First Reading:
12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or
a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your
good life that your works are done with gentleness born of
wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition
in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the
truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is
earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy
and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of
every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits,
without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest
of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do
they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war
within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you
commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you
engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not
ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 7Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Second Reading:
30They went on from there 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, 37Whoever welcomes one such child in
my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the
one who sent me.
As I prayed with the gospel lesson this week, I was struck by the fact that Jesus and the disciples spent all day walking along the same road, but in some ways they were on very different paths… it reminded me of a poem that many of you have heard… by Robert Frost …
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For the first 8 chapters of Mark's gospel, Jesus' ministry centered in Galilee. He is portrayed as healer, a teacher and a prophet. Earlier in the ninth chapter, he began to walk the path to Jerusalem where he's eventually going to be executed. And we pick up today's scripture passage with Jesus journeying through Galilee on the way from Philippi in the far north to Jerusalem which is further south.
There are three distinct scenes in the gospel lesson today.
The first scene happens on the way… the disciples were walking along the same road as Jesus. Jesus said to them that he would be betrayed into human hands, that he would be killed and raised again. The disciples remained silent because they didn't understand and they were afraid to ask. Though it's only inferred by context, and not reported outright, it was also on the way, while walking on the same road that the disciples argued about who was the greatest.
The second scene happens when they arrived at Capernaum, Jesus asked the disciples what they had argued about on the way and the only thing we're told about their response is that again they remained silent, as much as we would like to have it… we aren't given a window into their motives for silence or the emotions that accompanied that silence.
In the third scene Jesus sat down to teach his disciples and he told them that whoever would be first must be last and the servant of all. He brought a child into their midst and told them that welcoming a child in his name welcomes him and whoever welcomes him welcomes the God who sent him.
There are plenty of lessons and images which could be drawn from the gospel passage alone, but the real beauty of today's lectionary texts happens when we bring the gospel lesson together with the first reading, from the letter of James. You see James is talking about conflicts which arise from internal dynamics… there's a dialogue and a struggle that goes on in each of us. In the first verse of the fourth chapter James writes, The conflicts and disputes among you… don't they come from the cravings that are at war within you?
And if we give it even a little bit of thought, don't we all know the cravings that are at war within us… How do we decide when two good motives are at odds inside of us… Of course we want to volunteer to help people, and make a difference in our community, but there's rarely enough time or energy to make it happen because we're busy taking care of other things that need to be done. Of course we want to do what is best for the environment but we also want to be good stewards of our financial resources and do what's best for our pocketbooks, our future and our kid's future… There's a constant decision making process that goes on within us. In little things and big things and everything in-between, we show our priorities, our convictions and our commitments by the decisions we make based on what' s important to us. When we go to the grocery store we choose organic or non-organic food, we choose paper, plastic, or to bring our own bags… when it's time to buy a car we choose a Hummer or a Prius or something else based on we can afford… when a baby's on the way we choose cloth diapers or disposable. And yes, I do realize that in the present economic situation the choices we're more often faced with are on other side of the spectrum… When there's not enough money to do everything that we want to… we decide what's going to give, because something has to… I can't tell you how many times I've heard that phrase in conversations with people here and in other places in the community… something's got to give. And so, over and over we're faced with a choice. There are certainly upsides and downsides to each side of every choice and if we were to attempt to weigh all of the considerations we would be frozen, unable to do anything… and realistically we still wouldn't address everything… so we make decisions, we have to make based on what we know and what' s important to us. We evaluate the best we can and then we pick a path to travel.
In our gospel passage the disciples walked along the same road as Jesus did, but they were definitely on a different path. When Jesus looked as far as he could see down the path he was on, he knew that the path led to his death and he trusted that it led to his resurrection as well. When the disciples looked down their path as far as they could see, it was because they were looking for ways to enhance their own stature and standing. Now, of course, there's debate among scholars. Some say the disciple's discussion of greatness was about who would take over for Jesus as the leader of their band of disciples if and when he actually was killed like he was saying he would be. Others scholars say that the argument about greatness was about life after death and that God's eternal kingdom is where they sought a place of honor. (That seems to be how the gospel of Matthew interpreted this passage… in Matthew's gospel the parallel story makes reference to the greatest in the kingdom of heaven rather than simply the greatest.) But regardless of the kind of greatness, the point is; it was their own benefit and their own status the disciples sought, which was definitely a different path than the one Jesus was walking.
With the distances that are involved in this story, the journey of these seven verses would have taken at least a long day to walk… None of the disciple's dialogue is reported and yet twice we're told of their silence. The first time was after Jesus predicted his death. The text tells us that the disciples didn't understand and that they were afraid to ask. It could be that the disciples remembered that Jesus rebuking Peter for misunderstanding and questioning when he predicted his death the first time. But it also could have been something more subtle… they just might have caught a glimpse of the path Jesus was on and that was what scared them. They didn't ask because they didn't want to understand more. They preferred not to look down the path that led to the cross, not to think about it and certainly not to walk toward it. So while Jesus spoke of betrayal and death, they rested in a happier subject, perhaps one closer to their hearts: the subject of their own greatness. Sometime after the awkwardness of Jesus' prediction faded, the disciples' argument about greatness broke out. Apparently Jesus didn't take part in the argument and the disciples thought he hadn't even heard it, because the second time the disciple's silence is reported in the text was when Jesus asked them about their argument. They had been caught. What had been a hidden discussion was now in the open. And their silence suggests that the disciples knew the inappropriateness of their conversation. We can't know for sure what was going on in their minds and hearts… the text simply doesn't tell us… some people say it was embarrassment or shame. Others say it was conviction because they knew that greatness wasn't a primary concern in the life and the ministry of Jesus… But it seems to me it could be that they were silent because they were at odds within themselves. Of course they wanted to follow Jesus, but they also wanted to follow the cultural norms that sought power and status and wealth and honor.
I imagine it was hard for the disciples then and I know it's hard for us now to follow the path of Christ when everything in the dominant culture says to follow the path that leads to your own greatness in whatever form that may take. So the disciples were silent and Jesus took the opportunity to teach them. He didn't rebuke them. He didn't even try to rid them of the idea of greatness. Instead, he reclaimed what greatness is and invited the disciples to a reformed vision. Whoever wants to be first must be last and the servant of all. If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, here's how to do it. Serve everyone. It's as simple as that.
The people around Jesus don't need to jockey for position. When Christ's followers take on an attitude of greatness through serving, immediately there's room for everyone. Jesus used the example of the child with no standing and no legal rights but by extension we could put in any marginalized group… the homeless, the disabled, the elderly, the uneducated, the mentally ill… anyone who can't possibly repay whatever kindness is offered. It's a choice that will inevitably put us at odds within ourselves, but Caring for people who are vulnerable is a big part of what service is about. And when Jesus picked the child up in his arms and said to the disciples when you welcome this one, you welcome me and when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me; he was inviting the disciples to a new path. It's the path of being united with Christ partnering in his mission to serve all people. It's always the path less travelled… and it's also the one that makes all the difference. Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on September 20, 2009.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
