"They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it;
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.”
But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
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.” ---Gospel of Mark.
Mark humiliates the disciples of Jesus. Time and again, these guys are imbeciles. They just don't get it. This may be the good news. If they didn't get it and they lived it, maybe our agnosticism and doubts aren't so egregious. It may be okay to NOT totally understand Jesus' teachings. Disciples are learners, conscious of their incompetence. I have days when I don't know what I'm doing or how to do what I'm "supposed to do". I sometimes don't believe what I'm saying or praying. Maybe we don't have to get it. Not totally. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that Jesus chose and chooses disciples who are incompetent, doubtful, fearful, and egotistical. That's how he gets to me and you. Maybe we need to learn to live with our ignorance about God. Not other people's ignorance about God, but my own. Jesus chooses people who understand that neither wisdom nor personal accomplishment gets us in the house. Jesus lets us in and sits with us, in our stupidity.
Jesus is teaching them privately now, the hard stuff. And he does so openly and clearly. He's not using parables or riddles or metaphors. He speaks of three steps in the son of man's process of becoming the suffering servant; betrayal, killing, and rising. Their response to this teaching is agnosticism (literally in the Greek, their lack of understanding) and fear. This is a little better than the last time he taught them about suffering. On that day, Peter out right, publicly rebuked Jesus, making a fool of himself on behalf of all the rest. NO WAY! he said. This time, NO Comment. These guys are slick politicians, aren't they?
Not only do they not hear and understand the future, they refuse to believe it. Instead, they discuss positions of leadership and rank within the 12 members of Jesus' party. Who's his top lieutenant? What's the pecking order? They continue to expect a Messiah who will overthrow the Roman Emperor and his puppets (Herod's sons). They expect a restoration of Davidic Monarchy, in which they will share in Jesus' rule. They seek reward and privilege and honor.
When he asks them what they were arguing about on the way, they fall silent. They know him well enough to know that their petty bickering about rank and power was inappropriate. It was not his message. And yet they still wanted it to be.
Jesus teaches this about becoming his church, his disciples: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." What about competition and winning and 1st place? Isn't it good to succeed? Isn't it right to pursue accomplishment and achievement? Isn't a little glory good for the soul? Granted, I think America is obsessed with greatness in the most unhealthy ways possible. From sports and fitness to money and finance, our goals are always to be better, faster, stronger, and richer. We compare, judge, and belittle to our own advantage. And, admittedly it feels good to win. Who doesn't like to kick a little ass once and awhile?
But Jesus says, be the 12th man on the bench, the guy who fills the water bottles and picks up the sweaty towels after the game. When he says "servant of all", I suspect he means among themselves. But he may have more universal or broader application in mind. After all, he came as a servant to all the people---gentile children possessed by demons and blind Jewish men. He indiscriminately fed two very large crowds of hungry people. As an example of the kind of service he renders, he welcomes a child into their group. And he says that to welcome a child is to welcome him and to welcome him is to welcome the one who sent him.
In some ways, there is simplicity here. Welcome a child--welcome God. Serve a child, serve Him. In our world, caring for children with dignity and love makes sense. We believe in the compassionate treatment of children, to provide for and protect them. We believe the children are our future. But in the 1st century world, children were inconsequential to men. They were non-entities, not full persons. The women tended them until they were old enough to be useful. That a child had something to teach them would have been scandalous, absurd, and foolish. Jesus elevated the status of children. The way of the servant is to welcome the invisible unloved, unnoticed, and undervalued members of the human family. In the 1st century world, there was no better example than a child. Who are they in our world?
Children living in poverty?
Formerly incarcerated young adults?
How about the 1.2 million African American children who are missing a parent due to mass incarceration?
Or single black moms?
How about a Muslim teen who brings a homemade clock to school, only to be arrested as a suspected terrorist making a bomb threat?
The servant of all has welcomed me into his household. Not because I understood something. But because he loves me. That's the good news.
