“If You Want to Be First . . .” Mark 9: 30 – 37

            We’re number 1. We’re number 1.  We’re number 1. You’ve heard that chant?  You’ve yelled that chant?  So you’ve wanted to be number 1?  Number 1 in relationships—with your boyfriend or girlfriend—the one he’ll choose to marry—the one she’ll choose to marry.  Number 1 with your children—to hear your child say, “my Mommy’s the best.”  So you’ve wanted to be number 1—maybe in academics?  To ace the test, to win the spelling bee, to be named valedictorian?  Have you ever wanted to be number 1 in your work?  To be named teacher of the year; to be promoted to manager, superintendent, VP, or CEO?  Have you ever wanted to be number 1 on a team? To be recognized as “the most valuable player?”  The desire to be number 1 permeates our society and culture.  At most ages and stages of our lives, we want to be number 1 in some way. 

            Hmmm, we have something in common with Jesus’ disciples. For in today’s text, they are “caught” arguing over who is the  most valuable disciple.  I wonder if their conversations sounded anything like this:  Peter, James and John saying “Well, you know, Jesus did invite only us 3 on the mountain to see him transfigured in glory with Moses and Elijah—oops we weren’t supposed to tell anybody about that yet.” Philip or Andrew saying,  “We’re number 1 because we were the first to go invite others to join this group.” Whatever form the conversation took, along the way to Capernaum, they were arguing about ranking—who was number 1.

            Then Jesus responds.  Under God’s rule, if you want to be number 1, then become a servant to all.  Now Jesus’ disciples were shocked by his answer as were Mark’s original audience.  For you see, the Roman empire—in which Jesus and his followers and Mark and his audience lived—the Roman empire was all about hierarchy, status, and power.  In Jesus and in Mark’s day, the movers and the shakers held big dinner parties, inviting only the people who could advance their careers or add to their power.  Being number 1 meant wearing the most expensive clothes, eating the most exotic and rich foods, and being seen with the most powerful popular people. As a person rose in importance, his entourage of favor-seekers increased.  Jesus’ answer—to be first, you must become a servant of all—is topsy-turvy for the Greco-Roman culture.  To be the most important, the most powerful, the number 1 disciple is to be a servant.  And not just any servant but a diakonos—that’s the Greek word used here.  The diakonos was the least of all servants—the one who served the food.  Isn’t that interesting?  Jesus—the one who fed 5000 with just 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread, Jesus—the one who says, “Come to me and you will never be hungry,” Jesus—the one who offers us the bread of life—Jesus likens the number 1 disciple to the servant who feeds.  Jesus likens the number 1 disciple to the servant who makes sure everyone else’s needs are met before attending to his own.

            This is the discipleship we are called to.  Jesus tells us to serve others with no regard for how or even whether we might benefit.  So, we offer a smile, a kind word, and a genuine “thank you,” to the harried, over-worked, and perhaps grumbling clerk.  We put gas in the car of the young man hoping for a job in Kansas City.  We carry water to parade watchers and participants waiting in the July heat.  We do it without expecting a kind word in return, without expecting subsequent proof of employment, without expecting “familiar-from-the-parade” faces to show up in worship the next Sunday.

            Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be first must be least of all and the servant of all.”  Remove yourself from the hierarchy, he says.  Let go of seeking status.  And then he does something topsy turvy.  Just as there was a pecking order in the Greco-Roman society of his day, there was a pecking order in the household.  Unlike our culture today, where children are not only valued, but are often the center of attention and the locus of energy in the family, in the Greco-Roman household, children were non-persons. They didn’t matter. Children stayed with the women—hidden away from the men and their important conversations and activities.  Jesus takes a child—a non-person, one who should be elsewhere—and welcomes her into the activity, into the discussion, and into the fellowship of his disciples that day.  Jesus likens welcoming the child to welcoming him and as such, welcoming the One who sent him.  If you want to welcome God, welcome the least in the household—the child, the non-person—welcome the least in society—the nobody, the bullied.  Welcome and treat the ones who don’t count with respect and honor. 

            Welcome—isn’t it interesting that Mark has Jesus connect serving to welcoming?  Jesus links hospitality to being the number 1 disciple.  Over the last few months, our Session has been praying and reflecting on who God calls this congregation to be and what God calls us to do here in Paola. Our mission statement is the result of that prayerful reflection.  We are a welcoming community of faith seeking to help every person discover God’s transforming love as we proclaim the good news!

            Welcome—Jesus tells us to welcome even the non-persons, even the ones who “should be” elsewhere.  Jesus tells us to welcome even those at the bottom of the social, cultural, economic, physical, mental, and emotional hierarchy.  So, we open our doors—literally—we open our doors each Sunday morning to welcome all.  We open our doors—figuratively—we open our hearts and our minds and our resources to all who might be seeking God’s presence, God’s love, God’s grace.

            Welcome—does welcome mean “Hi, how are you?  It’s good to have you worship with us today”?  Yes . . .  and it means inviting people we know from outside this congregation to join us in what we find meaningful here.  H and J have a square dancing friend interested in Bible study.  She is a faithful member of another church in Paola and she longs for Bible study.  So, they invited her to our Wednesday morning study. 

            Welcome—does it mean inviting others to join in “our” activities?  Yes . . . and it means arranging the invitation, so they’ll feel comfortable to come.  B & Jq invited their bar-b-que connoisseur friend Clifton, to the church picnic . . . and they gave him a ride there.  CL arrived with folks he knew and was invited by the chef to share his culinary skills. 

            Welcome—does it mean arranging our invitation to decrease anxiety and increase the comfort of our guests?  Yes . . . and it means equipping all of us—not just the inviters, but all of us—to be truly hospitable.  M is “one of the group” now—encouraged and affirmed by others in our Wednesday study.  Folks at the bar-b-que made a point to chat with CL, to get to know him, and to invite him to join us in worship—especially when they learned CL’s church is disbanding, and he is searching for a place to re-plant his faith roots.   

            Welcome—what does it mean?  To invite others into the fellowship, study, worship, and mission activities we are currently engaged in?  Yes . . .  and it means envisioning other opportunities for this congregation to share God’s transforming love.  It means dreaming beyond, turning outward, and moving forward.

            Welcome—how do we welcome?  We offer our resources to God. We offer ourselves, our time, our talents, our passion, our space, our money to be used for God’s good purposes here in this corner of God’s good world.  Welcome—we share God’s transforming love through faith deepening experiences—experiences that offer physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stimulation.  Welcome—we share God’s transforming love in relationships—relationships that connect generations, relationships that accompany us through tragedies, relationships that celebrate our joys. 

            When we welcome as Christ calls us to welcome, we focus on others.  We ask how can this person experience God’s transforming love?  We ask what does this group of people need in order to hear—to internalize—the good news?  And we open up our hope chest of resources searching for the connection we will make with them to tangibly share the good news of God’s grace-full hospitality.  When we welcome as Christ calls us to welcome, we become other-centered; we become a servant of all.  When we welcome as Christ calls us to welcome, we no longer care about our rank, for we realize who indeed is number 1—God—our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer.