This is a reflection on this Sunday's Revised Common Lectionary passage for the Second Presbyterian Men's Bible Study, Chattanooga, TN Sept. 17, 2015
note: A few typographical errors in the latter paragraphs have been corrected in the original post.
note: A few typographical errors in the latter paragraphs have been corrected in the original post.
Gospel passage: Mark
9:30-37
Lamar Williamson wrote in
his commentary that Mark
has revealed to us an intensely human side of Jesus. Jesus manifests the range of human emotion, pity,
compassion, weariness, frustration, even anger. Yet in the introductory text of this chapter
we have the revelation to the disciples of the divine transcendence of Jesus in
the Transfiguration.
In these first nine chapters, Mark has taken us on a sprint through the
three-year ministry of Jesus in Galilee and environs. We now are closing in on
the entry to Jerusalem and the final days of the life of Jesus. The events in
this chapter signal both the death of Jesus and prepare the disciples for time after this event.
30They went on from there and passed through
Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for 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.” 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were
afraid to ask him.
We are in Galilee, the land of the outsiders.
(See Mark
1:9-20, Mark
16:7 for the significance of Galilee.) Although Jesus has pointedly called
his closest disciples together removed from the crowd, they are in Galilee.
Galilee points to the outsider status of us all. This passage speaks to us
also.
This is the second prediction of the Passion.
“…He did not want anyone to know it, for he was teaching his disciples…” Each
prediction plays a role in establishing the nature of true discipleship for the
persons he has called to Him. This is not a public sermon, or teaching for the
crowds. This is a private lesson for his disciples; yet again either because of
fear or other things, the disciples do not yet understand what Jesus means by
these words. This prediction is vast. In 8:31, Jesus says
the religious leaders will reject him and be an instrument of his death. Here
in 9: 31 the indictment becomes universal. “The Son of Man” will be betrayed
into human hands. Jesus alone uses this title, “Son of Man” and the irony of
this statement cannot be overlooked. The indictment is against the sin of the
whole human race.
33Then they
came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you
arguing about on the way?” 34But they were silent, for on the way
they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
The extent of their lack of
understanding could not be more explicitly described. Four of the disciples
have “been to the mountaintop” with Jesus and seen the true manifestation of
his identity; yet on the way to Capernaum in Galilee they argue who is the
greatest among them. (Some Greek dictionaries suggest the word “argue” implies
an quiet, or private argument not intended for public voice.)
Notice Jesus is not questioning
the disciples, not the other way around. Following the idea this was a private
argument, the disciples must react with embarrassment that Jesus is questioning
them about a “secret” discussion that falls on the heels of the Transfiguration
experience and the just stated denial of self by Jesus speaking of his death.
Mark’s use of “in the house” is
his common way to signify special instructions are to follow. I suspect Mark
intends that we should also recognize that we are “back home” in Capernaum in
Galilee, and that this passage speaks to us as well as the disciples.
35He sat down,
called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of
all and servant of all.” 36Then 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.”
This again is an exposition of
the reversal of human logic. If we reread Mark 8:30-37 we see this idea
presented in the first revelation of the impending Passion. We will find
this reversal of values again in Mark 10:43-44, as well as
in the other two synoptic Gospels (Matthew 23:11-12; Luke 9:48, 22: 24-26.)
This passage
returns to the theme of children. We discussed earlier that children were held
in lowest esteem within the Greco-Roman world (the principle of pater familias). Jesus' use of “children” as a symbol of humanity and the
idea of reversal (first and last) convey the message that anyone in need of help
(the oppressed) is the subject of his teaching, and we are to put these needs before our own.
Reflection:
I have often thought that Mark
is the gospel message to the oppressed. Galilee was the land of the oppressed;
religiously, politically and economically. We may find our own Galilee almost
any place in society that we search among the rich and the poor where human
vanity blinds our compassion for our neighbor.
The key to this passage is the
repeated prediction of the Passion and the humiliation of the disciples somehow
caught in their private argument about who is the greatest by this
compassionate Jesus who speaks of his greatest sacrifice.
This argument strikes at the
heart of human vanity and values in contrast to Divine values. At the feeding
of the 5000 Jesus looked upon the crowd of humanity and had compassion
because they seemed to be sheep without a shepherd. Here, he draws upon the
child, something considered outrageous or humorous to the unbelieving Romans,
or, perhaps…even to us?
Jesus uses the low esteem of children in Greco-Roman
world to covey the need to put the need of anyone who is in need of help
(oppressed) before one’s own needs
This reversal of status speaks
to the cavernous divide between radical Islam and Christianity, and by extension
the entire Western world. While Jesus proclaims the power of the virtue of
humility and the demand to be last to be first; Islam carries a thread of a
prosperity “Gospel” that expects a reward in the present day for the aptly
religious person. It is easy to see how militant Islam arises from the
dissonance of these ideas with less than absolute worldly success.
Christianity faces a greater
challenge in its obligation to proclaim the opposite virtue of compassion and
humility. Being last to achieve the goal of being first does not mean we should
all become “nobodies” but rather that our behavior towards others ought to
reflect discipleship not stumbling blocks. One may also venture to wonder if the perception of many radical/militant Muslims that
Western Christianity is enjoying wealth and stature at the expense of many in
need in its embrace of modernity speaks to our lackadaisical response
to the teaching of Jesus in this passage, and in his discourse next week. Whether
we are hated for our culture or our actions is almost moot in this regard.
Of course that sword cuts both ways for us all, including the petro-chemical sheikdoms.
Who is the greatest but the servant of all?
Amen
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