Sermon for Sunday 20th September, 2009
Crows Nest Lutheran parish
W.Logan
Mark 9:30-37
(30) They went on from there and passed
through
(33)
And they came to
(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."
Prayer:
Lord God, please send Your Holy Spirit to
open our hearts and minds to Your Word and what You want to say to us this
morning. Amen.
Have you ever been to a dinner where the children had the best seats? Where the children were constantly paid attention to, while the adults were mostly ignored? Where the guest speaker was Anthony from the Wiggles, not Max Walker or former prime minister John Howard? Where the entertainment was aimed at the children? And it wasn’t a special children’s event, but the regular fellowship meal of the congregation?!
That’s upside down, we might say. That’s not the way to do things. Adults are more important than children. ‘Children are best seen and not heard.’ The old saying goes. We will tolerate them, but keep them at the back or to the side. Or if they can’t stay quiet, then we might prefer their parents to keep them away from our church services or fellowship functions so they’re not a nuisance. Is that how we think? I hope not.
Hear verses 36 and 37 of our text: “Jesus 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."
Do these words from Jesus mean we have to make everything centre around children? Maybe not, but Jesus asks us this question: who or what is most important to you? Who do you make time for? Who is a great person, in your eyes?
The disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Which of them should have the most important position. They wanted to know what the “pecking order” should be. We roll our eyes and shake our heads at those self centred, glory seeking followers of Jesus. We look at each other and say, ‘how could they be so foolish?! They really lost the plot.’
We, on the other hand, are not like that… or are we? We’re not interested in the ‘pecking order’ in our congregation, are we? In our families, we get on very well…don’t we? Each person, from the youngest to the eldest is valued, accepted, and listened to… Aren’t they?
Don’t we run into problems in any area of our lives when we insist that our needs are most important? That what we prefer is what should happen? We like to put ourselves first.
Jesus did not put himself first, even though as the Creator of the universe, he is the greatest.
Jesus chose to be the servant of all.
In Mark 10:45 Jesus said “…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
A servant sets aside his or her own needs to attend to the needs of others.
This is what Christ did.
Listen to Philippians 2: 3-11
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of human beings. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
“The way up is down.” True greatness is servanthood.
Jesus went to the cross, to serve us. He came to earth, suffered and died, and rose again, to do something about our greatest need: our need to get back into a good relationship with God.
Our relationship was broken and continues to be broken through our pride and stubborn insistence that the world revolve around us, that everything has to serve us. We have failed to love God warmly, freely, joyfully, with our all. We also fail to love and serve our neighbours as ourselves. We grieve God with our proud, sinful insistence that we matter more than others, that our preferences must be followed and that other people’s needs, and what they want, can be safely ignored and denied.
Jesus died so that we can be forgiven. Because of what he did for us, we have peace with God.
This means we don’t need to worry about anything, including our place in the pecking order of our families, workplaces, congregation, clubs or any other organization.
“Jesus took a child…” The Greek word simply means ‘a little child’. Let’s hear how it sounds if we thought of the child as a little girl: “Jesus put the little girl in the midst of them, and taking her in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives a little girl (or boy) like this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me."
Treat a little girl with respect, and you treat Jesus with respect. Listen to a little boy with love and kindness and respect, and you show love and respect to Jesus. We worship God in the way we relate to other people.
On the other hand, when we ignore children and other people we think as less important, we dishonor God. For such sin, Christ died. Where we have failed in this area, let us confess our sins to God, and ask him to forgive us, through the sufferings and death of Christ. Then let us ask him how we can do better: how we can serve, and not look for others to serve us.
The Lord will help us to focus on the needs of others. His Spirit will help us to take the time to find out what they need: What our children need. What older people need. What stressed and overworked people need. What young people need. What couples and singles need. What the people in the wider community need. What our brothers and sisters in Christ, in other churches need. Maybe they need us. Our friendship. A willingness to share the riches and blessings God has given us. Or maybe they need us to take time to humble ourselves, and just listen to them. Respect them. Love them. Accept them. Not condemn them or judge them as lesser Christians.
As we give, we will receive. Jesus has promised us this. We don’t need to worry about our own needs: God will take care of us.
What would it look like in our families, congregations, workplaces, and communities, if we did think more about the needs of others, and made a priority of them? May God help us do this, in love for him, and for all our fellow human beings. Amen.
This Web Page Created with PageBreeze Free HTML Editor