Mark 9:30-37
September 22, 2024
In 2010 two men wrote a book titled, “The Invisible Gorilla,” that centered on a research project done by the authors in which they demonstrated how people who are focused on one thing can easily overlook something else. To prove their point they made a video, which you can find today on YouTube, that involved 6 people, 3 of them wore white T-shirts and the other 3 wore black T-shirts. The authors gave 2 basketballs to the 6 people wearing T-shirts and asked a group of people who were watching to count how times the people wearing the white T-shirts passed the basketball. (Here is the video.) The study showed that only 44% of the people watching the video saw the gorilla, while 56% said they never saw the gorilla, indicating that people can overlook certain aspects of a situation when they are focused on only one thing.
I think this is the problem with the disciples in our Gospel lesson for today from Mark 9. They have failed the invisible gorilla experiment. They have been with Jesus for 2 years, they have seen Him perform many miracles, they have heard His teachings; but when Jesus tells them that He is going to die and gives them some details about His death, explaining in verse 31, that “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, but after 3 days he will rise.” You would think that the disciples would have been saddened, sympathetic, or shocked to hear this news. But how do they respond? They argue with each other about who is the greatest. What is wrong with these guys? What makes their reaction even more outrageous is that this is not the first time Jesus told them He was going to die. In Mark 8, it states that Jesus had told them on an earlier occasion that He would suffer many things, including being rejected by the religious leaders of His day, and being put to death. But, 3 days later He would rise again. Peter immediately responded by telling Jesus, “Lord, this will never happen to you.” Jesus then corrects Peter’s attitude by saying, “Get behind me, Satan, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.”
Then in Mark 10, it states that Jesus told His disciples a third time that He was going to suffer and die; and what is the response of the disciples? James and John ask Jesus if they would be able to sit at Jesus’ right and left (positions of power and privilege) someday in heaven? In all 3 cases, upon hearing the news that Jesus is going to die, the disciples respond by thinking only of themselves.
So when Jesus asks them in this text what they were arguing about among themselves, after He told them a second time He was going to die, the disciples got very quiet. While they did not understand how the Savior of the world could die, they knew their response to this news – arguing about who was the greatest – was rude, selfish, and inappropriate. So they were afraid to say anything. How sad that the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus more about His upcoming death and to confess to Him that they were arguing about who was the greatest, because they missed a great opportunity to receive Jesus’ forgiveness.
But perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on them, after all, our society and even all of us often do the same thing, especially during the holiday season. Consider Christmas – we know the season is about the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world, but our communities are often focused only on lights and presents. Even though they know the season is about Jesus, they often overlook how He is the light of the world and the greatest gift we could ever receive. How many times do we overlook His miraculous birth, because we are exhausted in our efforts to have more lights on our homes than our neighbors or to find the perfect gifts for our families? We do the same thing at Easter. We know it is a day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in which He saves us from our sins, but our communities are often focused only on candy and new clothes for spring.
When Jesus asked His disciples what they were arguing about, I’m sure He had probably overheard some of their arguments as to why they were the greatest. Peter might have said, “I’m one of Jesus’ best friends. I got to go up a mountain with Him, along with James and John.” Another disciples might have said, “Oh big deal, I drove 5 demons out of a guy one time.” And a few disciples might have said, “We’ve healed more people than all of you, so we deserve a special place in heaven.” I’m sure the disciples were probably thinking that with all of these wonderful things they were doing (even though it was God doing it through them) they should get some special rewards in heaven. Therefore, Jesus had to correct this whole idea of what brings true greatness.
So Jesus said in verse 35, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” But being last and a servant of all is not what the disciples were striving for and it is certainly not what anyone strives for today. Did you ever notice how on Sundays we hear all about humility and servanthood, but on Monday everything changes? In the world where we live and work, Monday is about being #1. It’s about power, success, reputation, and position. Have you ever heard a child say, “Someday when I grow up I want to be a servant.” Or, “I hope I’m the last one picked for the soccer team.” No, not at all.
Jesus is not saying, though, that we cannot or should not be great. He is not saying that we should not have ambition, drive, or big goals. So to clarify what He is saying, Jesus takes a child into His arms and says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” A child is a symbol of vulnerability and dependency. I see this every day here at our child development center. Our Open Arms teachers will love, feed, play, protect, and change diapers of 1 and 2 year-old children all day long, and do you think those children ever say, “Thank you?” No. Taking care of children, whether they are your own or someone else’s, can be one of the most unrecognized jobs in the world, yet Jesus says, “This is what greatness is all about.” In other words, true greatness involves using your time in giving yourself to serve the needs of those who cannot meet their own needs.
And Jesus understood this best of all. Knowing that we could not save ourselves or make amends for the enormous debt of our sin, Jesus left the splendor of heaven and came to this earth as one of us. He lived a perfect life, keeping all of God’s commands perfectly, but then He allowed Himself to be arrested, beaten, falsely accused of things He had not done, and killed on a cross. There certainly was nothing glamorous about the job Jesus was called to do and nobody thanked Him for going to the cross on that Good Friday, but He did it, He allowed Himself to be last, for you and me. For all the times where we have focused on putting ourselves first or failed to serve others out of arrogance, thinking that someone else should take the time to do the work, Jesus suffered and died for those sins so we could be forgiven and live with Him forever. That’s called grace.
Think of it this way. Imagine being pulled over for speeding by a police officer and being given a ticket for $100. You appear in court and the judge notices that this is your third speeding ticket this year. The judge asks, “How do you plead?” and you simply say, “guilty.” But then the judge says, “I tell you what. I am going to personally pay for your speeding ticket and I’m going to take you out to lunch today.” Unlikely? Yes, but you and the judge go out to lunch, he pays for your lunch, and says to you, “This is how God treats repentant sinners.”
And that is why we never have to fear God. When we realize that there is nothing we can offer to God for our sins and when we cling solely to His promises of forgiveness and life through Jesus, it is then that our Lord is able to transform us from focusing on selfish ambitions to focusing on selfless service to others. That is what true greatness in the eyes of God is all about and I pray we will use our time to model that every day
