A Sermon delivered on September 22, 2024, by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

The Gospel of Mark is so real as it paints people as they really are. It’s because of this I wonder if Jesus ever had what we call “Buyer’s Remorse” with the guys he chose to be apostles. He set out to find regular people from the hoi polloi to entrust his message and work to instead of the established religious empire of the day. No matter how hard Jesus tries to make things ‘Crayola’, i.e., easy for them to understand, they have what we Southerners call “bless your heart moments.”

If someone from the South says one of two phrases to you, you know you’re in trouble. If you say or do something that is just not too bright, we say, “Joyce, bless your heart.” Another one to listen out for is, “God love ya’!” Both phrases mean the one who is telling them this thinks you are clueless about what is going on in front of you.

In Mark 8 Jesus lines it out very directly that the Son of Man will suffer many things, be handed over to the religious establishment, and then killed but after three days rise again. Peter, the foundation of the church, the Rock, reprimanded Jesus when he said this and Jesus rips right into Peter, “Stand behind me, Satan.” Though it is not in the original Greek manuscripts, there are some versions where it is added parenthetically that Jesus also tells Peter, “Bless your heart.” 

Right after this incident, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the mountain where Jesus’s appearance is transfigured in front of them as he talks with Moses and Elijah. Once again, Peter can’t refrain from opening his mouth and putting his foot into it and interrupts that holy moment and confab by saying, “Excuse me, Moses, but Jesus, do you want us to build y’all three shelters?” Although not in the text, I can hear Jesus softly mutter, “Peter, God love ya’.”

After this, Jesus does another healing, and this leads us to our text for today. Yes, it is another one of those ‘bless your heart moments.’ You will hear what I mean as we read our text for the day, Mark 9:30-37. Hear the Word of the Lord!

Mark 9:30-37

 ³⁰ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” ³² But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 

 ³³ Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” ³⁴ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. ³⁵ He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”^[1]

Jesus and the Twelve are making their way back to Capernaum and he is trying to have some time just with them apart from the crowds. It is obvious to Jesus they are not fully understanding the scope of it all. So, while on the road, he reminds them a second time he will be betrayed, killed, and rise again after three days. Their response? Silence. “They were afraid to ask him.”

Were they afraid they would give the wrong answer, and Jesus would be upset with them? Just perhaps, they remembered how Jesus responded to Peter the last time this whole thing came up and how Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Were they beginning to think they signed onto something that was getting too big or beyond them?

It is all fascinating to me because the ordinary method of teaching close disciples was to walk and dialogue about issues. The Jewish Rabbinic tradition is based upon this question-and-answer debate-style dialogue between the teacher and the student. It was a vigorous style of learning. Peter’s problem the first time the whole betrayed, killed, and rise again thing came up, he pulled Jesus aside and did not ask Jesus a question to clarify what he meant; instead, Peter reprimanded Jesus. I believe Jesus would have responded much differently had Peter humbly asked, “Rabbi, please unpack this more for us. Are you speaking literally or figuratively?”  It would have been a legitimate question for them to ask him in our text this morning. Instead, they were silent.

The subtle picture Mark paints is a very human one. Jesus makes a statement, and the disciples shut down. At this point, I can see Jesus making a deep sigh and retreating to the privacy of his own thoughts while they walked. The group has grown quiet as they lug their way to Capernaum. Like on a hike through the Adirondacks, the line of hikers begins to separate and get elongated, and micro, side conversations among them occur with hushed voices. 

Jesus makes a note.

Our Story has them finally arrive at a home in Capernaum and Jesus is curious. He asks them a question: So, what were you talking about on the way here? In other words, he asks them, “You did not engage me in conversation about what I said earlier but you sure were capable of engaging in conversation and debate among yourselves without me. What was so important that I not be included in the conversation?” Once again, the rabbi asks a question, and the response is dead silence. Bless their hearts.

Professor Emeritus from Princeton, Dr. Peter Paris, writing on today’s passage says, “Sadly, instead of commiserating with one another about the sad news he had shared with them about his pending death, they began arguing about who would gain higher status afterward. In other words, they were discussing which one of them would assume leadership.”^[2]

God love ‘em.

Let’s hit the pause button one moment. Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes – how would you be feeling right now? He obviously knew full well what they were in deep discussion about while on the road. He has just told them about his impending death, and they are arguing about who is going to be in charge once he is gone. Now put yourself in the disciple’s shoes – what are they thinking right now? How do we suppose they are feeling at this moment? 

Bless their hearts.

And how does Jesus respond to their second round of silence? Does he outwardly get mad? Does he start chewing them out for being so dense and self-serving, dare I say selfish? No, Jesus responds in the most typical Jesus-type way – he meets them where they are and gives them an object lesson they will not forget.

So there in the house is a young child. Children in the first century were socially at the bottom of the food chain. Little children were little consumers demanding adult attention during a time when survival was the number one priority. It was only when they became of working age and added value to the family that children were held in higher regard. Not that they were not loved, they just were another mouth to feed in an already frenetic life. Today, our children are doted on, and we ply them with all the toys and latest electronics we can. In comparison, Western children are spoiled and have grown entitled in their outlook. 

So, Jesus takes a vulnerable child in his arms, and tells the disciples, “If anyone would be first, they should be last and a servant of all.” Little did they know Jesus was living out this very value as he went to Jerusalem but since they obviously did not want to talk about it, he held a child and further refined his message. “Whoever receives such a little child in my name receives me (as compared to arguing about who will be the greatest and in charge like y’all are doing) and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me.”  The teaching and values are clear to anyone who pays attention. And yet, in the very next verse in Mark, verse 38, the disciple John at once completely changes the topic. “Rabbi, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” Not only was John changing the topic but who is the “us” he is talking about? Is he talking about following Jesus as they are doing or is he referring to following “us” the disciples as they jockey for positions of power? 

God love ‘em.

Friends, where do we see ourselves in this Story? Let me assure you, you and I are in this Story. You see, there is only one of three positions you can be in this Story. First, if you identify with the Twelve, you are on the way to going somewhere but you honestly do not know where you are going. Second, if we try to assume we are an observing third party listening in to the conversations with nothing at stake, then we like the Twelve are totally missing the point. There is only one position in the Story that Jesus wants to see us in and that is in the child. We are to be vulnerable. We are to be reliant on the One who holds us in his arms. We are to be trusting of the one who holds us in his arms along with our other siblings.

A disciple of Jesus knows their place in life and that is humbly in the acts of service to others and total reliance on God. We are to be fighting to put other people in line ahead of us. Anything else will get a “Bless your heart” coming from the mouth of Christ. I would so much rather hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the Name of the One who is, was, and is yet to come. Amen. 

© September 22, 2024, by Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of the First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 400 Glen Street, Glens Falls, NY 12701. Not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

^[1] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

^[2] Dr. Peter J. Paris, Connections: Year B, Volume 3: Season after Pentecost (Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship) by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al. See https://a.co/4SNzgls.