“The Greatest” Mount Olive Lutheran Church Season of Pentecost Sunday Sermon September 22, 2024 – Mark 9:30–37

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday September 22nd 2024: Season of Pentecost / Mark 9:30–37 “The Greatest”     

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, 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.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

And they came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 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.” And He took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian friends when you go for a walk alone, you are alone with your thoughts; when you go for a walk with your sweetheart, you become focused on the them and the rest of the world floats away; when you go for a walk with a group of people, especially a larger group of people it’s different, it’s not the same, the group splits up into little groups and as you’re walking you might catch snippets of each group’s conversation but you won’t hear all the conversations.

In our Gospel Reading from St. Mark, we heard how Jesus had been privately teaching His disciples about what was about to happen to Him, that He would be, “delivered into the hands of men, and they [would] kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.” This wasn’t Jesus teaching them about what might happen or, what could happen but, rather what would absolutely happen. That Jesus would be handed over, killed and then on the third day be alive again. This lesson apparently got the disciples thinking about who was the greatest amongst them and this had been their conversation amongst themselves as they walked. But why?  

What got them going on this topic of who was the greatest in the kingdom of God? Maybe it was that they had all just been at the mountain side where Jesus took Peter, James and John up with Him to the mountain top and left the others behind (we remember that as The Transfiguration) [Were Peter, James, and John greater than the others?];[1] Maybe it was because Jesus kept pulling His twelve disciples out of the crowd of followers to give them special lessons [Were the twelve greater than the others?];[2] Maybe it was because John the Baptizer, who was great and well loved in the eyes of the people, had recently been arrested and executed for what he’d said to King Herod and his ‘wife’ Herodias and now Jesus was teaching that He Himself would also die at the hands of the authorities, [If a great man loved by the common man like John the Baptizer died at the hand of an executioner because of what he said  what does being great mean? Will the things Jesus teaches bring Jesus a death like John’s death? If that’s the case does it even pay to be the greatest? Who then is the greatest? Who is the greatest among them?].[3] 

Here’s a thought to ponder: ‘What use would it be to know who the greatest is? Why was this question their concern?’

The World rewards those that the World considered the greatest with all sorts of perks and money and fame, [Were they thinking of earthly rewards of some kind?]

The Devil tempts men to think of themselves as greater than they are, [Were they being tempted with pride of self?

Sin is all about putting your-self before others, [Were they being tempted into selfishness?]

Death can be the doorway into high praise and monuments [Were they thinking, ‘if Jesus dies and we die with Him, who among us will get the greatest glory in death?’] That too would be a temptation, and at that point will it matter?

Our Own Sinful Flesh goes along with these thoughts and temptations because everyone seeks ‘greatness’ in their own way, for good or for ill (mostly for ill), but what is greatness for the Christian? If you’re going to aim for greatness where do you as a Christian set your sights? Do you aim where the World wants you to aim; or the Devil or Sin or Death or your Sinful Flesh? The Christian aims for greatness where Jesus says to aim and when they find that they’ve been aiming elsewhere, aiming poorly, away from the target set out by our Lord they are called to repent and aim aright. Where does Jesus say to aim? Well they’re about to find out.

When they all arrived in Capernaum and were gathered in the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” Naturally He already knew what they were talking about but He asked them to provide a teachable moment. They were sheepish, suddenly quiet—the cat had their collective tongue—they were silent, they had nothing to say. Saint Mark tells us that Jesus’ disciples “did not understand [what Jesus had been] saying, and were afraid to ask Him [about it],” afraid to ask the meaning of what Jesus’ teaching about His betrayal, death and resurrection and what that meant. Jesus however did have something to say to them. He sat down and gathered up the twelve and said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” To illustrate this Jesus took a child and put the child in the midst of them, and taking the child in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

This illustration, this object lesson from Jesus should set off some alarm bells. God doesn’t limit Himself to being the God of the mighty or the powerful; God has no age limits, no weight limits, no height restriction, and no specific income bracket in mind. Children were the lowest of the low in the ancient world; they had the least rights and the least protection of anyone at that time. The Greeks who had unwanted children would leave them out to die of exposure, washing their hands of the whole matter by placing their trust in the ‘fates’ thinking that if their gods wished the child to live that their gods would find some way to make that happen. If you chained a dog up in your back yard before a long trip saying ‘if the gods wish this dog to live they’ll find some way to make that happen.’ How long do you think that dog would last?

Jesus says “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” Jesus was popular with the people while He was teaching the twelve these things, yet He knows that when they arrive at the destination to which they walk, when the palm branches and the coats are picked up from the road before the gates of Jerusalem after the Triumphal Entry, that within the week He would stand beaten and bloodied, mocked and derided before a crowd calling out “CRUCIFY HIM!” “CRUCIFY HIM!” “CRUCIFY HIM!” Suddenly He won’t be that popular anymore. His name was about to be, as they used to say, Mud![4] To receive someone as poorly regarded as a child in the name of one who had been publicly disgraced is to say a fixation on greatness should be the last thing on the minds of the Christian.  

Saint James writes in his epistle, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?”[5]

In our weakness it is easy to be impressed by appearances of ‘greatness’ much of our culture is about who is the greatest. Which team will win the cup! Who will win some reality TV show crown! Who will win the election! Our internal and sinful measuring tape measures everyone up and Jesus says no. Don’t do it, for He Himself will hang naked, beaten, bloodied and dead upon the cross of His crucifixion in a back woods portion of a Roman Empire that couldn’t care less about one more upstart publicly executed. Jesus put Himself in the lowest place in the eyes of the World, in the eyes of the people who measure greatness by the standards of the World; so much so that Saint Paul writes in Philippians 2 that “being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”[6]

Yet even before this death Jesus found other ways to teach humility and service, He found other ways to demonstrate true greatness, one example is from the night in which He was betrayed when Saint John in his Gospel writes how,

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For He knew who was to betray Him; that was why He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

When [Jesus] had washed their feet and put on His outer garments and resumed His place, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ... I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I Am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the one who sent Me.”[7]

John’s account of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet ends with the same sort of words, “whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the one who sent Me.”

The trap laid by the World, the Devil, Sin, Death or your Own Sinful Flesh when you argue with one another about who is the greatest is this: You drive each other apart and you exclude others from your midst, you are tempted to stop treating each other in the way God treats you. When we pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” we know that we want God to forgive us every time, we want Him to include us in that forgiveness - not exclude us from it; we trust that in the name of Jesus we are included, we are forgiven and it doesn’t matter if we are great by the Worlds standards or not, the love Jesus has for you is greater than the opinions of the World, or the temptations of the Devil, or the depths of your Sin, or the bounds of death, the love of Jesus is greater than the love you have for yourself. Dear ones, the love Jesus has for you is greater than your own sinful flesh, it’s greater than anything else in the whole wide world.

As we walk down the road together as fellow Christians, swallow your pride and treat everyone with respect, even respect beyond what they deserve. Or maybe beyond what you think they deserve. Treat them as great even when the World says they are not, even when you think they are not that great, because this is how God treats you, He loves you even when you don’t deserve it (which is all the time by the way). Saint John writes in his first epistle, “We love because [God] first loved us.”[8] Dear ones hold fast to these words and remember, Jesus didn’t say, ‘OK guys let’s settle this ... Peter you’re the greatest!’ He didn’t do that. He didn’t say ‘OK Peter, James and John, you’re the greatest, you three you’re the greatest, that settles it!’ He didn’t do that. He didn’t say ‘OK you twelve, you guys among all the followers, you’re the greatest!’ He didn’t do that. No Jesus teaches us to receive the weak and the poor, the sinner and the tax collector, the least and the lost, the broken and the hurting, in the same way as you’d receive anyone else whether they’re rich or famous or doing well, whatever the case may be, for they are all alike; Jesus teaches us to receive all people in His Name and that when we do this we receive Jesus, and whoever receives Jesus receives not only Jesus but God the Father who sent Him. And thanks be to God that once we’ve been received by Him, Christ Jesus doesn’t leave us as we came to Him but makes of us something better in our redemption. Amen.

Let us pray: Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.”

[1] Mark 9:2-13
[2] Mark 9:28-29
[3] Mark 6:14-29
[4] Mark 15:12-15
[5] James 2:1-5
[6] Philippians 2:8
[7] John 13:3-20
[8] 1 John 4:19