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Sunday, September 11, 2005
Me First Me First
9th in a series on Following Jesus Through the Gospel of Mark
By Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz
Mark 9
1 And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power." 2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. 11 Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" 12 He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him."
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. 16 He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" 17 Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so." 19 He answered them, "You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me." 20 And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us." 23 Jesus said to him, "If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes." 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!" 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!" 26 After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead."** 27** But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. 28 When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29 He said to them, "This kind can come out only through prayer."
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 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." 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." 38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." 39 But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us.
41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. 42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 44 (No verse given) 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 46 (No verse given) 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. 49 "For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
I want to tell you about a sermon I heard on some of these verses that was one of the worst sermons I ever heard.
We preachers can be fairly critical of each other’s work, you know, and I have some high expectations of my colleagues which are sometimes not met when people don’t take the role of the preacher seriously and do a shallow job in explaining the Bible and then applying the Bible to our lives. This role of the preacher can make a big difference for our spiritual growth or it can leave us empty and disappointed, and if I give it my best the preparation time and reading time for a sermon takes 18-20 hours of my week. And I myself have been guilty of doing many poor sermons, some of which I was remembering last week as we drove in Texas through the small town where I had my first opportunity as a minister in a five church circuit for a few months and met dear people who were kind enough to put up with me as a beginning preacher.
The sermon I remember from this chapter of Mark was from someone who should have known better. Judy and I were in California last spring for the meeting of the national board which she just finished chairing and we were available Sunday for church. We were in Anaheim and our hotel was just five blocks from the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller’s church and we wanted to attend. The campus and buildings were just lovely and it is fitting that Schuller has gotten awards from the American Institute of Architecture for his bold work with those church buildings.
Dr. Schuller was in the service that morning but his failing health prevented him from doing the sermon, and it was his son - also Dr. Schuller - who was the preacher for the morning. His son looked at this story from Mark’s gospel about the man who comes to Jesus asking for healing for his own son. Schuller talked about this man’s statement that he does believe, he does have faith, but he needs help from Jesus in his unbelief, he needs help where his faith falls short. And Schuller made fun of this man! He ridiculed him for being weak, being a mixture of belief and unbelief, faith and lack of faith.
I was disappointed and sad, because in my experience, the man in the story who comes to Jesus represents so many of us: he has hope and confidence in Christ and he also knows that he is still growing in his faith and he has not arrived yet. One translator puts his statement this way: I do have faith Lord, but help me where my faith falls short! Can you identify with that? I can and most of us can when we are honest. His statement is so true of most of us in this room.
Most importantly-how does Jesus respond to that honesty in the man who is standing before him pleading for the health of his son? Does Jesus say, Unless, your faith is perfect, I cannot help you??? NO! He accepts him, he understands him, and he heals his son. And the rest of the story is that Jesus accepts us and receives us the same way and helps us find an even deeper faith. When we come to Christ we do not have to have all of our stuff together! We don’t have to be free of doubt or skepticism. We can bring all of our doubts and questions along with us!
We may not even be able to say as much as this man says in the story. We may not even be able to say that we have some faith and ask for help where our faith falls short! All we may be able to say is, Jesus I think you may be able to help me and I am not sure of anything more than that, but I need your help and I don’t have any faith yet but I want to and I am asking if it is OK if I just learn about you and follow you around and let some of your light shine in my confused, shadowy life.
I want to have faith. Will you help me?
This story says - that is all we need to say! We can say those words to Christ, we can pray that prayer this week to Christ, and we will be on the way. I think that is good news. In fact I think that is GREAT news! And I was so sad that the preacher of the morning at the Crystal Cathedral that day did not see the grace that Christ shows to this man who comes to him in his mixture of belief and doubt and faith and unfaith and confusion and trust, because I think this man is us. That is the mixture that we usually bring to Christ and we find ourselves accepted just as we are and loved in a way that moves us beyond where we are.
This encounter is one of several important parts of this chapter. The chapter begins with Jesus taking his three closest disciples - who were they - Peter, James and John - to climb a mountain with him. It was probably Mount Nebo in the northern part of Israel and on the mountain they have a mountain top experience. They have a common vision where they are joined by Moses and Elijah. They hear God speaking saying that Jesus is God’s beloved son. And Peter does not know what to say so he says something anyway! Let’s just stay up here and enjoy this experience and let’s build a monument-three monuments or shrines to honor Jesus and Moses and Elijah. But they can’t do that and Jesus takes them down into the valley into the real world again where they meet the man whose son has epilepsy.
Why is it important that Moses and Elijah are the figures who appear with Jesus? Moses was the one who God chose to liberate the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses was seen to be the first prophet. Moses was chosen by God even though he had a speech impediment and thought God should just choose someone else, and besides he was a murderer and a criminal.
Elijah was seen to be one of the most important prophets in the Hebrew Bible and had boldly confronted some pagan magicians on mount Carmel-we will see the statue to Elijah next February when we take our pilgrimage to Israel. Elijah was courageous and spoke boldly for God, though he was flawed himself and suffered from depression. And Elijah was to be the forerunner for the messiah when the long expected messiah came to God’s people. Mark’s gospel is telling us in this mountaintop story that Jesus is the Messiah people have been looking for, he is the one you and I have been looking for to help us get our lives in order and turn us in the right direction.
There are three other parts of this chapter that I think are important. After Jesus has healed the boy with epilepsy, his disciples ask why they were not able to do that themselves and Jesus says that there are some things that are only possible through prayer. He continues to be a role model for them and for us in the solitary prayer time he practices on a regular basis and he is saying again in this story that unless we pray, some things will not be possible. Our prayer life can make a difference not only for our closeness to God but for what God is able to do then through us. President Bush has rightly asked us in our response to Hurricane Katrina to spend time this week in prayer.
After that healing story Mark tells us that Jesus had heard his friends arguing and when they got back to Capernaum to their house there, he asked them what they had been arguing about. Do you remember what it was? If I had been one of the disciples I would have been embarrassed to say the answer. They were arguing about which of them was most important, which of them was the greatest! Or maybe it was about which of them Jesus favored the most. It might have followed them being jealous that Jesus had taken only three of them to the top of the mountain with him. Incidentally it is the same three he takes to be close beside him when he is praying all night in the Garden of Gethsemane before he is killed the next day.
How do you think Jesus felt when they had been through the time on top of the mountain with Moses and Elijah and then the emotional healing of the boy with epilepsy and his friends are arguing about which of them is most important or which is the greatest?
In the gospel of Luke this story is placed in a sequence that is even more dramatic. In that Gospel the same argument breaks out just after they have celebrated the Passover, the last supper and Jesus had given that memorial meal to them and us to celebrate. It was a sacred and holy time-and then his friends argue about who is the favorite or most important!!!!
Jesus gives them and us a life lesson. He says that while the values around us teach us to just focus on ourselves and to think ME, ME, ME, ME, ME and what’s in it for ME-that his friends are to be different. We are to learn to serve. He has said in last week’s chapter that the way to find real life at its best is to lose ourselves in something bigger that just ourselves. “If anyone wants to come after me let them forget themselves and take up a cross and follow me for whoever tries to keep their life will lose it but whoever loses themselves in me and in my good news will find life."
He echoes that here. The way to be great is to be a servant. The way to find life is to stop looking out just for yourself and look out for the wellbeing of others, to love others in the same way we love ourselves.
There is a six page article in this week’s New Yorker magazine about Rick Warren and his book and about his church in California. I will make it available for our class that begins this Tuesday morning at 7 in the chapel. The article tells about some recent changes in direction for Rick Warren that I am happy to see. He says that since the success of his book-23 million copies sold-that he has seen that it is now his role to speak up for those who have no influence! He says, “I started reading through scripture and wondered how I missed the 2000 verses on the poor in the Bible. I said, God, I will use whatever affluence and influence you give me to help those who are marginalized.
He has now sat down with gay community leaders to talk about fighting AIDS. He has made repeated trips to Africa.
We all have read about the influence of his book even with the prisoner who escaped from an Atlanta courthouse and was read to from the book and turned himself in.
There are parts of his book that I think many of us will find we disagree with and it shows the difference between Calvinists and Methodists, a difference that has been strong for 250 years since John Wesley started the Methodist movement and had his most trouble with Calvinists who said that God has predestined everything in your life and that there are no accidents and that everything that happens comes from God. You will hear some of that pre destination and determinism in Warren’s book. Those beliefs are not United Methodist beliefs.
And you will also hear some very important truths about why we are here and how we find life at its best. His opening line in the book echoes Jesus’ words this morning.
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!
You are not the center of the universe.
Warren says, “We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige and position…. In our self serving culture with its me first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. However Jesus measured greatness in terms of service, not status.”
What has been encouraging and inspiring the past two weeks in the wake of Katrina is to see so many examples of Americans showing that biblical insight, that we are here to serve one another, to help one another, to make a difference.
You want to be a leader, to make a contribution, James Autry, CEO of a publishing company says in his book on our bookshelves? Then learn to be a servant leader. Learn to serve. Because it’s not about you. It is about the difference you and I can make in the short time we are alive.
What would it mean this week for you to learn to be more of a servant leader?
The last thing Jesus does in this chapter reinforces what he says about being a servant. He puts his arm around a child and says that people who welcome children are welcoming him.
This does not seem unusual to us at all because we are much more child friendly than they were in ancient times. In Jesus’ time, children were not to be welcomed or seen or heard. They were nuisances and were to be swept aside especially when important people like Jesus and his friends were around-but, the same was true for any grownups.
Jesus is saying here the same thing he will say in the next chapter when he takes up for the rights of women who also had no status in his time: he is saying that the way of life he is offering is revolutionary. It is counter cultural. It goes against what people are taught about status and prestige and greatness and turns all of that on its head so that the least of all people-children, women, lepers, gentiles, the poor-all of those whom were thought to be less than others, all of those who are left out and left behind-are counted among the family of God, and that the way to measure greatness is not by how many people serve us, but by how well we serve others-particularly those who are on the margins and the edges.
This is dangerous and inflammatory talk. It could get a person killed.