Amen.
Jesus was traveling through Galilee. He didn't want his presence
to be known because he wanted to have this opportunity to teach
his disciples. There were important truths that were meant just
for their ears, there were realities he had to be sure they understood.
When he got them alone and when Jesus thought they were focused
he said to them, "Do you understand that I will be betrayed
and I will be killed. And I will rise from the dead. Do you understand?"
Jesus was not being clairvoyant here but he could see the handwriting
on the wall. He knew the realities of power, he knew the insecurity
of the establishment and he could surmise what was going to happen.
This was the first time Jesus had this heart to heart with the
disciples. How could he be clearer? But they did not understand.
They did not understand because they still saw Jesus as the crowd magnet, the charismatic leader who was lauded and applauded. They still imagined that Jesus would one day be carried through the streets on the shoulders of waves of admirers. Now, if we imagine Jesus to be this kind of leader then of course we must assume that the disciples are wondering who will be his second in command. "Which of us will he invite into his private cabinet?" they ask. " Who will be singled out for special status. On who will Jesus' favor rest, who's favorite, who's greatest?" That's what they were talking about as they went along the way.
Just as the disciples didn't want to admit it, we too often don't want to admit that a lot of our lives "along the way" are spent in wondering, "where do we stand in the pecking order, how do we rate over against others?" A lot of the striving we do focuses on how to be the greatest the greatest athlete, the greatest business person, the greatest teacher, the greatest mom, even perhaps the greatest Christian.
Jesus doesn't browbeat the disciples with their lack of understanding, but he does grab the opportunity for what we would call "a teaching moment." He gathers them together and says let me try putting this a different way. "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. The greatest among you will walk with me the path of suffering and might very well end up at the cross."
Considering that these disciples might be visual rather than auditory learners, he spies a child nearby, brings it into the teaching circle, embraces it and says, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
Now you have to understand, the culture of Jesus day didn't quite have the same take on childhood that the culture of our day does. In Jesus day Childhood "was a time of terror. Infant mortality rates sometimes reached 30 percent. Another 30 per cent of live births were dead by age six, and sixty percent were gone by age sixteen. Children always suffered first from famine, war disease and dislocation. Children had little status within the community or family. A minor child was on a par with a slave,..The term child could be used as a serious insult. (Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992)
Jesus is not trying to make the point, as he does in the gospel of Matthew, that the disciples should become like children. No, here Jesus is saying that our responsibility as disciples is to care for those who are the most vulnerable. Children are not the only vulnerable members of our society but they are an example of all those who have no voice for themselves, who have no political clout, who have no say in the forces that impact them.
Jesus says to us, "If you think that I am important, then don't just say it with your words. Show it with your actions." If you think that I am important," says Jesus, "then serve. Because that's what I'm all about." And to help his disciples understand what he was talking about, Jesus took a child into his arms and said that whoever welcomed a child was welcoming him. And so Jesus was saying that if you believe in me, then you will serve even the lowest of the low. That's at the heart of what Jesus is all about. The single most important teaching that Jesus wants to give us is; to care for others, even for those who have no right to expect anything from us.
Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, who
has spent her life studying ancient man, was once asked what was
the first sign of civilization? And the person asking her that
question expected her to answer by saying that civilization began
when the first tools were made or when crops were planted for
the first time. But instead, Margaret Mead said that in her opinion,
the earliest sign of civilization is some remains that show that
a broken leg was allowed to heal. Now you might wonder, what does
a broken leg have to do with civilization? But Margaret Mead points
out that back in pre-historic times, if you had a broken leg,
that meant that you could not hunt, you could not work; you could
do almost nothing to help yourself. In other words, if you had
a broken leg, you were nothing but a liability. But apparently
those remains indicate that instead of allowing that person with
the broken leg to die, the other people must have cared for that
injured person and brought him food. And that act of compassion,
that act of serving, Margaret Mead says in her opinion, is the
first sign of civilization.
To care for others, to care even for those who are nothing more
than a liability, that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus
Christ.
During a recent war, a newspaper reporter was being shown around a makeshift hospital where wounded soldiers were being treated. As they were making their way among the beds, the reporter came across a little nun who was serving as a nurse. She had removed a bandage from a soldier's leg and was cleaning the awful-looking and foul-smelling wound. The reporter got a disgusted look on his face and said, "I wouldn't do that for $500,000." The nun looked up at him and said, "Neither would I." Sometimes as Christians we are called upon to do things for other people, that there's not enough money in the world to pay us for those things. But we do them anyway. Because that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be great in the eyes of God.
Most of the world has a very different idea of what it means to be great. Every Saturday afternoon college football players rush out onto the field with their index fingers in the air, announcing that their team is #1. And each week polls come out to declare which team is the greatest. But Jesus gives us a very different idea as to what it means to be great. Because according to Jesus, to be great is to be someone who serves.
We live in a world where a lot of people don't want to be bothered or don't want to see anything that would not be appealing and pretty. Perhaps we feel that our efforts are too insignificant or too small to matter but Jesus calls us to care. In our world today it is estimated that 100 million children work in jobs where they can be hurt or killed. More than 80 million children live on the streets. The youngest children suffer the most. Each year 15 million children under the age of 5 die from lack of food, safe water, shelter, proper sanitation or basic medical care. It's only a drop in the bucket but in Jesus' name our benevolences provide food and medical care for thousands of refugee children. In Brazil among the millions of street children who struggle to meet their most basic needs our Lutheran Church has a ministry called Children's Reconciliation which helps children who are abandoned with a place to live, food, basic schooling and job skills. In Indonesia we have a program to develop kindergartens in remote villages. In China a foundation provides surgical and physical rehabilitation for young polio victims. Right here in Chicago, Lutheran Family Mission, Lutheran Day Nursery and Lutheran Social Services all work to provide a safe, caring and stimulating environment for literally hundreds of children who are most vulnerable. How can we do less?
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes one such
child in my name welcomes me"
Amen.