Mark 9:30-37
With his second passion prediction, Jesus continues to lay the groundwork for what is coming. The disciples still do not understand…and are afraid to ask him. As they walk toward Capernaum, however, the same disciples have no problem arguing with one another about who is the greatest among them.
Perhaps it is not who is greatest among us, but we find plenty of things to argue about. Whether we look at the national political stage or the minutiae of church budgets, chances are, as you read this today, there is some kind of argument on your mind, and on the minds of those who come to hear good news preached. We humans are good at arguing, following Jesus on the road to Capernaum or wherever we find ourselves in 2024.
"As Jesus flips the expectations about greatness, perhaps this is a proclamation opportunity for us to flip the script, too."
Jesus silences their argument about greatness with this: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” This is Jesus’ definition of greatness, which we see most clearly in the cross and in the call to humble service. How are the arguments closest to us today countered by this definition of greatness?
Greatness, defined this way, brings us back to the cross and to the words of the psalmist, “Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who sustains my life.” It is not about what we do, but what the crucified and risen Christ does, in, through, and around us. The ways that the call to humble service brings us face to face with those with whom we disagree, and who, also, are created in God’s image and who, too, are called God’s beloved ones.
Caught up in our own arguments, be they about who is the greatest among us or one of the many other things about which we find to argue, Christ brings us back to the cross, the center of our lives together. That place in which he promises to find us, that place in which we are given life, even in the midst of death and despair. He reminds us that “it is the Lord who sustains” our lives, not our own action or greatness or ability to win the debate. Life comes not from our own greatness, but God’s. Greatness that takes the form of death and resurrection, greatness we find on the cross, and greatness in the many ways this promise continues to play out in our midst today.
As Jesus flips the expectations about greatness, perhaps this is a proclamation opportunity for us to flip the script, too. The disciples argue about their greatness, but are silent about the cross. Today, be bold in telling the truth about the saving power of the cross, about the ways that it has led to humble service. Be bold and brave today (and always!), proclaiming the ways that the cross redefines power, greatness, death and resurrection. This is the promise, after all, that leads to life, to freedom, to service. This is the promise that, in its greatness, unites and saves us, gathering us in and sending us out.
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