crofftdesigns

Lent 4B (March 18, 2012) Mark 9:30-37

        Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them,
      “What were you arguing about on the way?”
        But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
        He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,
            “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
        Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,
            “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me
            welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”                                        Mark 9:34-37


This is Jesus' second teaching that he will die and be raised on the third day. The disciples have no easier time wrapping their brains around it than they did days before in Caesarea Philippi.They are still fixated on the image of 'Messiah' they've always heard of, and are ready to start whacking elbows and jockeying for position.

Last year I left my Labrador retriever, Keira (you saw her 2 weeks ago eating popcorn!) with a friend who boards dogs in her home. She has a few of her own, and watches a few at a time so they truly 'live' with the family, not in a kennel. I was gone for over 2 weeks, and when I got back Janie told me after about 10 days of the 'boarding dogs' coming and going and Keira still there with 'her dogs', she noticed Keira starting to look around with a calculating eye as to if to say: Is it time to start figuring out my place in the pecking order?

That's how a pack governs and orders itself. But humans have other alternatives. And Jesus makes clear once again the 'pecking order reversal' that is expected of those who intend to be his disciple. To abandon seeking prestige and position and become like one who is completely without status, not even enough to repay a kindness (see Dan Nelson's Lutheran Seminary blog and Chris Haslam's Comments and Clippings).

+what does this say about how the Nominating Committees of our congregations, presbyteries, synods, and general assembly go about their work?
    +how does this leave us feeling when we consider the way we 'spend' our time and energy each day? how much is in humble service? how much in welcoming (serving) those without status?
+how well does our congregation truly welcome children and those without status into our life and community? does our language and music sound like it's from another country? do we dress in ways and do things that make us seem alien?
    +how can we be as welcoming to these others as we would be to Christ, and do it as deeply as Christ himself does for us? and how might that make our congregation look worse? better?