The Last in Line
Mark 9:30-37
Ever play “King of the Mountain” when you were a little kid?
It doesn’t take any equipment.
All you need is a pile of dirt or maybe a mound of snow.
Then, several children run up the mound and try to push the others off on their way to the top.
Whoever is left standing at the top of the “Mountain” is the greatest or the “King of the Mountain.”
I learned that game when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old.
How about you?
From an early age, many if not most of us, whether it is done intentionally or not, are taught that greatness implies power, strength, fame, wealth and all the other things that make things go our way.
A person is often thought of as a great success if they have a lot of money, drive an expensive car, live in a big house, and it goes on and on.
But this morning’s gospel lesson begs the question: “What makes people truly great?”
This is a question that has been on people’s minds since the beginning of time.
What constitutes greatness?
Having just heard Jesus tell them that He will be betrayed, killed and resurrected on the third day, the disciples remain clueless as to what Jesus is talking about and, therefore, clueless about what Jesus is really about and what true greatness is.
And so, they are walking on a path.
And on that path, they start arguing with one another about which one of them is the greatest.
Perhaps they are comparing which one of them has spent the most time with Jesus, or maybe which one has seen the greatest miracle or perhaps performed the greatest miracle.
We don’t really know.
What we do know is that Jesus is not impressed.
I can imagine Jesus saying, “Hey, there was a lot of excitement back there on the road, what were you all talking about?”
And then, I can imagine the embarrassment that the disciples felt.
With their eyes focused on the ground, not one of them answered.
They had been caught with their pride on display.
Jesus’ response is to sit them down for a time of instruction.
Jesus was their rabbi and in rabbinic Judaism the rabbi always sat down with his students around him.
And the teaching takes two forms.
One is a pronouncement and the other is a demonstration.
The pronouncement is: “Anyone who wants to be first”—or in this case the greatest—“must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
This had to have confused them, because it wasn’t what they had been taught by the world—and if we are honest—it’s not what we were taught either.
The world’s standards of greatness are usually yoked with power over others, wealth, control, status and influence.
But that’s not how Jesus sees it.
And so, to drive home His point He gives them the demonstration part of His teaching.
He takes a little child who happened to be hanging around the house, picks the child up, and embraces the child in His arms.
From our vantage point, this seems cute: “Aaawh, Jesus picks up and hugs a child.”
But it was not likely cute to Jesus’ disciples.
In their day, children were definitely “seen but not heard.”
Children weren’t worth much until they grew up and proved themselves.
They were considered nobodies.
Their worth was tied up in their potential as adults, not in their being children.
But here Jesus places a child in the center of their attention and says, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
What in the world does that mean?
“In my name” means something like, “because of me,” or “having learned it from me.”
(pause)
What if we imagined that we all were in agreement that greatness isn’t about power and wealth and fame and all the rest, but instead greatness is measured by how much we share with others, how much we take care of others, how much we love others, how much we serve others?
What kind of world would we live in?
Can you imagine a planet full of people trying to outdo one another with their deeds of kindness and service?
What if there were nationally televised competitions to see who is willing to be the last in line so that others can go first?
What kind of world would we live in?
(pause)
A study that came out four years ago, found that drivers of flashy cars are less likely to stop and allow pedestrians to cross the road than drivers of less flashy cars.
The likelihood people will slow down for a pedestrian decreases 3% for every extra $1,000 that their vehicle is worth.
Researchers from the University of Nevada speculated that the expensive car owners “feel a sense of superiority over other road users” and are less able to empathize with lowly sidewalk dwellers.
They came to this conclusion after asking volunteers to cross a road hundreds of times, filming and analyzing the responses of the drivers.
Could it be that the more we spend on ourselves rather than using our resources to help and serve others—the more blind we become to the needs of others, or the less we care about the most vulnerable members of society—the homeless, the hungry, the down and out, the marginalized, the hotel maid, the person who serves us food at a fast food restaurant?
Imagine the good that the church could do for the world if all the members of the church were to give ten percent of their income to God—to tithe?
But selfishness, greed, looking out for number one seems to have a snowball effect on us.
It’s a slippery slope, a dangerous playground…because the more we put ourselves above others, the more callous we become…
…the more greedy…
…the less empathetic we continue to become to the needs of others.
And that tends to make the world a not-so-great place.
The definition of greatness Jesus offers may seem crazy initially because it is so completely and utterly counter cultural.
He tells us that true greatness is found in service…
..taking care of those who are most vulnerable—those with little influence or power, those who are least likely to be able to pay us back, those who the culture is most likely to ignore.
How are you, how am I doing at measuring our success, our greatness, not by what we take in but by what we give away?
Not by the influence we have, but by the selfless service we offer?
Not by accumulating more, but by sharing what we already have?
Not by being first, but by being eager to work hard in order to see others get ahead?
Make no mistake.
This stuff is hard.
It was hard for the first disciples and it’s hard for us.
But here’s the thing: the road the disciples are traveling on with Jesus when they fall into their petty arguments about who is the greatest is the road to Jerusalem.
Even while the disciples misunderstand, don’t believe or just plain ignore what Jesus is saying, Jesus is walking the road to Jerusalem and the Cross—willingly—in order to sacrifice everything for them and for us.
“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” or we could say, “While we were yet arguing on the road to the Cross about which one of us is the greatest—Christ died for us!”
It’s amazing and beautiful at the same time.
True greatness is to be like Jesus, a Truly POWERFUL PERSON, Who found the value of His life to be in embodying the will of God—which includes lowliness, humility, self-giving service and following the path to the Cross in order to save a world that can’t save itself.
Jesus turns everything upside down.
He is the King, but He wears a crown of thorns.
He is the Christ—God in the flesh—but allows Himself to be broken on the Cross.
True greatness, we learn from and through Jesus Christ is determined by humility and vulnerability.
It’s determined by self-giving sacrifice, truthfulness and faithfulness.
And as Christ’s followers, Christ’s Church, Christ’s Body on this earth…
…if we are going to be like Him…
…if we are going to accomplish what we are capable of accomplishing we are going to have to embody His kind of greatness, so that the world can be transformed by a humility that is born out of LOVE.
May it be so.
Amen.
