Homily Pentecost 17B Jeremiah 11:18-20 September 20, 2015 Psalm 54 Grace, River Forest James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37

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1 Homily Pentecost 17B Jeremiah 11:18-20 September 20, 2015 Psalm 54 Grace, River Forest James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37 In Jesus name. Amen A Children s Sermon for Grown-Ups Jesus is teaching his disciples in today s Gospel, as they travel through Galilee. And the first thing Jesus is teaching them, Mark says, is that he will be betrayed, delivered into human hands, killed and after three days, raised from the dead. This is not the first time the disciples had heard Jesus say this. But they were slow learners. They must have been in the Blue Birds reading group, or whatever was the code name for slow learners back then in the Galilee Consolidated School System because Mark tells us that they did not understand what [Jesus] was saying, and worse yet, they were afraid to ask him. I wonder why they were afraid to ask him, don t you? My hunch is that when they started following Jesus, they thought his story would have an upbeat ending: one filled with triumph and glory, not suffering and death, and plenty of reflected glory and prestige for themselves, as well.

2 After they arrive in the house where they were staying in Capernaum, Jesus asks the disciples what they were arguing about on the way. They have the good sense to remain silent, because what they were arguing about was who among them was the greatest. One scholar highlights the contrast: While Jesus speaks of being handed over to others, the disciples seek the upper hand over one another. (Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, Preaching the Gospel of Mark, p.166) Clueless might be a good word to describe the disciples, insensitive to what lay ahead for Jesus. James, in today s second reading, would probably be blunter with the arguing disciples: Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from: Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you, from bitter envy and selfish ambition? Mark says that what Jesus does next is sit down and call the 12 to him. Sitting was the posture of a teacher back then, and calling the disciples together is Jesus way of saying, Class is now in session. Jesus then enlightens them on what one scholar calls some of what it means to follow the one who must die. (Donald Juel, Mark, p. 133) Here s the thing, Jesus tells them. In the Kingdom of God, whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. And in case they were having trouble following, Jesus then preaches a children s sermon for his disciples.

3 That is, as you have already heard, Jesus takes a child we don t know if it s a boy child or a girl child, a toddler or a seven year old and places the child in the midst of the disciples. And taking the child in his arms, Jesus says to the disciples, Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, also welcomes the one who sent me. We have to know something about children in that era to fully realize the point Jesus is making. Children had no status, were considered like women also in that day as property, not persons, of no account. Theologian Donald Juel writes, Hospitality to the unimportant will be a hallmark of the circle of Jesus followers, as it was in Jesus own ministry. And this has everything to do with faithfulness to the one whose rejection and death mark the way to glory. (p.134) So I ve been wondering, if Jesus would put someone in our midst today as an object lesson, or children s sermon, someone unimportant, of low status, or someone who, like Jesus, has experienced rejection, who might that be that Jesus would place in our midst, to remind us, the body of Christ here at Grace church, to welcome Jesus, by welcoming the least and last and lowly? I ve been reading Strange Glory, a new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, tipped off to this wonderful book by Grace s Religion and Literature group. In the first third of the book, you might think that Bonhoeffer was probably the least

4 likely German Lutheran pastor to be a martyr, standing up against Hitler and the Nazi takeover of the Lutheran church. Bonhoeffer came from a privileged, cultured, affluent family in Berlin. He was a clothes horse, and loved to travel, especially to warm climes like Rome and Barcelona, and even after he was in his 20s, frequently wrote home to his parents for money for a new summer wardrobe or another travel adventure. But after a year spent at Union Seminary in New York, where Jesus placed in the center of his attention the plight of the Negro, both in American cities and in the rural south, something changed in and for Bonhoeffer. So when the Reich church, the Nazi-controlled Protestant church in Germany, passed what was called the Aryan paragraph in 1933, excluding baptized Jews from the church, Bonhoeffer placed Jewish Christians into the center of the church s concern. Whoever welcomes one such child, welcomes me, Jesus said. Bonhoeffer claimed the reverse was also true: anyone wishing to remove Jewish Christians might as well wish to remove Christ. (Charles Marsh, Strange Glory, p. 166) But back to today, and the question of who Jesus might place into the center of our concern. Surely, Jesus would continue to embrace and place in our midst children. Children vulnerable still today to hunger and malnutrition, to neglect and abuse in their own home, to accidently being shot on their own block.

5 And like Bonhoeffer 80 years ago surely Jesus would place in our midst any of the baptized in our own membership, or any Grace school graduate who has felt rejection by other churches, or doesn t feel fully welcome here, for one reason or another. I am grateful for the ways Grace members express concern for those considered of low status or of no account helping ex-offenders, for example, find jobs and housing. Grateful for the members who, without fanfare, are assisting other members here going through trying times, and for those serving hand-in-hand with Harmony church members at their food pantry. I am grateful for the members who have spearheaded efforts in the past to sponsor and help resettle refugees. What we see daily on television about the crisis of refugee families fleeing Syria and elsewhere, often unwelcome and with borders barred against them, to prevent them from even passing through some European countries could this not be Jesus placing refugees in our midst, so that we perhaps again sponsor a refugee family? I ve been thinking a lot lately about former President Jimmy Carter, who this summer announced that he was terminally ill with brain cancer. Like many of you, President Carter regularly teaches Sunday school in his home church. But after he left the Oval Office, he also responded as a servant to many of the

6 unimportant and lowly ones that Jesus placed before him. Through Habitat for Humanity, he and Roselyn helped build houses for the homeless. He has spoken and written against violence against women, in the U.S. and overseas. He and other Carter Center staff have served as election monitors in over 100 elections, ensuring fairness, and are engaged in a variety of health projects in developing countries like reducing river blindness and eradicating the guinea worm from rivers and drinking water in Africa. In his press conference announcing his brain cancer, President Carter said, I d like for the last Guinea worm to die before I do. So what would you wish to see eradicated before you die? If not the guinea worm, what would it be? The continuing tension between police and blacks in our country? Hunger and homelessness? Prejudice in whatever form it occurs today? Jesus had a wish for us in today s Gospel: I wish you would embrace each child in your midst and all those who are considered unimportant and of little value in this world, and receive me by receiving them in my name. And as today s Gospel hints, this was a dying wish for Jesus part of what led him to be delivered into human hands, to be killed and be raised again. Because Jesus knew it would take his death and resurrection to eradicate our sin and fear and self-

7 centeredness. He knew it would take the cross and empty tomb to help us see how much God loved us, and enable us to be last of all and servant of all. Today and every Sunday, 2000 years after Jesus death and resurrection, Jesus still chooses to be delivered into human hands. In his holy supper, Jesus chooses to be delivered into your hands and my hands, to forgive us and to form us again into his own body, for the sake of all the unwelcome in this world. Last Sunday during the children s sermon I heard one of the children whom Jesus has put in our midst say that Jesus came to take away our broken hearts, and put his own heart in us. That s it exactly. Welcome, Jesus! Welcome Jesus! In Jesus name. Amen