Our True Importance

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

September 21, 2003

Text: Mark 9:33-37

Jesus and his disciples were going back to the area where his ministry began, the area that was home to most of the disciples. Their mode of transportation was walking, and it was a long walk. I assume Jesus was out in front and the others trailed along behind. Apparently Jesus overheard them arguing about which one of them was most important. Which one ought to have the most authority when Jesus took over his kingdom?

I wonder what Jesus was thinking as they walked toward Capernaum. I wonder what he was feeling. He had tried to show them and tell them he was not the kind of Messiah who was going to be like his ancestor David, the one who had led the people of Israel in defeating the Philistines. Jesus had no plans to become a king like David had been.

It was not the stories of David's battles and successes that Jesus had drawn on to talk about himself. Rather it was what the prophets had written. He used Isaiah's language about a leader who was a suffering servant. He used the metaphor from Jeremiah and Ezekiel about being a good shepherd, a shepherd who would even sacrifice his life for the sake of the sheep. Jesus had told the disciples what to expect; he would suffer, be rejected and killed, then on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

The disciples obviously did not understand. They still thought the way most thought; the Messiah would restore Israel the way David had led Israel to victory. And when that happened, which disciple would have which position, and which disciple ought to be chosen to have the highest cabinet post? So, they argued.

Jesus said nothing as they walked along. When they arrived at Capernaum and were in the house where they were to stay, Jesus asked (as if he did not know), "What were you arguing about today?"

No one said a word. It was an awkward silence, I am sure. Although the disciples did not fully understand all Jesus had been teaching, they understood enough to know, arguing about who was to be the most important when Jesus took over his kingdom was not the sort of thing that would please him. In my imagination I see them, not wanting to look Jesus in the eye, awkwardly shuffling, and perhaps eyeing one another, wondering if anyone would speak up. No one wanted to confess what they had argued about and expose their crass, selfish ambition.

I can understand their ambition. What they wanted is what all of us want. Each of them wanted to matter. Each wanted his life to make a difference. Each wanted to have some importance in life. Each wanted some kind of recognition or reward for the sacrifices he had made. After all, they had left their homes and jobs to follow Jesus.

Today, people who leave home and jobs to help someone get elected, usually expect some kind of payoff, some kind of reward or recognition. The disciples were committed to Jesus, and they were looking for him to somehow reward their sacrifice. Each thought he deserved the position of greatest importance when Jesus took over his kingdom.

Just as Jesus knew what they had argued about, he also understood the longings that motivated their arguing. Mark tells us, he sat down. The people who first read this Gospel, knew what that meant. Sitting was the position a rabbi would take when he was getting reading to teach. It would be like saying today, the teacher went into the classroom.

Jesus used their arguing with one another as a teaching opportunity. Notice, he did not chastise them saying: "I am really disappointed in you." He understood their longing to have lives that mattered and to be persons who made a difference. So, he tried to tell them how to do that, how to be persons who really matter in life.

Jesus said: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." And then to help demonstrate what he meant, he brought a little child among them, and taking the child in his arms, he said: "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

To understand what Jesus was saying, it is important to know that in Jesus' day children were at the bottom of society. Unlike our society in which community life and family life sometimes go overboard in focusing on and revolving around the children, in Jesus' day, children were to fit into the adult world as best they could. They were to start working to help the family as soon as they were able, and their status in society was about that of a slave.

Jesus was saying, "You want to matter, to make a difference, to be important - truly important? You want to be the person God created you to be? Well, you have to realize that what God values is not always what the society values."

By and large, our society says: 'You can gage a person's importance by the amount of power and influence she or he has over other people. The more people a person can get to do what he or she wants done, the more important that person is.' But Jesus was saying it is the other way around. In the eyes of God, the people who are most important are not the ones who have many people serving them, but rather those persons who serve many people. Status in the eye of God is not measured by our relationship with people of power and prestige, but rather by our relationship with those who are weak and in need.

And this relationship with those in need is to be a special relationship. The way Jesus put it was: "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

The key phrase in decoding this statement is "in my name." What does it mean to welcome someone "in the name of Christ"? It means to welcome them as Jesus would have. When we welcome them in his name, we treat them the way Jesus would. If you ask me to do something in your name, you are not merely asking me to do something; you are asking me to do something in your name, on your behalf. You are asking me to stand in for you and do it as you would, perhaps not with the same style but toward the same end or purpose. You are asking me to do it "in your name."

When we deal with those who have the least power and the greatest need the way Jesus would (that is, deal with them in his name) we not only serve them, but in the process of serving them we do what pleases Christ, and what makes God welcome in our lives. It is certainly true that when we do not deal with others as Jesus would, God is less than welcome; in fact, when that is the way we are behaving, we would prefer not to think about God, and we view as meddling anyone who calls God and God's will to our attention.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor-theologian hanged by the direct order of Adolf Hitler, once wrote that true authority, that is, true importance, is the authority or importance of a servant. Certainly the people who are most important to me, those who are the true authorities in my life are those who have served me in significant ways: certain teachers, a few friends, some colleagues some of my relatives, all of whom served me by making my life better in someway or helping to bring out the best in me. I not only look to these persons and hold them in my memories, I look up to them. They are the most important people in my life. They are the ones who have real authority in my living.

The disciples wanted their lives to matter. They wanted their lives to have some significance; they wanted to make a difference -- to have some importance in life. It was this longing that led them to argue about which one was most important. And it was this longing to matter, to make a difference in life, that Jesus was talking about when he said: "You want to be important? Stop trying to obtain important positions and get on with the business of serving and helping people. And it is not just the people of influence you are to serve; you are to serve those who need you most, such as this child, people with no influence and without power, who are truly in need. And when you serve them, do not serve with ulterior motives, not even the ulterior motive of trying to be important and making a difference. Just serve them because they need what you have to offer. Serve them the way I serve. Serve them in my name."

Let us pray: God, help us focus on being faithful rather than on trying to be important. Amen.

Pastoral prayer:

We pray for all those who suffered loss in the storm of this past week. Give them courage and strength. We pray for all those whose lives have been tossed by the storms of life - especially those whose lives are battered by storm winds of hate and who are in danger of being drowned in old resentments. May they be rescued from all that continues to tear apart of the fabric of their lives. Enable them to let go of the pain and angers in their yesterdays so that they will be able to grasp the positive possibilities in today and tomorrow. We pray for those who are dealing with fear about what the future may hold for themselves or for someone they love. Give them the capacity to trust you and your grace so completely that they experience that peace the world does not understand - the peace that is possible even when life presents us with a cross to bear. Give them what they need so that in the midst of all they are going through, they are able to be their best selves - the persons you have created them to be. Enable each of us to fulfill that possibility so that we live as Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."