This morning we come to a section of the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus will lay out various teachings on Kingdom morality. If the kingdom of God is coming into the world through the Messiah, Jesus, what sort of kingdom is it? What are its priorities and its laws? Who are its rulers? Who does it preference and who does it reject? Jesus begins to answer all of those questions with our passage from Mark 9:30-37. From this passage, see two points: Kingdom Priority, and Kingdom Preference.
First, from verses 30-35, see the kingdom priority. For the third time, Jesus reminds his disciples of the plan of God – that he must face the cross and on the third day, rise again. And, for the third time, the disciples just don’t get it. Mark notes, in verse 32, that they are even afraid to ask him what he means. Honestly, I think they should be afraid. After all, this is something he continues to remind them of, and they just aren’t picking it up. As a teacher, I’d start to get irritated, too! But, they cannot hide their dullness. Mark goes on, in verse 33, to tell us of a conversation they had on the way to Capernaum. I can imagine Jesus leading the way down the path to Capernaum, and his disciples linger behind, thinking they are just out of earshot, so that they might bicker over who Jesus likes the most. Whether Jesus could actually hear them or divinely knew of their conversation, I can’t say. But, at some point, he takes a break from the journey for a teaching moment. He sits them down and begins to teach, saying, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and a servant of all.” This statement is obviously aimed at their argument. Mark tells us that they were ashamed to answer him when he asked what they’d been arguing about because they had been fighting over who was the greatest. Now, Jesus goes directly at that issue by giving them the priority of the kingdom. To understand the teaching, we need to get a grasp on what is meant by “greatest” and “first.” These terms aren’t measures of quantity or position, as in the one who is the most powerful or the largest or the first in line. Rather, both words suggest the priority of authority. The disciples are debating who will be the first ruler or the greatest ruler in the Messiah’s kingdom. I’m sure they had their guesses as to who it would be. Perhaps it would be Judas. After all, he was trusted with the money. Maybe it will be Peter. Jesus certainly praised him for his confession. Could it be John? You could always find John close to Jesus’s side. These would not be unreasonable assumptions, at least by worldly standards. We measure greatness and priority based on these very things. We admire the shrewd businessman, the entrepreneur, the outspoken politician who is quick to offer his opinion, and the sympathetic leader. We give men and women authority based on these measures.
But, Jesus turns all of that on its head by saying, “if you would be first, you must be the last and a servant.” There are three aspects of this statement that we should not miss. First, the statement implies a willful decision on the part of the one who would be first in the kingdom. Jesus does not say (at least in this teaching) that the last are inherently first or that servants are rulers in the kingdom. He says, “IF anyone would be first…” In other words, if you want to be first in the kingdom, the way to that end is through lowly servanthood. The service God requires is a choice, not a circumstance. Certainly, there have been many who were born servants or slaves, but even they are not automatically the first in the kingdom because of it. You may be the despised child in the family, and because of that, you might think, “well, at least I will be the first in heaven because of it.” This is not what Jesus means. Rather, we are to choose service out of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and out of a desire to honor God. As Rom. 12:10-11 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor… serve the Lord.”
Second, being “last” and a “servant” are not positions but attitudes of the heart that are reflected in our actions. An employee can be a domineering, narcissistic ruler to his co-workers. He can despise his employer while still being obedient. On the other hand, a millionaire business owner can be a humble man or woman who cares for his employees and customers in a way that serves their best interests.
Third, we should take on this attitude, because this was the attitude of Christ. It is striking (and probably a great deal of a disappointment to Jesus), that the disciples were arguing about who would be the first in the kingdom immediately after he told them for a third time that he would go to the cross. He’d already told them that, if they were to follow him, they should take up their cross and deny themselves. Yet, here they are, looking for greatness. Jesus is not calling them to something he would not do himself. As he would tell them, after washing their feet in John 13, “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Paul would also give the example of Christ for us to follow in our service to others. In Phil. 2:5 he says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to hold on to, but made himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Even in his glorified state at the right hand of God, he is still known by his role as our servant. Rev. 2:8 says that he is “the first and the last, who died and came to life.” I’ve always read that statement to point to his eternal nature, but the Greek words for “first” and “last” there are the same words used in Mark 9. And, the statement connects “first” and “last” to his death and life. In other words, in Heaven, Jesus is first because he was last. He is the firstborn of all creation because he endured the cross and despised its shame.
Now, consider my second point: Kingdom preference. After making this striking statement, Jesus decides to give an object lesson by taking one of the children in their group and sitting him in his lap. Jesus cradles the child, and then he says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” Now, we tend to read our modern view of children into this. Americans have been heavily influenced by the Romantic movement, which idealized childhood. According to the 19th century Romantics, children are innocent and treasured. This was not so in first century Israel. To the Jews, children were neither innocent nor valuable. The Jewish philosopher, Philo, described children as irrational and incomplete. Rabbis taught that children were only useful insofar as they could be trained for adulthood. A 2nd century BC rabbinical writing known as the Ben Sira describes a parent’s responsibility over his children in this way, “Do not laugh with him, lest you have sorrow with him, and in the end you will gnash your teeth. Give him no authority in his youth, and do not ignore his errors. Bow down his neck in his youth, and beat his sides while he is young, lest he become stubborn and disobey you, and you have sorrow of soul from him. Discipline your son and take pains with him, that you may not be offended by his shamelessness.” Now, certainly, I believe in disciplining children, but not for the reasons the Ben Sira gives. Not once does it say that you should discipline a child for his good, or so that he might learn to trust the Lord. Every reason given is so that the parents might be benefited by it. Parents were not to show affection or friendship, only discipline and expectation.
This is why what Jesus did would have been a shock or scandal to his disciples. In the midst of this discussion over greatness – a very serious subject – Jesus draws in a little child and sits him in his lap. This child is a stand-in for anyone who is lowly and despised, for the oppressed and outcast. He does this to answer the question, “How exactly do I live as one who is last and a servant?” Here is how: you receive the one society despises. You serve little children cookies at VBS with a heart that seeks their good. You help build a ramp for a neighbor. You prepare a dish for a friend who has lost a loved one. You listen to an employee’s family struggles and pray with him. You treat every man, not based on his skin color, and not even based on the content of his character, but based on the fact that he are made in the image of God. When you do so, Jesus says that you are not only receiving that person, but you are also receiving him. And, if you receive him, then you also receive the Father.
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