Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the hearts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen
I spent considerable time last week considering the meaning of the gospel that we just heard. In particular I was concerned about the second half of the reading - that portion that deals with disciples rather heated discussion about who among them was greatest and with Jesus' response to their bickering and arguing: "Whoever wants to first must be last of all and servant of all."
I found myself making a common mistake in interpreting this scripture, a mistake that is easy to make because it is a comfortable mistake, the kind of mistake that in the long run lets us off God's hook.
The text seemed to say to me, as it as said to millions before me, that I should be beware of personal ambition, that I should not seek to put myself first, that true greatness lies not in self promotion, but in self-denial.
It said to me that greatness is not measured by the power and influence we obtain over other people, but by how we serve others.
In fact the meaning of the passage was so clear that I planned on speaking to you of each of us should strive for greatness in our own lives by striving to love and serve others to the very best of our ability - and I was going to sink the hook on that thought by challenging you to consider Christ's greatness - how his glory came to him not by his seeking to be first among all people, but by his self-giving upon the cross.
I think you will all agree that this is a good understanding of Jesus's words about what we should do if we want to be "the greatest among us", if we want to "be first"; yet, despite this instant reaction I had to today's gospel, I felt something was lacking in my grasp of the passage, and in particular with what Jesus said and did after he had gathered the disciples together and said: "Whoever wants to first must be last of all and servant of all."
Recall with me what happened next. It goes like this:
"And then Jesus 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."
Why, I wondered, did Jesus associate the act of receiving a little child in his name with being first in God's eyes? With being greatest?
After all - children are wonderful are they not?
We love them and care for them. Politicians and leaders of all kinds win votes by hugging and kissing babies and by receiving entire groups of young children at rallies and greeting and paying attention to our youth at various public events.
No one really has problems with children do they?
The more I thought about - the more I wondered - just what was going on that day in Palestine when Jesus spoke to his disciples about greatness and then used welcoming a child as an example of what it means to be great in the kingdom of God - as an example of what it means to welcome him.
You all know that Jesus normally turns things upside down when he speaks to people. He returns questions instead of answers to other people's inquires. He tells stories instead of giving the straight goods to people who try to pin him down. And above all - he defies conventional wisdom about how the world operates and suggests that we need to do things that are the exact opposite.
"They would save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their live for the sake of the Gospel will save it."
"They would be first, must be last of all and servant of all."
"Whoever receive a little child like this, receives Me."
How does that last statement, about what is a apparently a very natural kind of act, fit? Especially in a discussion of greatness?
Where is the upside down effort that Jesus normally demands of his disciples?
Where is the going of the second mile when someone forces you to walk one? The giving of the shirt when someone takes your jacket? The turning of the other cheek? The act of giving so that you might receive? And of dying so that you might live?
To me the passage only makes sense if children are somehow less important to us. It makes sense only if to receive a child is to somehow lower oneself in the world's eyes and to be considered foolish because of it.
And that is, of course, the case, or rather I should say, it was the case - in Palestine, and most of the world, during the time of Jesus.
Children were loved in the time of Jesus - as they are now - but they were not as important as they are today. More than half of them did not live to be adults. Many children were killed at birth (particularly girl children). Others were simply put out in the field to starve to death. In times of shortages of food, children were fed last. None of this was intended to be cruel. These were rather things people did because they felt they had to do them in order to survive. Moreover children had no rights. Parents could do to them whatever they thought necessary to make the children obedient or to force them to work for the family.
It was not a good time to be a child. Children, along with tax collectors and sinners were considered to be second-class citizens. They ranked last in the consideration accorded to persons - even lower than women. Children were chattel, and as nice as they are - as unproductive, as burdensome, as simply another mouth to be fed.
In some ways that attitude persists to our day - in some nations Girl children in certain countries are still killed shortly after they are born. Male children, if they become too numerous, also suffer the same fate. Does that sound horrible - unbelievable? Think about our own society - and about how children are most unwelcome in certain circles - how the unborn are often aborted because they are regarded as a hindrance, as a drain upon the emotional and economic health of upwardly mobile married couples rather than for any true and compelling medical or psychological reason....
"They would be first, must be last of all and servant of all." "Whoever receive a little child like this, receives Me."
In this light - Jesus' words about greatness and about welcoming a little child begin to make sense.
They make sense because, as usual, Jesus was calling his disciples to a radical new vision of what the Kingdom of God is all about - a radical new vision of how life can actually be.
What room is there in that kind of life, that kind of kingdom, for bickering about greatness, about status and prestige and power and knowledge.
It is time to get down on the floor to play!
It is time to forget about is convenient or inconvenient, and relish the natural joy of a baby being goochy-goochy-gooed.
It is time to forget about what might drain the pocket book or make it fat and full, and to listen to a child speak about how wonderful it would be to share supper with the poor people down the street or over in that country over there.
The kingdom of a child has no real slaves or real princes - it has joy and delight and magic and power and everyone prospers - and all evil is vanquished. To receive a child is to receive a vision - if we have but eyes to see.
All this reminds me of a story.
Once upon a time these was a Squire who longed to be a knight. He wanted to serve his king and be the most honourable and noble knight who ever lived. At his knighting he was so overcome by dedication that he made a special oath. He vowed to bow his knees and lift his arms in homage to his king and him alone. This knight was give the task of guarding a city on the frontier of the kingdom. Every day he stood at attention by the gate of the city in full armour.
Years passed. One day as he was standing at attention guarding his post a peasant woman passed by with goods for the market. Her cart turned over spilling potatoes and carrots and onions everywhere. The woman hurried to get them all back in her cart. But the knight wouldn't help the poor woman. He just stood at attention lest he break his vow by bending his knees to help pick up the woman's goods.
Time passed and one day a man with one leg was passing by and his crutch broke. "Good knight, sir, reach down and help me up." But the knight would not stoop or lift a hand to help lest he break his vow.
Years and decades passed, the knight was getting old. One day his grandson came by and said, "Grandpa pick me up and take me to the fair." But he would not stoop lest he break his vow to the king
Finally after many, many, years the king came to visit and inspect the knight. As the king approached the knight just stood there at attention. The king inspected him as he stood there, but then he noticed that the knight was crying. You are one of the noblest knights I have ever seen why do you cry? Your majesty, I took a vow that I would bow and lift my arms in homage to you but I am unable to keep my vow. These years have done their work and the joint of my armour are rusted. I cannot lift my arms or bend my knees.
With the loving voice of a parent the King replied, "Perhaps if you had knelt to help all those who passed by, and lifted your arms to embrace all those who came to you, you would have been able to keep your vows to pay me homage today."
Jesus embraced a small child and said, "Whoever receives on such child receives me and the one who sent me." Most people would overlook a child, but not Jesus. If we want to receive the kingdom, we must receive the King. This king is not received by pomp and circumstance. He is received by humility and servitude - he is received by "self - forgetting.".
Being number one in God's kingdom is not about conquering or overcoming another. It is about putting others first. It is about the love of an almighty God who stoops to a sinful world to be beaten, mocked and killed so that a lost one like me might be found - so that a broken one like me might be made whole - so that a wanderer like me might have a home to go to.....
Greatness is achieved in Jesus's eyes, not just by the fact that we serve others, not just by the fact that we pour out our time and our talent for the sake of others. Greatness in the eyes of Jesus is found in the willingness of his disciples to receive, to accept, and indeed to really welcome those they would normally consider unreceivable, unacceptable, and unwelcome. To welcome others as a child welcomes others before he or she is taught to discriminate between friend and foe....
That is what Christ did when he lived and died for us and for the Creator above. He reversed the usual nature of things. He made that which was unholy, holy, that which was sinful - clean.
He welcomed us and he asks to welcome others - and that my friends is something far different than mere acts of sacrifice and of service, far different from acts of charity and being a person who is "civic minded".
What does Paul say about this?
"If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. If I am last of all and serve all, but do not have love, my acts mean nothing."
Who do we find to be less than ourselves this day? Who in our family do we feel superior to? What brother or sister do we regard as somehow less acceptable than they ought to be? What relative do we turn away at the door because of some real, or some imagined offense? Who does our community scorn and reject? Who is looked down upon for reasons of class, or colour, or religion, or economics, or culture?
Who is greatest among us? Who is the one who has the presence of Christ in them? The one who bears God to our very doorstep and then knocks and asks if he or she can come in?
Let's get with the program people - lets hug the children, let's hug one another, let's hug God.
May those who have ears, hear.
May those who have eyes, see.
Blessed be God - day by day. Amen
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