WHO IS THE GREATEST?

Mark 8:27-38; Mark 9:30-37

September 20, 2009 - Rev. Janet Robertson Duggins

Mark sure paints an unflattering picture of Jesus’ disciples, doesn’t he? We roll our eyes and shake our heads at their cluelessness throughout this gospel. Every time you think, ‘oh yes, now they’re starting to get it,’ they turn around and do or say something even more dumb. Haven’t they been paying attention to what Jesus has been saying? Hasn’t anything he’s done made any impact?

This argument about which of them is the greatest is the worst yet, I think – downright cringe-worthy. What were they thinking? Jesus has been talking about really serious stuff – sacrifice and commitment and dying; he’s been healing people and confronting the power of evil to warp and destroy lives; he’s been on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah in the presence of God … and his friends are having a childish argument about which of them is the greatest. It’s pretty embarrassing really, and it’s obvious in the story that they know it is: They don’t want to tell Jesus anything about it. But of course, as Mark makes perfectly clear, Jesus understands exactly what’s going on.

Of course we know better than to start this sort of argument, right? Unless you’re a big sports star, you know that saying something like “I am the greatest” is just an invitation for somebody to try and prove you wrong. It’s really just not an acceptable thing to say. That, I suspect, is really what seems most outrageous to us: the fact of these guys actually coming right out and putting their pride and boasting and competitiveness into words. Apparently nobody told them this was impolite. We know we aren’t supposed to talk like that.

But the idea that some people are greater – better, more important, or whatever – than other people IS very much a part of how we think. How can we help it? It’s all around us in our world, no matter what our Declaration of Independence says about our belief in equality.

In our society we are deeply committed to the value of competition – it builds strength and character, we say. I’m not sure why we don’t think cooperation can do that, but we don’t. The idea of competing to be the best is taught to our children from a young age. We think in terms of winners and losers not only in sports but in business and in public policy debates and even sometimes in our relationships. We admire those who insist that second-best isn’t acceptable.

We don’t always bother to make a distinction between being good at doing something and being worthwhile as a person.

How well people are paid for their work in our society speaks volumes about who we value and respect the most (basketball players, movie stars and tv personalities, apparently) and who we value the least (people who care for our children and pick the fruits and veggies we eat). I came across a recent study which suggested that people perceived as “good-looking” make more money than the rest of us.

We treat those in some professions or jobs as “important” people. Those who have “humbler” jobs get less respect. Handicapped, disabled, and mentally ill people get ignored a lot. Sometimes people who are not currently working at a job for pay feel their self-worth diminished.

We have other ways to establish a sense of superiority: I’m smarter, I’m cooler, I’m better-looking; I have a nicer house, more successful children, a fancier car, a more prestigious degree or job, more Facebook friends. We’re Americans; we’re well-educated; we speak English, we’re Presbyterians, we know the right way to behave, we espouse the right values, believe the right things, have better manners and better taste.

Even within the church we sometime have our ideas about who is greatest. We assume that the inspiring preacher and the person who runs a program to feed the hungry are doing “more important” things than the one who paints pictures or the people who help in the nursery. We respect the organized, task-oriented folks who can “get a job done” more than those who are quietly faithful in prayer. We think we should listen more to a long-time member’s opinions than to the ideas of a teenager or a newcomer.

It is just as hard for us, I think, as it was for the disciples to “get on board” with Jesus’ very different way of thinking. But let’s take a look at our readings from Mark and see if we can try and understand it as Mark understood it:

This little conversation Jesus has with his disciples about greatness is one of a pair of related stories. They aren’t back to back, but these two sections of Mark awe read are very definitely connected, in that they serve as sort of “bookends” round what most people regard as the center or turning point of this gospel:

First, Jesus asks, “who do you say that I am?” to which Peter responds, “You are the Messiah.”

And Jesus begins to talk about having to suffer and die. Peter tries to stop him from saying this, and Jesus in turn says that his followers will have to take up the cross and follow him, for “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

Then, these two stories, at the center of Mark’s gospel, which emphasize Jesus’ authority – in the spiritual realm and on earth:

Jesus (with Peter, James and John) goes up a mountain, and they have this mystical experience seeing him with Moses and Elijah, and hear a voice that says “listen to him” (establishing Jesus’ authority).

They come down the mountain, back to the real world, so to speak, and Jesus heals a boy said to be demon-possessed because he has this frightening illness that causes seizures, and the disciples see that Jesus has authority over the evil power that has made the boy sick.

Then in the next scene, again Jesus talks about suffering and dying, but again the disciples don’t understand.

Jesus asks them another question: “What were you arguing about on the way?” In response to their dispute about who is the greatest, he says “whoever wants to be first must be last of all.” And he says that welcoming a child in his name is the same as welcoming him.

The final connection between the two stories, I think, is the contrast between the way Peter responds to Jesus in the first story and the response Jesus asks for, in the second one.

There’s nothing untrue in what Peter says; in fact the central stories around which our two texts for today are arranged certainly intend to convey Mark’s belief that Jesus IS the Messiah sent from God. But Peter doesn’t understand what that means. He thinks – and he’s not alone – that it will be about power, strength, success, all that sort of thing. Naturally, he and the other disciples assume that a little bit of all that greatness will belong to them. But Jesus’ idea of what God sent him for and Peter’s idea are not the same.

Peter wants to welcome the Messiah Jesus, the hero he always imagined would bring in a new day of peace and prosperity and freedom and success for his nation (and especially for those who have followed this Messiah closely). Jesus wants to see Peter and his other disciples creating a community in which everyone’s contribution is valued and where the powerless are welcomed and loved.

Jesus must know how hard this whole idea is for us. We can hardly even picture it… so he makes his way very visible for the disciples, and for us. He takes a little child in his arms.

Here’s the thing about picking up a child. You have to put down whatever else it is you’re holding on to. Jesus wants his friends to let go of their own fancier and more powerful ideas about what his mission is going to be about, and see in the most simple and everyday terms what he is inviting them into.

Realize that this is not intended to be a sentimental vision of the sweet innocence and naivete of childhood that we should strive to get back to. In Jesus’ time children were not viewed in that way; the notion we have of childhood as a unique and protected developmental period is hundreds of years in the future. The point here is that children were among the powerless of Jesus’ world, on the margins… and Jesus places the powerless at the center of his vision for the church.

Think about this for a moment in the larger context of Mark, who is certainly not encouraging his readers to be naïve and innocent:

Remember what we know about Mark:

-sense of urgency

-time of crisis

-fear is dominant

- the challenge for those who follow Jesus is to live by faith instead of fear

Mark wants his readers to understand that the stresses and suffering they are facing doesn’t mean their faith in Jesus has failed them. He’s trying to get them to see that this was never intended to be an easy path; it was never intended to be a road to power and success. Even for Jesus, this road had suffering. But Jesus is the one who embraces us in our powerlessness and includes us in the community of his people.

Mark does not want the Christians he’s writing to to let fears build walls between sisters and brothers in Christ. He wants them to pursue, not their own individual self-interest but what is good for the church. He wants them to support one another and work together in the face of crisis, not to be weakened by tensions between them. He believes and wants them to know that Jesus’s desire for them is not competition but community.

I think he may also be saying to them, “you don’t have time to waste on fussing about things like who’s important and who’s not.” The survival of the church is at stake, and for that, you need everybody’s gifts. Everybody’s. Learn to appreciate and understand and make a place for all of them.

Beyond that, you need to welcome even the people you don’t perceive as having much to contribute. In fact, you especially need to welcome them, because they make the neediness in all of us visible, and help us to acknowledge it. They represent what the good news is all about: grace for those who need it. And that includes everyone – those who think they are strong, and those whose fear makes them pretend to be strong, and those who know they are weak.