Sermon from 1st October 2006
Today, our vicar, Cameron Barker, continues our study from Mark's gospel. The reading, this week is from Mark 9: 30-37
‘If you want to avoid an argument, don’t discuss politics, sport, or religion.’
On two of those three fronts you may need to bear that old saying in mind before you dissect today’s sermon over Sunday lunch. But if you think you can guess which one of the three won’t feature, I’ll bet you’d get it wrong!
Today we’ll have - metaphorical - guest appearances from both numerous football greats, and Gordon Brown. So the one controversial area that won’t come up is religion; except to point out that in every sense that matters, Christianity is not a religion! This series from Mark began with Jesus expressing his view on the matter of religion, very clearly. And, although that’s not the main point to emerge from this reading, it’s very definitely (and uncomfortably) present again.
At its heart, Christianity is not a religion. What it is about is being in a real relationship with a living person: Jesus Christ. He’s a person who – as his disciples discovered in this passage – is well capable of turning our thinking up-side down. Jesus’ intended outcome is that our behaving is turned upside down as well – as it so often needs to be. So maybe there is a third health warning attached to the sermon after all: expect to be radically changed by Jesus!
As always, though, those comments need to be put in the context of the Bible passage we’re looking at. So first we need to fill in the holes. Not only have we skipped a week because of Harvest; we’ve also jumped forward a whole chapter! Two weeks ago Trevor spoke on how Jesus began to focus on his journey to Jerusalem – and the death that awaited him. The trigger for Jesus ending his mission in Galilee was Simon Peter’s realisation of who Jesus was. Once that penny had finally dropped, Jesus could begin to prepare his disciples for the vital change to their mind-set.
As Trevor said, Jesus’ attempt to re-educate the disciples began immediately. He told them exactly what would happen to him in Jerusalem. But they just didn’t get it! What then followed in the part that we’ve missed out, was a dramatic reinforcement of Jesus’ true identity as God’s Son. There’s a whole Sunday in the church’s year to look at Jesus’ Transfiguration. So we’ve gone on beyond that, to what happened after it. Today we are with Jesus and his disciples, on the road, out of Galilee, and heading for Jerusalem. Jesus’ main focus now is on preparing the disciples for what will happen to him all too soon. And it’s very clear that the disciples still need this preparation!
As they walked along the road, Jesus once again told the disciples what was about to happen to him. This time he added in an extra piece of information about it: that he was going to be betrayed to his death. But even that didn’t make any difference. His disciples still seemed completely unable to grasp what he was telling them. As we heard, Jesus couldn’t have made it any clearer. What is to mis-understand about, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to those who / is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise to life.’
It sounds clear enough; and it is – to us. Of course we have the benefit of hindsight. We know what happened; so it is hard for us to accept that the disciples couldn’t hear what Jesus told them so plainly. In his commentary Tom Wright gives one possible good reason why the disciples might’ve struggled so much. In the early part of his ministry, Jesus usually taught in parables. He told simple, obvious stories, and then expected his hearers to look for the deeper true meaning of them. That’s what the disciples were used to from Jesus. So it is possible that they thought Jesus was saying something different to the obvious meaning.
Whatever the reason, they didn’t understand; and they didn’t dare ask Jesus to explain! Again, there is a possible good reason for that. The previous time Jesus had talked about his death, Peter had tried to talk more about it – and had got the hairdryer treatment! But Wright also points out that the disciples weren’t actually very interested in asking Jesus to explain himself for much less noble reasons. You see, the disciples knew what the Messiah was going to do. Even at this stage, and after all this time with Jesus, they still knew that they were headed for victory in Jerusalem.
The clue to that lies in the second part of the reading – which is where we’ll get to the politics. But first, the sport! As I say, the disciples knew what the Messiah was going to do. As with any good Jew of their time, they knew that the Messiah was God’s king. And for God to be king of Israel again, the foreign rulers first had to go. It was a simple and obvious piece of logic for the disciples. Jesus was the Messiah; he was going to Jerusalem; so he must’ve been about to remove the Romans. He couldn’t possibly have meant them to take his words about dying literally.
Dying wasn’t in the plan at all! It couldn’t be! That would be like (insert your football team’s key player) Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Thierry Henry, Ryan Giggs, or Ronaldinho announcing that they were going to play the Champion’s League Final with their legs tied together! Of course, Jesus wasn’t really going to die in Jerusalem. The Messiah would surely never allow that happen. If he died, that would have been the end of God’s reign. Besides, if Jesus did die, what would that do to the disciples’ hopes for their own glorious futures? So perhaps the disciples didn’t understand Jesus because they didn’t want to understand. Maybe they preferred to hang onto their own preconceptions, because they were much more pleasant!
At least the disciples knew enough not to try and put Jesus right. They well remembered what had happened to Peter when he’d done that last time! But that didn’t stop them discussing the future as they walked along. And they had the same sort of conversation that is doubtless currently going on amongst the Brownites. Their man will be PM within year: who’s going to get the top posts in his team? They’ve all worked long & hard for many years, and have paid the price for their loyalty to Gordon. Now it’s almost time for the reward: who’ll be the next Chancellor; Foreign Secretary; Home Secretary? Many are hopeful, no doubt!
It’s a natural conversation to have in the circumstances. People close to the seat of potential power expect to be rewarded. And, as events proved, the disciples were no exception. They thought they’d been talking about this out of Jesus’ earshot; and they may have been. But even if he had not heard them, he still knew what they’d been discussing! Jesus gave his disciples the chance to own up. In verse 32 he asked them what they’d been arguing about on the road. Their response was silence – which rather suggests that the disciples knew Jesus wouldn’t approve! Mark doesn’t let them off the hook, though. He tells us why they’d argued – because they’d been discussing who was the greatest!
As so often, Jesus took this opportunity to teach. Sitting down – which shows that this was serious! – he first set out the spiritual principle. If you want to be first, Jesus said, you have to choose to be last. And that means being a servant to everyone else! How’s that for turning conventional wisdom on its head? That’s not the way the world works, is it? You get ahead in life by doing the important, visible jobs; being noticed by the right people; by making a noise; by putting yourself first. Maybe so: but that’s not how it works in God’s economy – as Jesus himself modelled. In his life and by his death, Jesus put others first. He truly was the servant of all – and with what a result for us!
In case his disciples had missed his point Jesus illustrated it for them. He had a child stand in front of them – and don’t forget that at that time children weren’t valued in the way they are today. The equivalent for us would be more like the person who empties our bins, or cleans the tube we travel on – someone virtually unseen & insignificant to our life. But these are precisely the people we are to welcome as if they are Jesus himself! Whatever we do for the least significant will be evaluated as if we had done it for Jesus! And of course that means as if we’d done it for God.
Jesus’ meaning couldn’t have been clearer. The disciples were all caught up with what was in it for them. Their focus was on the rewards they were hoping for – positions of power and influence in the new regime. But along the way they’d missed the key spiritual principle of servanthood. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being ambitious for God – unless we lose sight of who and what’s important to God. What’s important to God is how we treat the weak the poor, the insignificant. It’s not that we get to where we think we deserve to be. It’s that everyone gets to know, see and experience God’s caring love. And, if that’s to happen, then each of us has to follow Jesus’ example of servanthood.
Jesus never lost sight of his own primary purpose. He was going to Jerusalem to fulfil it – by dying on the cross. In doing that he’d be the servant of all, and open the way back to God for all people for all time. His disciples wouldn’t be able to understand fully what he did or what it meant until after his resurrection. Jesus still tried to prepare them for it, though – and to teach them this key spiritual lesson about what matters in God’s economy.
The disciples still didn’t get it – here, or even the third time that Jesus tried to teach them the same thing! And that could perhaps make us feel quite self-righteous – until we ask ourselves whether we have got this point ourselves. We have even less excuse than the disciples did. Not only have we heard the same things that they did. We do live after the death of Jesus, God’s suffering servant. So has that transformed the way we treat the insignificant people in our lives? Has that informed the jobs we do, and how we do them? Are we ambitious for God with an attitude of servanthood; or are we just ambitious for ourselves?
I’ve said before that being a Christian isn’t a matter of just doing the right thing. In that sense it’s not a religion. It is about being in a real relationship with this person Jesus who turns our thinking on its head. He wants to turn our behaving on its head too. So he is capable of challenging us about what we do and don’t do, and why we do and don’t do it – just as he challenged his disciples. When he does challenge you, do you have to keep silent, as the disciples did? Or can you look him in the eye and say that you’ve got the point because that is how you live – as Jesus did? ‘Whoever wants to be first must place himself last, and be the servant of all’. Let’s pray …
‘If you want to avoid an argument, don’t discuss politics, sport, or religion.’
On two of those three fronts you may need to bear that old saying in mind before you dissect today’s sermon over Sunday lunch. But if you think you can guess which one of the three won’t feature, I’ll bet you’d get it wrong!
Today we’ll have - metaphorical - guest appearances from both numerous football greats, and Gordon Brown. So the one controversial area that won’t come up is religion; except to point out that in every sense that matters, Christianity is not a religion! This series from Mark began with Jesus expressing his view on the matter of religion, very clearly. And, although that’s not the main point to emerge from this reading, it’s very definitely (and uncomfortably) present again.
At its heart, Christianity is not a religion. What it is about is being in a real relationship with a living person: Jesus Christ. He’s a person who – as his disciples discovered in this passage – is well capable of turning our thinking up-side down. Jesus’ intended outcome is that our behaving is turned upside down as well – as it so often needs to be. So maybe there is a third health warning attached to the sermon after all: expect to be radically changed by Jesus!
As always, though, those comments need to be put in the context of the Bible passage we’re looking at. So first we need to fill in the holes. Not only have we skipped a week because of Harvest; we’ve also jumped forward a whole chapter! Two weeks ago Trevor spoke on how Jesus began to focus on his journey to Jerusalem – and the death that awaited him. The trigger for Jesus ending his mission in Galilee was Simon Peter’s realisation of who Jesus was. Once that penny had finally dropped, Jesus could begin to prepare his disciples for the vital change to their mind-set.
As Trevor said, Jesus’ attempt to re-educate the disciples began immediately. He told them exactly what would happen to him in Jerusalem. But they just didn’t get it! What then followed in the part that we’ve missed out, was a dramatic reinforcement of Jesus’ true identity as God’s Son. There’s a whole Sunday in the church’s year to look at Jesus’ Transfiguration. So we’ve gone on beyond that, to what happened after it. Today we are with Jesus and his disciples, on the road, out of Galilee, and heading for Jerusalem. Jesus’ main focus now is on preparing the disciples for what will happen to him all too soon. And it’s very clear that the disciples still need this preparation!
As they walked along the road, Jesus once again told the disciples what was about to happen to him. This time he added in an extra piece of information about it: that he was going to be betrayed to his death. But even that didn’t make any difference. His disciples still seemed completely unable to grasp what he was telling them. As we heard, Jesus couldn’t have made it any clearer. What is to mis-understand about, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to those who / is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise to life.’
It sounds clear enough; and it is – to us. Of course we have the benefit of hindsight. We know what happened; so it is hard for us to accept that the disciples couldn’t hear what Jesus told them so plainly. In his commentary Tom Wright gives one possible good reason why the disciples might’ve struggled so much. In the early part of his ministry, Jesus usually taught in parables. He told simple, obvious stories, and then expected his hearers to look for the deeper true meaning of them. That’s what the disciples were used to from Jesus. So it is possible that they thought Jesus was saying something different to the obvious meaning.
Whatever the reason, they didn’t understand; and they didn’t dare ask Jesus to explain! Again, there is a possible good reason for that. The previous time Jesus had talked about his death, Peter had tried to talk more about it – and had got the hairdryer treatment! But Wright also points out that the disciples weren’t actually very interested in asking Jesus to explain himself for much less noble reasons. You see, the disciples knew what the Messiah was going to do. Even at this stage, and after all this time with Jesus, they still knew that they were headed for victory in Jerusalem.
The clue to that lies in the second part of the reading – which is where we’ll get to the politics. But first, the sport! As I say, the disciples knew what the Messiah was going to do. As with any good Jew of their time, they knew that the Messiah was God’s king. And for God to be king of Israel again, the foreign rulers first had to go. It was a simple and obvious piece of logic for the disciples. Jesus was the Messiah; he was going to Jerusalem; so he must’ve been about to remove the Romans. He couldn’t possibly have meant them to take his words about dying literally.
Dying wasn’t in the plan at all! It couldn’t be! That would be like (insert your football team’s key player) Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Thierry Henry, Ryan Giggs, or Ronaldinho announcing that they were going to play the Champion’s League Final with their legs tied together! Of course, Jesus wasn’t really going to die in Jerusalem. The Messiah would surely never allow that happen. If he died, that would have been the end of God’s reign. Besides, if Jesus did die, what would that do to the disciples’ hopes for their own glorious futures? So perhaps the disciples didn’t understand Jesus because they didn’t want to understand. Maybe they preferred to hang onto their own preconceptions, because they were much more pleasant!
At least the disciples knew enough not to try and put Jesus right. They well remembered what had happened to Peter when he’d done that last time! But that didn’t stop them discussing the future as they walked along. And they had the same sort of conversation that is doubtless currently going on amongst the Brownites. Their man will be PM within year: who’s going to get the top posts in his team? They’ve all worked long & hard for many years, and have paid the price for their loyalty to Gordon. Now it’s almost time for the reward: who’ll be the next Chancellor; Foreign Secretary; Home Secretary? Many are hopeful, no doubt!
It’s a natural conversation to have in the circumstances. People close to the seat of potential power expect to be rewarded. And, as events proved, the disciples were no exception. They thought they’d been talking about this out of Jesus’ earshot; and they may have been. But even if he had not heard them, he still knew what they’d been discussing! Jesus gave his disciples the chance to own up. In verse 32 he asked them what they’d been arguing about on the road. Their response was silence – which rather suggests that the disciples knew Jesus wouldn’t approve! Mark doesn’t let them off the hook, though. He tells us why they’d argued – because they’d been discussing who was the greatest!
As so often, Jesus took this opportunity to teach. Sitting down – which shows that this was serious! – he first set out the spiritual principle. If you want to be first, Jesus said, you have to choose to be last. And that means being a servant to everyone else! How’s that for turning conventional wisdom on its head? That’s not the way the world works, is it? You get ahead in life by doing the important, visible jobs; being noticed by the right people; by making a noise; by putting yourself first. Maybe so: but that’s not how it works in God’s economy – as Jesus himself modelled. In his life and by his death, Jesus put others first. He truly was the servant of all – and with what a result for us!
In case his disciples had missed his point Jesus illustrated it for them. He had a child stand in front of them – and don’t forget that at that time children weren’t valued in the way they are today. The equivalent for us would be more like the person who empties our bins, or cleans the tube we travel on – someone virtually unseen & insignificant to our life. But these are precisely the people we are to welcome as if they are Jesus himself! Whatever we do for the least significant will be evaluated as if we had done it for Jesus! And of course that means as if we’d done it for God.
Jesus’ meaning couldn’t have been clearer. The disciples were all caught up with what was in it for them. Their focus was on the rewards they were hoping for – positions of power and influence in the new regime. But along the way they’d missed the key spiritual principle of servanthood. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being ambitious for God – unless we lose sight of who and what’s important to God. What’s important to God is how we treat the weak the poor, the insignificant. It’s not that we get to where we think we deserve to be. It’s that everyone gets to know, see and experience God’s caring love. And, if that’s to happen, then each of us has to follow Jesus’ example of servanthood.
Jesus never lost sight of his own primary purpose. He was going to Jerusalem to fulfil it – by dying on the cross. In doing that he’d be the servant of all, and open the way back to God for all people for all time. His disciples wouldn’t be able to understand fully what he did or what it meant until after his resurrection. Jesus still tried to prepare them for it, though – and to teach them this key spiritual lesson about what matters in God’s economy.
The disciples still didn’t get it – here, or even the third time that Jesus tried to teach them the same thing! And that could perhaps make us feel quite self-righteous – until we ask ourselves whether we have got this point ourselves. We have even less excuse than the disciples did. Not only have we heard the same things that they did. We do live after the death of Jesus, God’s suffering servant. So has that transformed the way we treat the insignificant people in our lives? Has that informed the jobs we do, and how we do them? Are we ambitious for God with an attitude of servanthood; or are we just ambitious for ourselves?
I’ve said before that being a Christian isn’t a matter of just doing the right thing. In that sense it’s not a religion. It is about being in a real relationship with this person Jesus who turns our thinking on its head. He wants to turn our behaving on its head too. So he is capable of challenging us about what we do and don’t do, and why we do and don’t do it – just as he challenged his disciples. When he does challenge you, do you have to keep silent, as the disciples did? Or can you look him in the eye and say that you’ve got the point because that is how you live – as Jesus did? ‘Whoever wants to be first must place himself last, and be the servant of all’. Let’s pray …
posted by Parish Administrator at 7:39 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home