Last week, Josh preached through the first week of our new series, The Way of the Cross. During this series, we’re going to be couched right in the middle of Mark. By this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has amassed this huge following. It’s hard to get away from the crowds. Jesus is officially a big deal. He’s cast out demons, he’s healed the sick, and he’s raised people from the dead. And even while doing all of that, He’s still found a way to make some people mad, specifically the religious leaders because He does things a little differently. He’s broken some traditions because in doing so, He was able to care for people better.

I think it’s good for us to think about these intimate teaching moments between Jesus and his disciples as a response from Jesus. A response to the wildfire of notoriety and intrigue that Jesus’ ministry has caused. In chapter 8, we see Peter rightly identify Jesus as the Messiah, and now we are seeing Jesus begin to teach his disciples about what that actually means. It’s not all crowds and fanfare. We’re heading to a crucifixion, not a coronation.

Last week, we read how Jesus plainly tells his disciples what’s going to happen. The Son of Man will suffer and be rejected by the religious establishment. He’ll be killed, and in three days, he will rise again. And we saw that the disciples didn’t get it, namely Peter, who pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him before Jesus tells him, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Jesus teaches his disciples what it truly means to follow Him:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Today, we see Jesus once again teaching his disciples. This is Mark chapter 9, verses 30-37:

30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Here we see in a couple different scenes, Jesus trying to get the message to his disciples that this is not about being the greatest, it’s about making yourself the least. It’s not about getting it all, its about giving it all.

To me, this is a story about Expectations.

Between the miracles, the crowds, and what they might expect from the Messiah, Jesus knows that these disciples’ expectations may be way out of whack. Sure, these disciples started following this guy Jesus, becoming friends with Jesus when He was this up-and-coming teacher, but things had changed.

These disciples started walking around with Jesus when He was just a teacher from Nazareth in the eyes of many, but things were different now. They weren’t just filling up houses anymore and hanging out in the synagogue but now they were drawing crowds big enough fill up a venue the size of Ascend Amphitheater downtown. Just a couple weeks before this moment between Jesus and his disciples, Jesus was just out teaching on a hill and 5,000 people showed up.

This may not connect for you, but this is true for a lot of folks and myself if I’m not careful: accolades can be intoxicating. Being the person drawing a crowd or simply being in proximity to the person drawing a crowd can be a point of pride.

And so these disciples – who were absolute nobodies before Jesus, just regular joes, fisherman, tax collectors, protesting rebels – now were best friends with the Messiah, which to them meant they were going to be best friends with the king. They had basically quit their jobs and left home to follow a teacher, but now they were going to be in charge. They might start to believe that because of this meteoric rise, they were going to have land and access and wealth.

Their expectations for what was coming needed adjusting. As a parent, I’m learning how important it is to manage expectations. There’s certain things that if I say them out loud I know that I better follow through with it. Like if I say we’re going to a grandparents house, I better not say it too far in advance, and it better actually happen because Wesley’s already excited about it. Same thing with donuts. If donuts are mentioned, donuts better be had. Every Friday, Wesley and I go to get donuts at Donut Palace, and so he’s begun to expect that when it’s just us two in the car, that’s what’s going to happen. When I picked him up from preschool on Thursday, his first sentence was: “Daddy, Donuts!”

Jesus is taking this time with his disciples to adjust their expectations, to orient them in the right direction, to let them know what’s coming. He’s already told them once, and it didn’t take. I think perhaps their expectations for what was to come were so different than what Jesus was telling them that they literally couldn’t understand what He was saying. Maybe you’ve experienced something so disorienting that you literally couldn’t understand what the person was telling you.

Jesus is saying, you want to follow me and that’s great, but here’s what that really means. It’s not going to be smooth sailing. People aren’t always going to be seeing me this way. They’re going to reject me and kill me because the Kingdom we’re building isn’t like the kingdoms you’re familiar with. Once again, they didn’t get it.

The text tells us: “they did not understand what He meant and they were afraid to ask him about it.” Of everything in this piece of Scripture, I think this may be the verse that I find most relevant to me. I don’t know if you’re like this, but it’s hard for me sometimes to admit that I don’t know what I’m doing and that I need help, even though needing help is a totally normal thing to experience.

I remember when my older brother was on the high school football team, and we’d go to all his games on Fridays. We’d drive all over the mid-state during football season. One time the game was at Marshall County High School in Lewisburg, but when we got there, the football field wasn’t at the high school, it was like a mile or two away or something. So we got to the high school and there was no football field. And there was no smartphones, and we were in the boonies so there wasn’t really cell phone service either. We drove around for like 30 minutes looking for the football field and couldn’t find it. We were lost. But my dad didn’t want to ask for directions… I don’t say this to shame my dad because I also have an aversion to asking strangers for help, and I would’ve done the same thing, but when I’m driving now I have a smartphone equipped with Google and a GPS and everywhere has cell service. Of course, eventually, my dad broke down and we asked somebody at a McDonalds how to get to the football field, and we got there in 5 minutes, but we missed the whole first quarter driving around aimlessly.

When I was growing up, I didn’t think it was ok to ask questions about my faith. If something didn’t make sense or I was having doubts, I didn’t feel like it was ok to say that out loud. But it’s so important to ask questions and for us to ask questions together. I’m thankful to be a part of a church community that I think believes its ok to ask questions even if we don’t always have answers.

So these disciples don’t get it, but they don’t ask any questions. And instead of asking questions as they walk along the road, they argue about which among them is the greatest, proving again that their expectations for how this is all going to go down are way off. They don’t understand. They’ve been told twice now by Jesus that we’re heading to rejection not acclamation. We’re heading to a crucifixion not a coronation. But their expectations are so far off that what Jesus is saying isn’t making sense to them.

They don’t tell Jesus what they were arguing about on the road, but I’m sure he knows because he sits them down and tells them that if they want to be great, they need to make themselves the least. If they want to be first, they need to be the very last, and he illustrates this point by picking up a small child in his arms. Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

You want to be great? Then welcome a child. Help someone who can’t help you back. Look after someone who can’t look after themselves.

Time after time after time, Jesus teaches his disciples to do the opposite of what the world expects: You’ve heard it said an eye for an eye, but I’m telling you when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other to them also. When someone asks for your coat, give your shirt to them also. When someone wrongs you, don’t return that wrong, go to them and work it out. If you want to be first, be last.

Now, we know who is first. The person who, despite being God in human flesh, became the servant of all. Because Jesus put himself last, God elevated him to the highest place. At his name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Because He put himself last.

Jesus knew he was heading to a crucifixion, not a coronation, and he went through with it anyway. And now, Jesus is inviting us to do the same. Serve others. And not just others who can pay you back, especially those who can’t pay you back. Take care of people who can’t take care of themselves. If we want to be a great church, we have to encourage each other to walk deeper and deeper into caring for our most vulnerable neighbors. To become great, we have to make ourselves least just like Jesus did.

Let’s be the greatest church. Let’s do that by actually doing the things that Jesus calls us to do. These are not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking suggestions, Jesus is revealing to us a new way to live, a better way to live.

When we go to the Table each week, we remember Jesus, who invites us all to sit at his Table. Who are we inviting to our tables? Whose voices matter to us? For whom do we show concern? If we don’t answer these questions the way Jesus answers these questions, we’re missing the point just like Jesus’ disciples. If we only show kindness to those who can return the favor, if we only invite people to our tables who look like us, talk like us, and think like us, we’re missing the point. When we welcome the least, we welcome Jesus to our tables.

As we commune together this morning with God and each other, let our time together inspire us to embrace the teachings of Jesus in new ways, that we will go into our world more reflective of Jesus’ love than we were before.

September 15th, 2024

Watch here: https://youtu.be/9WvmZw6D4ns?si=DgrNscP35ptZ6uA1&t=1253