A Sermon Delivered by The Rev. John D. Painter at Centenary United Methodist Church
Metuchen, New Jersey September 20, 2009

(Open House Sunday)
Text: Mark 9:30-37; Mark 10:13-16
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.”
—Mark 9:30-37, NRSV
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
—Mark 10:13-16, NRSV
“If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?” the teacher asked the children in his Sunday school class.
“NO!” the children all answered.
“If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?”
Again the answer was, “NO!”
“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?” he asked them again.
Once more they all answered, “NO!”
“Well,” he continued, thinking they were a good bit more theologically sophisticated than he had given them credit for, “then how can I get into heaven?”
A five-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!”
Children have a remarkable way of cutting right to the chase. Simple and direct, for sure. Just like some little girls who wrote these letters to God:
“Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother, but I prayed for a puppy. Joyce”
“Dear God, My father told me about being born, but that doesn’t sound right. He was kid-ding, right? Marsha”
“Dear God, Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? Norma”
“Dear God, Did you really mean, ‘Do unto others as they do unto you?’ Because if you did, then I’m going to fix my brother! Darla”
“Dear God, We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday School they said you did it. So I bet he stole your idea. Sincerely, Donna”
“Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of the people in the whole world. There are only four people in our whole family and I can never do it. Nan”
“Dear God, If we come back as something else, please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. Love, Denise”
“Dear God, It rained for our whole vacation and my father was mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say, but I hope you won’t hurt him anyway. Your friend (I’m not going to tell You my name.)”
So here are the Jesus and the twelve disciples heading on down the road to Capernaum. And along the way Jesus reveals to them that he is very shortly going to face a violent death. But failing yet again to “get it,” their conversation does not focus around that startling revelation. Ra-ther, the twelve get into an argument about who among them is the greatest. And when they get settled into the house at Capernaum, Jesus asks the twelve, “So what were you discussing so pas-sionately while we were on our way here?”
Obviously, Jesus knows very well what they were discussing, and it is an awkward mo-ment. Mark observes that “they were silent,” which “despite its brevity is full of meaning. The succinctness of [Jesus’] remark brilliantly reveals the disciples’ embarrassment. Jesus’ unex-pected question catches them red-handed; he exposes their pettiness and self-centeredness; he shames them. The disparity couldn’t be greater. Jesus is ‘the Son of Man’ who comes ‘not to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). In contrast, the disciples are small-minded, self-interested souls whose primary concern is their own self-aggrandizing aspira-tions—a seat next to power or an honored place in the kingdom.”
Given that the disciples seem routinely to fail to comprehend Jesus’ teaching, it isn’t sur-prising that Jesus follows up on his private tutoring—which obviously was ineffective—with an object lesson that points to his call for humility and service. He 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 wel-comes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me’” (Mark 9:35b-37, NRSV).
The jaws of the disciples must have hit the floor at this point, because in the first century a child was a “nonperson,” a “nonentity,” a “nobody.” “There is no reason for a little child to be close to a great teacher such as Jesus, or in the middle of a group of men. Children are to stay with the women and keep themselves out of the way, until they grow up and can start exercising some adult responsibilities.”
When we in the 21st century consider the warmth of Jesus’ welcome to children, we may think, “How natural.” But we need to be careful that we don’t overly spiritualize or sentimental-ize this story. Put quite simply, “childhood in the ancient world was a perilous time. Disease, war, gender preference, and social hierarchies pushed most children to the margins of society, if they survived childhood at all. By taking a child in his arms and placing that child in the very midst of his disciples (Mark 9:36), Jesus was not simply promoting a ‘warm and fuzzy’ spiritual principle, he was advocating a radically new and just ordering of society.”
“Jesus is saying, ‘When you welcome a nobody, you welcome me. And when you wel-come me, you welcome God. So if you want to be first in the kingdom of God, then you had bet-ter get used to being a child-welcoming servant of all people.’
“That’s what it means to be One with the Son…of God.
“Jesus is calling us to flip our usual attitudes toward greatness and honor and fame com-pletely upside down. Our normal perspective is to look at life from the top down, giving our greatest attention to the people who have competed with one another and come out on top. We do this with dancers, singers, actors and artists, as well as with politicians and business leaders. We are drawn to their fame and are impressed by their talents and accomplishments.
“But Jesus is saying, ‘No—change your perspective.’ Instead, he says, look at life from the bottom up and give your greatest attention to the people who have no fame. Focus on chil-dren, on single mothers, on cab drivers, on dishwashers, on chambermaids, on the working poor, on the homeless. ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,’ says Jesus, ‘and whoever welcomes me’…welcomes God.
“We do this whenever we treat people with the dignity they deserve, as people who are made in God’s image.”
While researching this Message, I learned about an annual March for Human Dignity in California, “which includes an underwear drive for the homeless. Hundreds of volunteers collect thousands of pairs of underwear and socks for people served by the Los Angeles Mission.
“‘While many may look at this as something to joke about, we take it very seriously,’ says mission chairperson Herb Smith. ‘To us, and to our guests, respect is a very important sub-ject. When we treat people with dignity, they begin the process of retaining their self-respect, and over time, that can result in recovery and self-sufficiency.’
“The gift of a clean pair of underwear can help a homeless person regain a sense of self-respect. It can be an important step in recovery and self-sufficiency. It’s a small but significant one—one that treats the people on our streets with the dignity they deserve.
“To serve a homeless person is to serve Jesus, and to welcome such a brother or sister is to welcome the God who sent Jesus into the world. This bottom-up approach to greatness will never earn us fame or put us in the spotlight, but it will move us ever closer to the light of God’s eternal kingdom.
“When the curtain rises in that kingdom, we’ll be surprised by whom we see on stage: the faithful servants of this world, people who served God and neighbor without ever drawing atten-tion to themselves. And who knows, maybe there will be a place for us on that stage as well.”
Sean Gilbert a Minister of the Word with the Uniting Church in Australia, says, “The child-like path is not an easy one to take or follow. It continually undermines societal pressures for status, success, superior knowledge, or idealized images of how we should be.
“By placing a living symbol of vulnerability in the midst of the Christian community, Je-sus embraced not only a singular child, but also the vision of a common, harmonious humanity that I think we all yearn for. One that is peace loving, open to new truths, merciful, and just. It is a vision to embrace and place squarely and often within our midst.”
“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,” says Jesus, “and who-ever welcomes me”…welcomes God.
“‘Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will nev-er enter it.’ And he took [the children] up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”
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PRAYER
Show us yourself in each other, O God. Let us see you in the face of a child or in the life-worn faces of the homeless. Shine among us in the souls of the humble and bring us your in-sights in unexpected people. Be with us, Lord Jesus Christ, wherever we look. Amen.
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