Pentecost 18
Jesu Juva
“Right-Side-Up in an Upside-Down World”
Text: Mark 9:30-37; James 3:16-4:6
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Who is the
greatest? The disciples would fit in well with our
world today. Our world
that seems to be obsessed with greatness, and who’s number one. The “Top 25” college
football teams. The World Golf Rankings.
The “10 Best Dressed” and “10 Worst Dressed” lists. The Fortune 500. The top colleges and
universities in
So imagine their surprise when after arriving in
If
you don’t get that, that’s okay. The
disciples didn’t either. It sounds
rather upside-down, like many other sayings of Jesus: to be great, be the
least; to be first, be last; don’t let your right hand know what your left hand
is doing; if you want to be rich, give everything away. It doesn’t make sense. But people take these as instructions, or
commands, of Jesus and run with them, trying to be the first in being the last
. . . but if you’re first in being last, are you last, or first? If you’re great at being least, are you
least, or great?
But
you see, it’s not really where you are on the list
that Jesus is talking about here; that’s the problem – it’s your pride. Your pride that wants recognition for what
you are able to accomplish. For what you do. For
what you are able to achieve. For at least being better than someone else. It’s your pride, your sinful pride, that separates and divides you from others. That categorizes and strategorizes, and
stratifies and codifies, so I can say: I’m here, and you’re not. What a good boy (or girl!) I am!
Our
sin can make just about anything into a pride-filled contest, can’t it? Even turning something good
into something bad. So what are
we to make of Jesus’ statement here?
Well,
we have to realize that Jesus isn’t giving instructions here, as much as an
attitude adjustment! That
we might stop categorizing and strategorizing, and stratifying and
codifying, and begin to think differently. Not comparing ourselves with others, not
wanting to make ourselves the greatest, but seeing in others an opportunity for
service, and in serving them, trying to get them to be the greatest.
Sound
crazy? A few cards
short of a deck? Yeah, because in
our dog-eat-dog world, if you don’t help yourself, nobody else will! And
you're doomed to be walked on and stepped on and used your whole life. And nobody likes to be a doormat. . . .
So you know what we do, as Christians? We become double agents, living two kinds of
lives. We try to adopt the attitude of
Jesus here when dealing with other Christians and when in the Church, and adopt
the attitude of the world when dealing with the world! And that sounds good, until we remember the
words we read in the Epistle from James: “You adulterous people! Do you
not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever
wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” The word “adulterous” there is a good
one to use. Because by trying to have it
both ways, we are being unfaithful to God.
. . .
There’s no way out from this one, is there?
Now, there’s nothing wrong with being great, or
successful, or really good at something.
Jesus doesn’t say that here. If
God has given you the talents and abilities and successes, thanks be to God! But if
you’re going to remember one thing today, remember this: when you hear these
teachings of Jesus, and it seems as if He is turning things upside-down,
realize that what is happening here is not Jesus turning things
upside-down – but that He is actually
turning things right-side up again! It’s
not Jesus and His teachings that are upside-down, it’s
our world! A world turned upside-down by
sin.
So when Jesus came, He and His teaching looked
upside-down because He was the only one right-side-up in an upside-down
world! That's why many didn't understand
what He was saying. That's why we
will never understand what He is saying if we try to reconcile Jesus
with the world. Because they don't, and they won't, fit together. That's
why that strong statement in the Epistle is true. To be friends with the world is to be
upside-down and opposite of God. Now,
not many people would say that this world is a great place, but it’s also not a
place, a world, that just needs “fixing up” either! It’s a world that needs turning
“upside-down!” And Jesus has come to
turn us around.
And what does that look like? Well, in response to the disciples’
curiosity: Hey Jesus, if you could pick
only one disciple, who would it be? . . . Jesus
doesn’t pick any of them! He picks a
child. For besides Jesus Himself, there was
nothing right-side-up in this world to show them, and since Jesus’ disciples
didn't understand what Jesus and His cross were all about yet, Jesus shows them
something they could understand . .
. a small child. As if to say: “This
is who I would pick . . . Peter, James, and John, and the rest of
you. Because in God’s eyes, you don’t do great, or achieve
great – you are given great. And
you are great because you’ve been chosen; you’re not chosen because you’re
great.”
That’s a bit different than what we’re used to! But it is the “right-side-up” that enables us
to see Jesus and His cross rightly. To
see ourselves where we belong (the bottom!), and to see Jesus as the One who
wanted us to be the greatest, and so He became the least. The Son of God who came
down into an upside-down world to set it right again. And not only by His Words
and teachings and miracles, but also by His rejection. His rejection by an upside-down world which
showed that He was no friend of this world and the ways of this world, but was
instead considered an enemy to be disposed of.
. . . But when that happened, when
Jesus was disposed of by crucifixion,
what do we see? We see exactly what He
came here to do – we see the world turning upside-down! The sun stopped shining; the earth shook and
split open; the dead came out of their graves.
When Jesus died, the world got shook-up!
Because it got turned upside-down – or really, it got turned back
right-side-up! For there on the cross,
and then in the resurrection, was the greatest reversal of all – sin was
undone, life defeated death, and the grip of Satan was smashed.
And the effects of this great reversal, of Jesus
turning the world right-side-up again are still being felt. The effects of the cross are still being felt
. . . every time a new child of God is created in the waters of Holy
Baptism. Every time we are fed and
strengthened to live as His children with His very body and blood. Every time we are turned right-side-up again
as we bow our heads before God, confess that we are sinful and upside-down, and
are restored again through His forgiveness.
But the effects of the cross are also felt in this
world through you. When you live right-side-up as children of God. When you speak His
right-side-up Word. When you
serve and give and love . . . and when you are rejected for it. When the world considers
you crazy, and upside-down.
That’s okay. We
should expect it, so don’t worry about it.
Don't worry about being the greatest in the world. Don't worry about being number one. Don't worry about getting stepped on. You’ve already been chosen, forgiven, and
promised all that you need! And so you
are now free to serve and love and give – not to right yourself! But because you have already been turned right-side-up by your Saviour, and you’re just
living the way you are! As a child; a child of God.
Already great in the
And in the end, His opinion is the only one that
matters anyway! Lists come and lists
go. Each year the folks of this world
have to prove themselves all over again.
What’s in one year is out the next.
But the Word of the Lord stands forever.
The Word of the Lord, once dead, but now risen! The Word of the Lord given
to you. His Word which says: you
are mine! My child. And if you want great, well you just can’t
get greater than that!
In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now
the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds
through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.
(P.S. Yes, I know
“strategorizing” is not a word, but it makes a great rhyme, doesn’t it?)