul makes it clear that he preached nothing but the word of the cross to them.\u00a0 He preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\u00a0 If the word of the cross is so clearly Paul\u2019s sole mission, if preaching the word of the cross is so clearly what defines apostolic preaching, if Jesus\u2019 cross, death and resurrection are so clearly the most important thing in the church, why do we pass over them, look past them, expect something better and more practical and, quite frankly, a little less gloomy?\u00a0 It\u2019s because we\u2019re forgetful, ungrateful sinners focused more on what we think we need than what we truly need.\u00a0 And this is the link to the next bit of the reading today.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are thinking that by following Jesus we will enhance our own prestige, our sense of self-worth\u2026 or even our bank balance, then we\u2019re very unlikely to be able to hear what God is actually saying.\u201d (Wright, 123-24).\u00a0 Think about how many times you\u2019ve heard about getting to church and getting your life straightened out, as if church was merely a spiritual support group.\u00a0 Think about the times you\u2019ve thought about how your faith made you feel stronger and it\u2019s a good thing you have a strong sense of belief, as if the Gospel was given just so that you could feel good about yourself.\u00a0 Think about how many times you\u2019ve heard that giving was a way to secure more blessings from God, as if the Gospel was given to give you access to great material wealth.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Yes, Jesus is king, but the disciples are not his courtiers waiting to inherit their great earthly estates.\u00a0 Jesus becomes king by being betrayed, and brutally killed and then, and only after then, will He will rise again.\u00a0 Jesus is going to spend the next few chapters trying to show them they\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 He starts by picking out a toddler from the crowd and saying, \u201cWhoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus is not being cute.\u00a0 Throughout the ancient world, children were not highly thought of; they held no special prestige, nobody thought them innocent.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 point was that the disciples won\u2019t gain any political standing or social status by being His followers.\u00a0 Too many times, Christians believe that being close to Jesus, even working full time for Him, made them somehow more special, when in fact, the greatest among them is the anomaly, the outlier, the one who doesn\u2019t fit in.<\/p>\n Jesus walks to the cross of His death clearly and resolutely.\u00a0 He is not taken by surprise when the temple guards come to arrest Him.\u00a0 He goes out to meet them.\u00a0 He willingly submits the strong arm of the Lord to be bound by the hands of those who have no power over God.\u00a0 He submits to the judgment of those over whom He is supreme judge.\u00a0 He hands over the authority to take His life from Him to those with no true authority.\u00a0 He created even the hands that grasped the hammer and forged the nails that were drive through His hands.\u00a0 As He breathes His last, His final Word is \u201cIt is finished.\u201d For Him, death was not a consequence, but rather He chose it.\u00a0 In His death, He chooses us so that we might not be given over to the death that is our just consequence.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Are you certain that you understand this?\u00a0 These are the Lord\u2019s words, not mine.\u00a0 They are light and life for all who believe.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let us pray.\u00a0 \u201cLord, forgive us for our [struggles] for greatness. Remind us that You alone are great, for You have served the least among us. Amen.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Andrew Smith<\/p>\n Heavenly Host Lutheran Church<\/p>\n Cookeville, Tennessee, USA<\/p>\n E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com<\/p>\n [1]<\/sup><\/a> Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone<\/em> (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 122.<\/p>\n