Creekside Church Sermon of October 1, 2000 "How Low Can You Go?" Mark 10:35-45	Rev. David Bibbee
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The disciples sensed a more urgent edge to Jesus' voice, and for good reason. They had a lot to learn and a little time to learn it. It would not be enough for them to grasp the meaning of his life with their minds. It was necessary that they absorb his teaching and become what he taught, otherwise everything he had done would end in futility.

At a secret location on some Galilean back road, Jesus revealed what awaited him in Jerusalem. "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. He will suffer terribly. They will kill him and on the third day he will rise." This was the second time he told them as much. The first time Peter wouldn't hear it. "You'll do no such thing! People love you. You have the power of God at your fingertips. You're good as good can be. What harm could possibly come to you?" They didn't get it the first time. They didn't get it the second time, either. They didn't know what he was talking about, but it had an ominous tone, and they weren't about to ask.

Not wanting to dwell on what he said, they were instead engrossed in speculation about what was in it for them when Jesus came into His glory. They compared resumes and quipped about who was in for a cabinet position. Certainly it would include Peter, James and John, the first disciples chosen. Peter would make a great Vice President. James could be Secretary of the Department of the Interior. Matthew, the tax collector, would be a swell Secretary of the Treasury. They were absorbed with the power and status that comes from being associated with a great person. It was power from position they were after, not power from their person. Never mind that Jesus had just said his greatness was derived from serving, sacrifice, and suffering.

That evening Jesus asked them about their discussion. "What were you talking about this afternoon?" They weren't about to tell, so they gave an adolescent answer... "Oh... not much." We really can't blame them. Do you have any influential friends? Someone who is well known, or some position of authority? It feels good to be close to them. "Well, yes, I have been a friend of the Mayor's since high school. Maybe some of what they have will rub off on you. Maybe you'll get some rank and recognition by association.

Jesus knew the disciples were posturing, so he grabbed a child by the arm who happened to be in the vicinity. He put him at the center of their circle and used him as an object lesson in a "grown-up" story. "Whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me," he said.

It has been long recognized that using children to make a statement is an effective tool. Politicians kiss babies. Presidential candidates make appearances in elementary school classrooms to showcase their stances on education. Children are used to sell things. The Michelin baby touches our protective instincts. "You wouldn't want to trust your child's safety to a Firestone tire, now would you?" The sweetness of the Gerber baby motivates you to buy only the best food for your child. But Jesus didn't put a child front and center to teach about kindness shown to cute, cuddly, and innocent children.

To use welcoming a child as a symbol of greatness was scandalous. Children were not looked upon then as they are now. They weren't objects of affection. They weren't told children's stories in church. W.C. Fields' lack of fondness for children was well known. He is remembered for the quote, "Anyone who hates dogs and children can't be all that bad." As attitudes toward children are concerned, it was a time more suited to W.C. Fields than Mr. Rogers. Children were not cherished. They had no status or influence. They were regarded as slaves until they became adults. Someone put it like this:

Childhood in antiquity was a time of terror. Infant mortality rates reached 30%. An additional 30% of live births were dead by age 6. 60% were gone by age 16. They always suffered first from famine, disease, and dislocation. To call a person a child was a serious insult.

Jesus knew what the disciples had argued about. "If any would be first of all, they must be last of all and servant of all." If they were to remain with him they would have to measure greatness in another manner. No rubbing elbows with the powerful. No key to the executive lounge. No luxury box seats in paradise. What the disciples wanted, Jesus couldn't give them. He couldn't make Peter vice-president. Jesus could only lead them down the path he had chosen. He could only offer the greatness which comes as a result of making sacrifices and picking up crosses and offering a helping hand to the lowly.

Greatness as defined by Jesus is not how high you can climb, but how low you can go. Brother Roger, the founder of the TaizŠ community and it's world wide mission of reconciliation will likely be remembered among the most influential spiritual leaders of the past 100 years. While at TaizŠ, we had the honor of meeting with and being prayed for by Brother Roger. We all agreed that we have never been in the presence of a person so full of humility, and the peace of God as Brother Roger.

Several years ago there was an international Taizé gathering in Madras, India. A group of young Indian students had come to meet him, but they couldn't find him. They checked in all the hotels of the city to no avail. They were about to give up their search when one of them read in a newspaper that Brother Roger was living in one of the worst slums in Madras... full of destitute people, open sewage drains, and mosquitoes. This was his home for several weeks. Every year he goes to a different impoverished place of the world to minister to the poor.

Is this what it means to be a servant of all? For Brother Roger it is. It will mean something else for us. When Jesus said we should receive a child in his name, he meant showing hospitality and mercy to the lowly and undesirable of the world. One meaning of ministry is stooping to the level of another's need without an expectation of being paid back. Not with the hope of a reward or honor or special recognition. It is exchanging ambition for sacrifice. It is exchanging company with the well known for the company of the forgotten.

When he placed a lowly child in their midst he was telling them to look for God and the deepest meaning of life in the opposite direction from which they were looking.

I've spent a lot of time in hospitals during my 18 years of ministry... long enough to know that the need for ministry is abundantly evident there, and that unexpected encounters with God abound. This is what drew me to these versus written by Suzanne Gutherie. She writes:

"A hospital corridor can be a mysterious place, a terrible and holy threshold upon the boundary of the soul. Here you will find an opening through which you might apprehend and embrace unexpected aspects of God.

Uprooted from your ordinary days, the hospital confounds the peaceful soul with the realization that the God of daily living is also the God of sudden dying. The God of the comforting church sanctuary is also the God of the intensive care unit.

The God of the candle is also the God of vomit and pus; the God of white linen and the embroidered parament cloths is the God of the plastic curtain and sweaty sheet; the God of the organ and flute is the God of squeaky gurney wheels and crying children; the God of deep port wine and delicately embossed communion bread is the God of infected blood and wounded flesh."

The disciples stayed close to Jesus because they thought their master was going to lead them on to lives of power for a change. Instead he took them among the people he loved to be with most... the powerlessness, the hungry and hurting, the needy and neglected. They didn't know this is where he would lead them, just like we don't know whom he may call us to receive when we pray to be close to him. But this much we do know-

When we become less concerned for our well being and count the needs of others greater than our own; when we offer kindness, respect and hospitality to those who have no share in the good things that we take for granted; when we take time, if only for a few moments to value the overlooked, the forgotten, and the dismissed for the sake of Christ, we are doing it to Christ.

"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and welcomes the One who sent me."

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