We’ve been reading in the gospel of Mark the story of Jesus earthly ministry and we read how he journeyed up from Judea, which is the area where Jerusalem is. Up, back up through some Gentile territory, back up into Galilee. And, as Mark tells the story, the focus begins to change. All through the gospel of Mark Jesus is interested in introducing people to the kingdom of God and he keeps being interrupted by the needs of humanity.
Most of the miracle healing stories in Mark occur when someone comes and dumps out their problems at Jesus feet and he has compassion on them. But as he begins to head back, and turn around and head back toward Jerusalem he begins to seek more and more time with just his disciples where he can help prepare them for what lay ahead.
I’m amazed when I read those stories that Jesus was willing to trust his whole ministry, the founding of the Church, the future of Gods mighty acts of salvation through Jesus Christ, was willing to trust it to those disciples. Because the picture we have of them is not all that flattering in the gospel of Mark. They have trouble understanding it. They have trouble connecting with it. They get side tracked easily.
I will tell you though I’m a little comforted by that, because that’s the how I am. That’s how the Church is today. You see, Jesus was preparing that collection of people, those 12 people, to found the Church. They didn’t even know what a Church was then, but they were being prepared to found it. And that’s what happens in the story today.
Just prior to this story they’d been out itinerating and Jesus had exorcised a demon from a man’s son. First the man had gone to the disciples and ask them and they couldn’t do it. Then they went to Jesus and that demon was exorcised and they began to move on.
I want to read that lesson with you from the 9th chapter of Mark. “…they went on from there and passed through Galilee. He didn’t want anyone to know yet for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘the son of man is to be betrayed into human hands and they will kill him and three days after being killed he will rise again’.”
This is the second time in Mark that he has Jesus trying to talk about the crucifixion and the resurrection, the great salvation story. But, “they did not understand what he was saying and they were afraid to ask him”.
We’ve been there haven’t we? Haven’t you been somewhere where you couldn’t figure out what was going on. Everybody else seemed to know, so you were afraid to ask. I think geometry class is like that for some people, I don’t know. But we go through times in our lives when we don’t to appear that we’re not quite with it so we’re afraid to say we don’t get it.
I don’t think that helped Jesus too much in this story. You know it doesn’t help him too much today either when we give into our fears, and when we don’t ask the questions, and when we don’t take time to explore the reality of what it is that Jesus is trying to teach us.
Or it could be that they were afraid to ask him because they did have an inkling of what he was talking about. Sometimes we’re like that aren’t we? Sometimes there are issues and concerns that happen in our families, or in our community, in our church or even in our own lives, that kind of scare us, so we’re afraid to even talk about them. We’re afraid to even bring them up. We talk all around the edges. We talk about anything else except what needs to be talked about.
But for Jesus on this day what needed to be talked about was the journey to Jerusalem, was the crucifixion and the resurrection and the new life that would come out of that. But they didn’t want to talk about it, they were afraid, so they didn’t. Mark tells us what they did talk about.
“Then they came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he ask them ‘what were you arguing”…evidentially they weren’t just talking…huh…evidentially, though they didn’t let Jesus hear the words, he at least heard the volume of them and knew they had some disagreements, so he said what were you arguing about on the way? “Again they were silent.” They were silent “for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” Can you believe that Jesus wanted these guys to found the Church? Can you believe that Jesus trusted the gospel message to them? When instead of talking about the dynamic of crucifixion, and resurrection and new life they wanted to argue about who was the greatest? Can you believe that Jesus would trust them?
Well, again, I’m kind of glad he did. Because I don’t think they’re very much different than we are. I think the Church has acted like that ever since Jesus has tried to lead us to the kingdom of God, and we argue about who is the greatest. We argue about theology. We argue about how we worship. We argue about who has the best form of Church government.
My gosh there’s a lot of denominations in the body of Christ. And it’s all us playing little games of spiritual one-up-man-ship with one another. And all the time Jesus is simply trying to get us to understand the dynamic of crucifixion and resurrection and to develop a relationship with God that will enter us into the kingdom of God. We’re like those disciples. But he trusted us. He still trusted the Church to them. And you know what, he still trusts the Church to us.
Now this is a teaching opportunity for Jesus. You know, I’d probably just get discouraged and go in the other room if I was Jesus. But he hasn’t given up on them yet and it’s a teaching opportunity. So let’s see how he did. “He sat down called the 12 and said to them,” Okay fellas “if you want to talk about greatness, let’s talk about it. Whoever wants to be first, must be last of all and servant of all. And then he took a little child and put it among them and taking it in his arms he said to them, whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.”
I want to invite you to sing the first two verses of the hymn Help Us Accept Each Other. It’s on page 560. It’s a hymn that is inspired by this message of Jesus, of understanding what he’s talking about in his object lesson.
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