Who’s
Number One
September 24, 2006, Proper 20B
Jeremiah
11:18-20, Psalm
54 , James
3:13-4:3, 7-8a, Mark
9:30-37
The disciples remind me of my
students when I taught mathematics. I
would teach a lesson and ask the students if they had any questions. Invariably the answer was “no – they had no
questions.” The next day I’d hear “Well,
it seemed so easy when you did it, but when I got home I couldn’t figure it
out.”
This always had a tendency to
irritate me because they always had time to work on it before the end of the
class – so I decided to encourage questions.
The way I did that was if there were no questions, then I assumed they
knew the material, so I would give them a pop quiz immediately. The minute I said, “Get out a sheet of paper
and pencil and put everything else up…”
All of a sudden 5 hands would go up with questions.
And I can relate to the disciples
not wanting to ask questions – I’ve been there before myself. I don’t know about you, but I allowed pride
to keep me from doing something I wanted to do.
I know that sounds strange, but here’s the situation. I was probably about 12 at the time and I was
in confirmation class. And when a lesson
was going on, I would sort of zone out occasionally and miss part of what was
being said. Back in those days they
didn’t know anything about ADD, or dyslexia, or any of those things identified
today that hinder learning.
So this particular day, after
I had been ‘day dreaming’ I realized that I had missed the instruction on
making the sign of the cross. And I was
too embarrassed or ashamed or whatever, to ask about it. So I was afraid to make the sign of the
cross, because I was afraid I would do it wrong – you know, hold my hand wrong
or go the wrong direction or whatever. It’s
not like the Catholic church, in the Episcopal church this is optional – and
although my mother never did it, I wanted to – but then I was afraid to ask for
feeling foolish. It took me 25 years to
get enough courage to ask anyone.
I think I was afraid that God
would “get me” if I did it wrong – or at the wrong time; which says a lot more
about my misunderstanding God than it does about my fear of asking
questions. And I don’t think the
disciples had any better understanding either.
They didn’t really understand what Jesus said, “What? What was that he said? It doesn’t make any sense.” So they went off and played a game; the game
of “I’m better than you are…”
Have you ever heard someone
play that game? Have you every played it
yourself? It’s very popular you
know. I have a friend who would tell you
it’s very important for people to figure out where they are in the pecking
order. That way they know how to treat
each other. When I was in college if a
student didn’t show up for class, the class went right ahead and started on
time. However, if a teacher didn’t show
up for class, it was important to know that teacher’s rank to figure out how
long you had to wait for him or her. If
she was a full professor with tenure, you had to wait for 15 minutes. If he was an associate professor you waited 10
minutes. And for a TA (teaching
assistant) you only had to wait 5 minutes.
Ask anyone in the military
how important rank is. Or look at the
esteem given to the CEO or CFO of a large corporation. I remember when I was working for the police
department at UT in
It’s not just human nature to
want to know what your rank is – have you every heard a bunch of kids returning
from a ball game shouting “We’re number 1!
We’re number 1!” It gives a
person a sense of security to know exactly what their position is. It helps you know how to act toward each
other when you know your relationship to each other.
Remember the lesson from
James two weeks ago: If a person with gold rings and in fine
clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also
comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say,
"Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say,
"Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among
yourselves? In our material world we
do this all the time.
So in this second part of the
teaching, Jesus tells them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all
and servant of all." This is one of
the most familiar Biblical principles taught by Jesus. We’ve heard it time and time again, and although
we think we understand it, we still have trouble putting it into practice.
Our world operates on the
principle that some people are more important that others. But Jesus calls us all important. He sees each of us as of equal value – and
those who live according to his word as his brothers and sisters.
________________________________________
I’d like to read a small part
of C. S. Lewis’ book “The Great Divorce.”
This little book functions in much the same way as the book of
Revelation – it is a vision of heaven – but the important thing here is the
people.
Some kind of procession was approaching us and the
light came from the persons who composed it.
First came bright Spirits, not the Spirits of men, who danced and
scattered flowers – soundlessly falling, lightly drifting flowers…. Then on the left and right, at each side of
the forest avenue, came youthful shapes, boys upon one hand, and girls upon the
other. If I could remember their singing
and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or
old. Between them went musicians; and
after these a lady in whose honour all this was being done….
It must have been the almost visible penumbra of her
courtesy and joy which produces in my memory the illusion of a great and
shining train that followed her across the happy grass… The clarity of her innermost spirit shone
through the clothes… And only partly do
I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?”
I whispered to my guide. Not as
all,” said he. “It’s someone ye’ll never
have heard of. Her name on earth was
Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be… well, a person of particular importance.” “Aye, She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and
fame on Earth are two quite different things.”
“And who are all these young men and women on each
side?” “They are her sons and
daughters.” “She must have had a very
large family, Sir.” “Every young man and
boy that met her became her son – even if it was only the boy that brought the
meat to her back door. Every girl that
met her was her daughter.”
“Every beast and bird that came near her had its place
in her love. In her they became
themselves. And now the abundance of
life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.” I looked at my Teacher in amazement. “Yes,” he said. “It is like when you throw a stone into a
pool, and the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end?”
________________________________________
Here we get the vision of a
woman, who lived her life in simple love for everyone she met – and became one
of the most important people in heaven.
That’s what Jesus wants for us – that we live our lives here on earth in
simple love for others – and thereby become most important people in
heaven.
David McPhee wrote a sermon
called “Wasting Time.” And in it he claims that Jesus was inefficient and
disorganized in the way he worked to spread the gospel – but he became the most
powerful force in the world. He says
being a follower of Jesus means become a “time waster.” He said the time we waste just sitting
talking, visiting people in hospitals and sitting at their bedsides, visiting
people in prison, listening to people in trouble, and reaching out to children
is both impractical and inefficient by worldly standards – but it is the most
powerful force on earth and changes lives in ways we can only begin to
imagine.
Being a follower of Jesus may
bring persecution and the cross, but those who share the cross, also share the
resurrection.
Please feel free to email me with any comments or
questions at nan@doerrworks.com