Mark 9:30-37

Pentecost 17, 19 September, 2021  | Sermon on Mark 9:30-37 | by Andrew Smith |

Mark 9:30-37 [English Standard Version, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]

³⁰ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The 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.” ³² But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

³³ And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. ³⁵ And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text for the sermon is the Gospel reading for today from Mark chapter 9.

The Gospel today is really two different ideas and themes.  The first is Jesus’ prediction about His suffering and death, what we call His Passion. The second is another issue entirely but still closely related to the first: “Who is greatest in the kingdom heaven?”  Remember what has just happened, Jesus had taken Peter, James and John up on the transfiguration mount and revealed His glory in their presence.  We didn’t read that story recently, we skip it here so that we can have the transfiguration on the last Sunday before we begin.  It can be a little confusing, I know.  So Peter, James, and John saw Jesus’ glory up on the mountain, while back down the mountain the rest of the disciples couldn’t cast the demon out of the man’s son.  That was last week’s lesson.  Given that set of circumstances, it’s not a wonder that a discussion arose among them as they were walking with Jesus about who was the greatest.  Remember how exasperated Jesus sounded last week?  “And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mk 9:19)  I’m thinking it was pretty evident it wasn’t the disciples who had failed to heal the boy.

That’s the setup for this week’s reading.  The first part is pretty straight forward.  As they went, Jesus taught the disciples quite plainly, “saying to them, ‘The 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.’ ³² But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him.” (Mk 9:31–32)  The New Testament scholar Tom Wright says that he doesn’t know whether Mark wants us to feel sorry for the disciples at this point or not but he sure does.  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’t understand what He was teaching them.  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.  They had really struggled to try to understand something beyond the surface level of what Jesus was saying.  And now Jesus is speaking plainly with no secrets about what will happen and they don’t understand that either.  “He will be handed over; he will be killed; he will rise again.”^[1]  Pretty clear stuff.

We should probably ask the broader question of ourselves: “When are we like the disciples here?”  When do we read or hear a Word from the Lord and it runs counter “to what we’ve always known” and so we dismiss it?  I think this happen to us more than we want to admit.  We’re quick to explain away Jesus’ commands like “turn the other cheek” and “sell your possessions and give everything to poor.”  We don’t see anyone else doing it and if we do, then they’re the odd one out, the anomaly, the outlier, the freak.  “Jesus wouldn’t want me to be a doormat,” we say.  Except that way of reading Scripture infects our way of hearing other passages as well.  Perhaps even this passage.  If Jesus is the Son of God, why did He have to suffer so?  “It’s tantamount to divine child abuse.  God must be a wicked Father to use His Son like this,” they say, and dream up other meanings of why Jesus went to the cross.  Maybe He didn’t 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’s rescue of the world.  And so now it’s important to ask ourselves the narrower question, “When are we like the disciples and understand nothing of what it means that Jesus willingly went to His death for us, for our sins?”  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?  In 1 Corinthians, Paul makes it clear that he preached nothing but the word of the cross to them.  He preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  If the word of the cross is so clearly Paul’s sole mission, if preaching the word of the cross is so clearly what defines apostolic preaching, if Jesus’ 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?  It’s because we’re forgetful, ungrateful sinners focused more on what we think we need than what we truly need.  And this is the link to the next bit of the reading today.

“If we are thinking that by following Jesus we will enhance our own prestige, our sense of self-worth… or even our bank balance, then we’re very unlikely to be able to hear what God is actually saying.” (Wright, 123-24).  Think about how many times you’ve heard about getting to church and getting your life straightened out, as if church was merely a spiritual support group.  Think about the times you’ve thought about how your faith made you feel stronger and it’s 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.  Think about how many times you’ve 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.  No.  Yes, Jesus is king, but the disciples are not his courtiers waiting to inherit their great earthly estates.  Jesus becomes king by being betrayed, and brutally killed and then, and only after then, will He will rise again.  Jesus is going to spend the next few chapters trying to show them they’re wrong.  He starts by picking out a toddler from the crowd and saying, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”  Jesus is not being cute.  Throughout the ancient world, children were not highly thought of; they held no special prestige, nobody thought them innocent.  Jesus’ point was that the disciples won’t gain any political standing or social status by being His followers.  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’t fit in.

Jesus walks to the cross of His death clearly and resolutely.  He is not taken by surprise when the temple guards come to arrest Him.  He goes out to meet them.  He willingly submits the strong arm of the Lord to be bound by the hands of those who have no power over God.  He submits to the judgment of those over whom He is supreme judge.  He hands over the authority to take His life from Him to those with no true authority.  He created even the hands that grasped the hammer and forged the nails that were drive through His hands.  As He breathes His last, His final Word is “It is finished.” For Him, death was not a consequence, but rather He chose it.  In His death, He chooses us so that we might not be given over to the death that is our just consequence.[2]

Are you certain that you understand this?  These are the Lord’s words, not mine.  They are light and life for all who believe.  Amen.

Let us pray.  “Lord, forgive us for our [struggles] for greatness. Remind us that You alone are great, for You have served the least among us. Amen.”^[3]

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

—

The Rev. Andrew Smith

Heavenly Host Lutheran Church

Cookeville, Tennessee, USA

E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com

^[1] Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 122.

[2] Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 13.6, as reprinted in A Year with the Church Fathers, 90.

^[3] Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1677.