Second Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year B September 22, 2024
Greatest Of All Time (Mark 9:30-37)
In today’s passage, Jesus is once again teaching the disciples about what is going to happen—"I will be turned over to human hands, betrayed, killed, and after three days I will rise”
But the disciples don’t understand him and instead of asking him questions to help them understand, they argue amongst themselves over who is the greatest…
What’s with that? It’s almost like they dismissingly say,
“Oh, you’re going to die, really, well we all die at some point”
They’re totally dismissive of Jesus’ teaching as they argue about who is the greatest disciple.
Are you surprised or amazed by their attitude?
They don’t ask the right question, they don’t focus on the right thing, they turn from what Jesus is teaching about himself as the Son of God and instead argue about something innately human- Who is the greatest among us?
Why?
Why don’t the disciples ask Jesus about his upcoming death?
Why don’t they ask him are you really the Son of God? for you see, in the passages that our lectionary skips,
Jesus has been transfigured, God has claimed him as his beloved Son in the presence of Peter James and John…
Fear is going to kill the disciples because they are too afraid to ask the hard questions,
they’re too afraid to really understand who Jesus is and what it means to be God’s Messiah.
They are unable to adjust their ideas of a “white knight Messiah” riding to the rescue of Jerusalem and the Jews from the Romans. They don’t understand when Jesus tells them it is through losing his life that He, God’s chosen Messiah will win.
Or that we as his followers will also defeat death by dying.
The disciples don’t understand because no one ever claims winning by losing…no leader wins by losing or dying!
the disciples are terrified by the overwhelming fear of what Jesus is really saying and so they don’t ask questions –fearing Jesus’ response
I’m reminded of the 1971 Broadway Musical—Jesus Christ Superstar,
It’s a little later in the story Jesus has entered Jerusalem, he is on trial before Pilate
Listen to Simon Zealotes version of glory:
-over 50 thousand people are screaming love for Jesus.
-everyone is willing to do what Jesus asks
-Jesus needs to continue to incite the crowd—devotion to Jesus along with their hatred of Rome
-Jesus will be raised Jesus to a greater power,
-winning a home and freedom for the Jews-
- Jesus will be king- he will have power and the glory for ever and ever and ever
In other words, Jesus won’t have to die…and he will be king!
The crowds shout:
Christ, we love you, we waved at you, we believe in you and God—tell us we’re saved
Touch me Jesus, see me
I am on your side, Jesus
Then Jesus’ reply—None of you- understand what power or glory is, no one understands at all.
Jesus says they don’t know what he knows because they close their eyes to the truth
Jesus says that while we live our troubles are many and overwhelm us—but we only have to die to conquer death
And there it is, the elephant in the room. The stumbling block of faith…
We just can’t understand how by losing his life, Jesus defeats the power of death and evil,
We don’t understand how he rises from the dead to new life-
a life where the power and glory of God is visible to all
We can’t understand how you win by losing, for in our human wisdom, death is the end, it’s not a beginning.
But to God, death is winning because even though God gives up Jesus and allows him to be turned over to human hands, Jesus goes willingly,
and even though Jesus s killed in the most horrific, cruel way, he doesn’t stay dead.
Jesus defeats death- rising to new life three days after he died.
today, we have heard Jesus’ story- his birth, his ministry, his betrayal, his death and his resurrection many times- yet we still don’t understand how we win by dying.
We still don’t realize that in losing our life we defeat death and are reborn with new life, everlasting life.
Why?
Don’t we trust Jesus and his teachings?
Don’t we believe that Jesus has defeated death, not just for himself but for all who believe
Don’t we know that in death we receive new life, eternal life, a life where we are never separated from God, a life where we no longer cry?
Jesus Christ Superstar isn’t scripture, but it’s based on scripture written in modern words and music to help us understand what was happening to Jesus, what his followers thought and felt, and understood.
It gives us a rare glimpse into their fear and their longing to be free
Jesus’ followers in Jesus Christ superstar wanted him to be the greatest Messiah the world has ever known—but their idea of greatness was a human idea of power and glory, of adoring crowds, of violence
The disciples argue over who is the greatest because they are too afraid to ask Jesus what his teaching means
If Jesus dies for his teaching, and if he is the Son of God, will they, Jesus’ disciples and followers also die for believing in him?
Will we?
The easier way is to debate over who is greater… diminishing the one who is least, the one without a voice
We argue over who is the greatest mother, father, sister, brother, teacher, preacher, lawyer, boss…and the list goes on and on
We just can’t believe that the greatest person is the one who empties himself of all that he is in order to serve others
We can’t believe that the “greatest” lives to serve others, that in losing who we are we gain everything
In our epistle lesson, James asks “who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom”
The wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
But what does this look like?
It was my first Christmas Eve Service as an ordained minister. The congregation was small and rural. Middle class and older- no diversity. Just before the service started a man and his mother, and a young child entered. The ushers didn’t know what to do…he clearly was not one of us and he may have been drinking. I encouraged them to welcome them. The service started and it was obvious that the little family didn’t know much about worshipping, so one of our members showed him the hymnal and how to read the bulletin. Another member encouraged the group to come forward and receive holy communion. And yet another member helped them with the hymns. At the end of the service as I was talking to them, one of the members found some candy canes and gave them to the child…his eyes grew wide, as he looked to his grandmother for permission to accept them.
This was God in our midst, this was emptying ourselves to serve others,
this was wisdom come down from above pure and gentle,
this was a blessing for our faith community and to the threesome.
NO ONE checked their credentials at the door, or made them feel uncomfortable or unwanted,
Everyone welcomed 3 people who were different from us but who were seeking God…just like us
That night my little congregation was filled with the wisdom of God, they were filled with love
Jesus teaches wisdom born of gentleness peace, mercy, compassion and love.
Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, God’s true Messiah.
Jesus is the Greatest Of All Time!
Jesus emptied himself of his glory and power as God and came to us, lived with us, taught us, served us loved us, and died for us.
Jesus rose from the dead so that we could understand true power and glory, so that we could see and experience winning through losing,
being great through being the least. Amen
