The View From Down Here

Sept. 20th, 2009
Mark 9: 30-37

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for 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.’ 32But 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?’ 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36Then 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.’

I’ll bet it was quite a shock for the disciples when Jesus took a small child in his arms and told them that whoever welcomes such a child in his name, welcomes him. Most people glide over that reading and assume that Jesus was instructing the disciples not only to be servants but also to be like little children. In this particular gospel, Jesus is not telling his disciples to be like little children. He is telling them they need to be humble enough to welcome and minister to the smallest and the least worthy.

In Jesus’ time, children were barely above slaves on the social scale. Children had absolutely no rights whatsoever. Jesus was still instructing his disciples that following him was going to take them down a path that was polar opposite to what they were thinking was going to happen. They had been arguing which of them was the greatest. This was an important point they wanted to settle because whoever was the greatest would surely have a position of honor when Jesus conquered the Romans and would have a lot of power. What blows me away is that Jesus had just finished explaining to them that whoever followed him had to pick up his cross and deny himself. They just didn’t ‘get it’. Jesus is so patient. Notice he didn’t just swat them on the upsides of their heads. He knew he was teaching them something contrary to centuries of social conditioning. It’s not easy to suddenly understand and change your mind about something you learned from birth.

We can shake our heads at what dim bulbs those disciples were, but are we any quicker to recognize when Jesus is asking us to re-examine our own deeply rooted cultural and social expectations and beliefs? Of course he wouldn’t challenge what we believe – because we’re right and all those other people are wrong!

How much do we cling to because “We’ve always done it that way”? Is Jesus not capable of shocking and challenging us just as much as he shocked and challenged the disciples?” Are we even open to that?

The Lord has shocked me several times in my life, turning my puny ideas and expectations upside down and leading me through to new experiences of him, of his ways and of his people. Our God is a God of surprises and he does not shape himself according to what we think he should be. The disciples truly thought Jesus was a wonderful Messiah and they weren’t wrong there. Where they were wrong was in their visions of where they were all going, how they were going to get there and what it was all going to look like when they got themselves there. I deliberately used the word ‘they’. They really thought they were all going to change things in Israel. Sure, Jesus would be leader but they would all be up there with him. He couldn’t do it without them, right? He needed strong right hand men to pull this off, right? All they were doing on the way to Capernaum was having a serious discussion as to which of them would be his strongest right hand man. Jesus was the Messiah, but he was going to need a Vice-Messiah and a Ministry of Messiah Affairs. He would need advisors, councils and special committees. Jesus needed them.

Had Jesus allowed them to continue with those visions, expectations and wrangling about their positions, the twelve would very soon have organized themselves into an ‘in-group’. Their energies would have been expended in maintaining this group, maintaining its power and position and not allowing it to grow and change. Their focus would have been inward on the group, not outward towards the people. The whole attitude of the kingdom servant is always having a heart turned outwards to the needs of others and not seeking a place of security but seeking to be available. The servant has no territory, no expectations that must be maintained at all cost. Because the servant has no position of power, he or she is free of the need to maintain position and control and just serve where called to serve. Just because you have always served and ministered a certain way or in a certain ministry doesn’t mean that tomorrow the Lord won’t call you to do something entirely different which will push against and expand your self set expectations, borders and limitations.

In the last while my husband Charlie and I have been feeling led to leave behind for a while the regular existence of house, possessions and involvement in our local parish, purchase a used 5th wheel and just go. We’re not sure exactly where and we’re not sure for exactly how long.

Did we struggle with this idea, even though it has its definite attractions? Oh, yes. We certainly did. We struggled with the whole concept of leading a life where we wouldn’t be available to serve our parish because, no matter where we have lived, service and ministry have always been our first commitment after family. To suddenly take off and not be available to our church community somehow felt wrong.

I often think of a drawing exercise recommended in a book called “Drawing on the Right Hand Side of the Brain.” You take a picture you want to copy and turn it upside down and try to draw it from that perspective. What happens, when we look at something like a photo, is the brain thinks it knows exactly what should be there; so instead of drawing what is actually there, the brain is instructing us to draw what it thinks should be there. Turning the photo upside down presents a completely unfamiliar image and we are able to draw it more accurately without being distracted by preconceived ideas of what should be drawn.

Sometimes the Lord turns our pictures upside down in order to shift us out of all our set in stone ideas of what “should be.” Once we loosen our grip on what we think should be happening, amazing growth happens.

Kingdom servants becomes quite adept at standing on their heads.