September 19, 2021 – Pentecost +17B

“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

“The chief proof of a man’s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.” Sherlock Holmes

Can you imagine people arguing in the church? Can you imagine? People outside the church who witness or hear about the dissention within the Christian church usually point to such dissention as proof of our hypocrisy: “See, they are so holy and righteous – yet all they do is fight with one another.”

But, I am sorry to tell you this, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but we do argue in the church. We are not as holy and righteous as some outside the church will label us. Instead we are just as human as the next person, and as such, we suffer from envy, selfish ambition, disorder and even wickedness, as James so eloquently puts it. Does this disappoint you? Well, let me ask you this—look around you: does this look like the Kingdom of G-d? As I look around, I do not see the Kingdom—at least as it is described in the scriptures. And I do not always see the kind of kingdom building we are all supposed to be a part of. However, we are on the right path. Our ministries point to this fact. But, like the disciples, we still argue—we still are afraid to ask enough questions. We still think more of ourselves than we should. And, we still develop pecking orders in the church – and this clearly goes against the teaching of Jesus.

The disciples are arguing about who is the greatest. As such I imagine them arguing about issues like who has been a disciple the longest; who has the best ancestry behind them; who has been invited to witness more miracles; who has been handpicked for the most important events. And, there did seem to be a pecking order within the ranks of the disciples: there were the big four (Peter, Andrew, James and John); and there were the even bigger three (Peter, James and John). Now, do the scriptures tell us this is what they were arguing about? No! But most likely it is the same stuff we argue about in the church today – who’s ancestry goes back further; who has a longer history as per their membership; who gets hand picked more for special committees.

No, Jesus knows what they are doing—Jesus understands how their human need of a pecking order will impact the ministry they will do—or will not do because they are spending more time arguing than doing ministry. That is what pecking orders do – they limit ministry.

Sometimes we get too hung up on ourselves—worrying about what others think—not only about ourselves, but about our churches as well. We need to be “who we were born to be”—around our Christian brothers and sisters—as well as around those outsiders who come into our midst. We are flawed people. Our identity should not come from race, gender, or sexual orientation—our identity comes from being baptized children of G-d. But, that also means that we are not clones of one another. Christ makes no distinctions among believers—and neither should we.

Pastor Dave