First is Last ...

All Saints Anglican – Melville

Proper / Lectionary 25 – Pentecost + 19

Year B

22 September 2024

Proverbs 31:10-31

Psalm 1

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

O God, our teacher and guide,

you draw us to yourself and welcome us as beloved children.

Help us to lay aside all envy and selfish ambition,

that we may walk in your ways of wisdom and understanding

as servants of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

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What I most love about Jesus’ teachings is how they turn our own perceptions, our thoughts, and our concepts on their ear.

In today’s gospel we see that the disciples argue amongst themselves, but Jesus noticed. “Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” (Mt 9:33-34)

Isn’t that interesting?

They’re each called individually by Jesus into discipleship, in the same way we’re called by Jesus, by God into the tasks, relationships, and vocations of our lives. But today we are told that the disciples are trying to figure out who is greater, better, first in Jesus’ heart

But what they’re not considering, as they walk at Jesus’ side is that Jesus’ kingdom isn’t here in this world. Rather, Jesus’ kingdom is in our hearts, and Jesus sits at God’s right hand in heaven.

And yet it seems to be natural in human society for us to compare ourselves to those around us.

I recall, in elementary school, when we would be asked to line up according to our heights. In high school and college there were those around me who would actively compare answers on tests! And who hasn’t compared marks on essays or papers returned?

Society does this in the name of ‘healthy competition’ to see where we stand in a group, who stands out as the best, the first, the strongest, and then there are the rest of us striving amongst ourselves to be noticed by the first group.

So then, how Jesus addresses this ‘very human tendency’ is to turn our pursuit of who outranks whom on its ear.

Jesus tells us as he tells the disciples: “‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mk 9:35b)

And the disciples must have received this wisdom with the same looks they had on the road when Jesus was talking about the passion, and crucifixion, resurrection.

I can just see it now: amongst themselves, they want to know who the major domo will be, who will be the head steward, who will be the leader of this ministry, who will be the leader of that committee, and so on.

And yet, Jesus tells them, he tells us, that whoever wants to be first must be last.

But he doesn’t stop there. Not only will the first be last, but they will be the servant of all.

In one sentence their lives of retiring in the lap of luxury are out the proverbial window, and the pension plan they’d been amortizing in their imaginations won’t exist.

In one way, it’s like watching an elementary school teacher marshal their classes out of a school during a fire drill: the least coming first, and the teacher, the one who is in charge, coming last making sure no one is left behind, but it’s so much more than that.

To be great, to be first means that we are the first to help another, to help the one who cannot succeed without our help.

It means that we are the first to volunteer when volunteering opportunities arise in the community, in the life of the church.

It means that we put the needs of others ahead of our own desires.

And yet, this is visibly opposite to how our society works, isn’t it? But maybe that’s the point.

The world prescribes an almost cutthroat approach to getting ahead, to being successful, and that is the exact opposite of what we see in today’s gospel.

The world still espouses a “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” ideology where Jesus says we are successful when we help another to tie on their own boots and help them to stand successfully in their chosen field, and simultaneously to help them to stand in the light of God’s love because that is the place from which we operate.

And this brings us back to Jesus’ teaching to the disciples, to each one of us, today, as they walked along from Galilee to Capernaum.

“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.’” (Mk 9:31)

From our position of hindsight, we are able to see how this opens the kingdom of heaven, of God, to all of us who believe, and yet from the disciples’ perspective why on earth would Jesus be talking about betrayal? Of death? Much less of resurrection?

This is so far outside the comfort zone that they’re just not getting what Jesus is teaching.

These are ideas that they just can’t wrap their minds around, so they turn to other topics.

So how do we do this?

How do we look at, live, and interpret the world around us according to Jesus’ words?

What do you think is easier to grasp: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus for the salvation of the world?

Or, in order to be first in God’s kingdom we need to be willing to serve those all around us and especially those whom society considers to be the least?

In order to make his point, Jesus gives us the child in their midst.

He’s seen the look of bafflement on the faces of the disciples. They’ve gone from positions of honour and glory in Jesus’ government to serving those on the outskirts of the community in one fell swoop.

And now Jesus gives us the example of welcoming the child, the innocent, the meek in the world?

Here is our target market, not necessarily with children’s programs (unless you feel called to lead and work with children’s ministry), but with those who need advocacy, who need support, who need guidance, who need help in the world, in the community.

There are a couple of scary words, here, that work. The first is evangelism. The second is stewardship.

But to boil it down, evangelism is living into our faith, into our lives of faith and sharing that in action, in words with those who need to be uplifted, and inspired. Our stories are the motivation to the next person we meet who needs to be inspired.

And stewardship is seeing what is needed in the world, in the community and working to fulfill that to make another’s life better.

In all of this, we live into Jesus words, today: “‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mk 9:35b)

Because we know the kingdom of God begins in our hearts, in our lives of faith and is closer to being realized when we look out for those in need in the world.

Amen.