In Jesus Holy Name September 19, 2021
Text: Mark 9:35 Ephesians 2:10 Redeemer
“Who is the Greatest? A Child?”
Just two weeks ago we had our family reunion. We had a great time. We went to see the Elephant Seals lying on the beach at Cambria. We played games. Some of the family members took a tour of a near by college. Some took naps. We all fixed meals together, each family was assigned a specific meal. The house had 9 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. There was one room which occupied our two granddaughters, Reagan and Ella the entire weekend. It was the laundry room with all the cleaning supplies, towels and washing machines, ironing board and bathroom supplies.
These two girls played the game of housekeeper all week end. They were the hotel servants, refreshing our bathrooms with supplies, making everyone’s beds, doing laundry. They were having a great time being servants to everyone.
We know what the Jesus told the disciples:. “If you want to be first then you must be the servant to all.” Here’s the question: Are you having fun being a servant?
After the healing of the child who was deaf and unable to speak, the disciples and Jesus were heading back to Capernaum. On the way Jesus overheard the disciples arguing. When Jesus asked…they admitted that they were arguing over who was going to be the greatest in the coming kingdom.
People grasp at greatness. So powerful is the desire to be great, or to own something that provides greatness, people are willing to do unusual stunts to grab attention. We grasp at greatness. We desire “likes” on our Facebook page.
It has, almost since the beginning of time been that way. The Bible tells us that Satan desired to be as great as God, and thus Satan rebelled against God’s authority. He was cast out of God’s presence. It was this same desire for greatness which led our first ancestors, Adam and Eve to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Satan told them they would be like “God” knowing good and evil. Believe me, they had no idea what evil was…. Their world was perfect. There was no death… they had no knowledge no experience of illness nor death.
So the temptation to know what God knew was enough. Their search for greatness introduced this world, and into our lives the sins of envy, greed, lust prejudice, and hatred. Behaviors which are displayed when trying to act greater than someone else. (notes from my sermon on Matthew 18)
Look through your bible. It is positively filled with people who got involved with issues of greatness. The brothers Isaac and Esau got into a family feud as to which would receive a special blessing. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because they believed he considered himself to be better than they. King Saul struggled for supremacy over David.
Not even Jesus’ disciples managed to escape the ongoing debate over who would be the greatest. The disciples were jockeying for position… Jesus was on a mission, sent by the Creator of the universe, His father, to seek and save people who are alienated from the love of their Creator. Jesus knew He was living under the shadow of the cross to come.
Jesus kept telling the disciples that he was going to Jerusalem where he would be arrested, tried, crucified, and murdered, and then rise on the third day, in order to reestablish peace and forgiveness between human beings and our God. His life, death and resurrection is what provides an open gate into heaven.
They did not understand so their conversations, their arguments
centered around themselves. Rather than seeing Jesus as the only person worthy of the title “Great”, they fought and feuded over which of them would be #1 in the new kingdom Jesus was going to establish. They wanted to know who was going to drive the Tesla, who was going to sit behind the wheel.
Eventually Jesus had enough and asked them to tell Him what they were talking about. Shamefaced, “Well, Lord,… we were sort of wonderin’ which of us is going to be Your Right-hand man and which of us ought to be sending out our resumes? Jesus was patient. “unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven….
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
So, what is going on here in Chapter 9? Why does Mark include this conversation about servanthood and children, and then repeats again the invitation of Jesus to let the children to come to Him, in Mark 10?
I’m going to repeat the answer to why Mark has written his gospel from 9 weeks ago. Question #1 What is Mark trying to tell his reader?” The answer: Jesus is the visible presence of the invisible God. There is a 2nd question. If He is the visible presence of the invisible God “What is Jesus to do?”
To understand this section in Mark let’s return to the beginning of the bible.
1. “God did not need to create the world to be complete.”
2. God did not need to create human beings to be complete. God does not need people. God is not dependent on people to carry out His plans. God could terminate evil in the blink of an eye and bring human history to the end He desires at any moment. He is not incomplete without our worship, but He desires it.” (Michael Hieser The Unseen Realm p. 32)
3. Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s one command, several things have happened. Death became a human reality. Everything dies. Harmony and peace with our Creator and our fellow human beings has been lost.
Question: How can it be restored?
a. Jesus came to restore the promise of eternal life, because God created human beings with a soul and body that was never meant to die. This is why Jesus told the disciples… “The Son of Man will be betrayed. They will kill him and three days later he will rise from death.”
b. Jesus came to provide forgiveness of our broken commandments.
(Colossians 2:14) Once our broken commandments have been nailed to the cross, erased and forgiven…God invites us to be His partners, to be His “image bearers” in this world. (Ephesians 5:1)…Be imitators of Jesus, live a life of love.
God’s plan for our world is stated every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer. “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
c. The problem… how is that to be accomplished. Answer: Though the lives of Christians who are created in the “image of God”.
Mark in Chapter 9:31-37 sums up “What Jesus came to do” and “what we His disciples are to do” as people who bear His “Image”.
For Mark the true mission of Jesus was played out in an ongoing “cosmic war” between God and Satan over the control of the God’s creation, both the earth and the human body.
We know that Jesus called Satan a liar and the author of death. In the “Cosmic war” Satan’s goal was to destroy God’s perfect creation. When Satan entered God’s perfect Garden it was as if this evil angel was pointing a finger at “his” creator and said… “I’m going to destroy Your perfect world and Your perfect creation.”
In the Cosmic war Satan knew that God had sent His son to the planet He created. Satan then tried to disrupt God’s plan of salvation by killing the infant Jesus. Failing in that attempt, Satan tried to get God’s Redeemer to break a commandment. Remember in the 3rd temptation Satan spoke to the “Son of God” and said…. “I am the god of this world…. If you fall down and worship me I will give you all the power, all the glory, of all the kingdoms through out history. You don’t have to die on a cross. This was a brazen temptation to get Jesus to break the 1st commandment. “You shall have no other God before me”, the Most High God, the Creator of the Universe. This temptation failed as well.
Answer to Question #2 . If He is the visible presence of the invisible God “What is Jesus to do?” The angel told Joseph: “You shall name your child Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
After living an absolutely perfect life Jesus was arrested, tried and crucified. He died on a Roman cross for you and me and all of humanity, to redeem our bodies and souls from eternal death. He rose from the grave on Easter morning, thus stripping Satan of His power to hold people in the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14) All of your broken commandments were nailed to His cross and left there. (Colossians 2:14)
If then we are the “image bearer’s” of God What are we to do?
If we are God’s partners in this world, and we are. We are to imitate Jesus. This is how “May Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” becomes reality.
1. We are created to do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10)
2. Jesus looks at the 12 disciples who are still missing the point. Jesus said quit arguing about who is the greatest. Then to make His point. He takes a small child and sits that child on His lap. “If you are going to “imitate” me, then if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. Who ever welcomes one of these little ones…welcomes me.
What does that mean? Take care of children! Don’t abuse children. Protect them, even if the greater society does not want to protect children. Open Christians schools. Teach children about Jesus at home and at church.
Final Question: How are you serving Jesus in your family, in your church, in your community? Are you happy in your serving?
