Pentecost 16

The Rev. Martha Frances

Year B, Pentecost 16, Proper 20

20 September 2009 

Text:  Mark 9: 30-37

Other Readings: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

 

      Jesus & his disciples continue the journey toward Jerusalem that we talked about last week.  Jesus doesn’t waste time on the road, for he teaches those who will carry on his ministry as they walk along.  Last Sunday they were in Gentile territory, but this week they are in his home neighborhood & indeed headed toward Capernaum, his adult home.  Perhaps he decides the best place to hunker down for some concentrated training of the disciples is in the privacy of his own home. 

      As they travel along the road, Jesus once again predicts his own passion—his death & resurrection—to his closest companions.  He must feel a sense of urgency as he tells them that the Son of Man—he himself—will be betrayed to humans who will kill him but then he will rise again.   I would imagine that Jesus is trying to say, “Listen up!  I’m not going to be around much longer, & I have a lot to tell you before I go.  Let’s not waste a minute of time.”

      Throughout the gospel of Mark, we see that the disciples are incredibly dense & miss the points Jesus makes for them.  But here, I wonder if they aren’t sort of figuring out what he’s telling him about his death at least.  Why do I say that?  When they finally get to his house & he asks them what they were arguing about on the way, they are embarrassed to tell him.  They’ve been arguing about who is greatest.  You’d think they would be in deep conversation about how to save Jesus from his seemingly inevitable death.  But no, they’re avoiding the whole subject altogether.  I think we call this avoidance “denial.”  If we deny it, it will surely go away.  Right? 

      You would think that by now Jesus would be pretty frustrated with the disciples’ denseness & avoidance, but instead, he accepts their argument as a teaching moment.  By now he’s pretty clear.  He knows the disciples’ expectations of what kind of Messiah he is supposed to be don’t fit reality, so he tells them that if they want to rank first, they’ll have to learn how to be servants.  “What good is that kind of Messiah?”  they might say.  “We need a military leader who will send these Romans back where they came from & straighten out the government that’s left so we can get on with our lives as the chosen people of God.”  Jesus knows he’s got to do something drastic to help them understand what it means to be a servant.

      His response to them is amazing, & we 21^st Century Americans don’t really get it, at least not at first.  He reaches over & scoops up a child in his arms & embraces him or her.  This isn’t an unusual action in our child-centered society.  Yesterday at a birthday party, the toddler was the life of the party, being passed from one adult to another, all of whom wanted to entertain her.

      But in Jesus’ time, children were really non-persons until they were old enough to help the family economically.  Children were socially invisible & treated like servants.  This child shouldn’t even have been in the public room with the men but should have been back in the kitchen with the women & other children. 

      Jesus embraces this child whom society would consider last, a no-count.  Jesus acts out how those whom society discounts should be treated.  Jesus pays special attention to a person who matters no more in his society than the poor & the homeless do in ours.  Furthermore, he says a couple of incredible things to these disciples.  He tells them that they should treat the children & other disenfranchised people in society the same way.  It’s their job to treat people that others try to ignore or avoid as if they were the most important people around. 

      Jesus’ care for this child reminds me of Clara at a cafe with her mother & aunt.  When their waiter asked Clara what she wanted for lunch, her mother answered for her.  Patiently, the waiter turned again to Clara & asked her what she wanted to eat.  This time, her aunt tried to order for Clara.  When the waiter addressed Clara the 3^rd time, Clara turned to her mother & aunt & said, “Hey, this man thinks I’m a real person!”  Sometimes, our treatment of children is not so different from Jesus’ time.

      Jesus doesn’t just tell us that we need to treat children like real people, but that we are to welcome the little ones.  We’re to be hospitable to those who are most vulnerable.  You see, Jesus was using a little child to represent all those who are discounted in society whether they be young or foreign or poor or ragged, or if they speak a different language or have strange customs.  We’re to welcome them, to treat them as honored guests, not to try to get rid of them as quickly as possible.  We have a special responsibility to those who can’t care for themselves. 

      Our current controversy concerning health care in this country calls us to consider those who cannot care for themselves.  There seems to be little argument about the need for reform of some kind.  How that reform is configured & who must pay for it as well as how much it will cost has stirred people in our nation to a fever pitch.  In a democracy, citizens have a responsibility to let our elected officials know our positions & to influence our representatives’ votes.  My prayer is that we can express our heart-felt opinions with the courtesy which recognizes those officials & our fellow citizens as God’s beloved whom God loves as much as God loves us.  Criteria for Christians must include recognition that we are our brothers’ & sisters’ keepers & that none of us is an island but our lives are intertwined with each other.  As we make our considered opinions known to our legislators, may we always remember that our baptismal vows include promises to seek & serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, & that our striving for justice & peace among all people is accomplished only when we respect the dignity of every human being.

      In Jesus’ object lesson of treating the little child like he or she matters in the world, Jesus teaches his disciples—& us—how we are to behave toward others, even those whom the world tries to ignore.  Jesus begins his discipleship training by helping the disciples see how important we all are & how respectfully we must treat one another, especially the most vulnerable of our society.

      As we look back at the gospel reading for today, we see that Jesus goes further than simply telling us those who welcome a little child are welcoming Jesus himself, but also, our kindness & caring toward the least of our brothers & sisters is actually welcoming God.  Our care for others really is representative of our love of God.  Each of us can fulfill both of the great commandments for, when we show love to our neighbors, we truly are loving God with our heart & mind & strength.  May we remember that God’s unconditional love includes all people, not just those society deems worthy.  Amen.