Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian September 23, 2012 Mark 9:30-37

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1 Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian September 23, 2012 Mark 9:30-37 whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen. This is your lucky day! You did not know it was your lucky day, but it is. You hit the jackpot! Today, unlike any other day ever in this Church, you get TWO sermons! Woo-Hoo! Two sermons for the price of one! Both on the same text. Both with the same name. Here we go! Sermon #1: They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 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. 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 33 Then they came to Capernaum 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. The text says Jesus sat down. Beware! When a Rabbi sits down it means he has something important to say. This day Jesus is foretelling his death and resurrection: I will be betrayed into human hands and I will be killed by humans, and I will rise again. This is the strong Jesus who can speak of his inevitable, upcoming, terrifying trial and death in a controlled and sanguine manner. This is the tough Jesus who can tell his disciples about his own betrayal and predict his own execution. This is the powerful Jesus who can in a clear and centered way warn and prepare his beloved followers for what is to come. 1

2 And then, after sharing these frightening words, the strong, tough Jesus, the Rabbi who is teaching, warning and preparing his followers for the pain that lies ahead can turn almost immediately into the sweet Jesus, the kind, sensitive and gentle Jesus the disciples also know and love. The tough Jesus I will be betrayed into human hands and be killed can then lift a child, the text says taking the child in his arms, and speak about welcoming one such child in his name he can with grace and sweetness speak about how welcoming a child in his name is equivalent to welcoming him. In this short passage, our beloved Jesus goes from being the tough guy to gentle Jesus meek and mild the sweet Jesus who loves children and reaches out to hold them. This is the kind and soft Jesus with a child on his lap and image so often captured in stained glass windows. This is like the Shepherd Jesus, also captured in images in stained glass windows, with a little lamb over his shoulders. This is Jesus modeling a new kind of masculinity. Those who are weak are actually strong. Those who are last will be first. Power and might are not the answer gentleness and love are the answer. The Jesus depicted in today s reading reminds me of why we love the infant Jesus in the manger at Christmas the vulnerable, open, undefended Jesus full of love and hope. Like the infant Jesus in the manger, the Jesus who lifts a small child in his arms is an appealing and comforting Jesus. This passage reminds me a story a fellow pastor told me recently. My colleague said that at his Church at Deacons meetings, this pastor always asks the Head Deacon to offer an opening and closing prayer. He said that the Head Deacon, a middle-aged woman, always begins her prayer with Baby Jesus The Head Deacon consistently prays to Baby Jesus. Today s text reinforces why she does that. Baby Jesus is unthreatening, weak, loving and lovable. We find solace in the vulnerable Jesus. We draw comfort from his sweetness, his sensitive and caring behavior, his kindness and warmth. There is a reason gentle Jesus meek and mild is an appealing Jesus. May we remember that Jesus is mysterious and complicated. He is both fully human and fully divine. AND he is both strong and powerful, and weak and vulnerable. We must allow Jesus to be Jesus in all his fullness, in all his complexity. Jesus sweetness touches our hearts and it should. 2

3 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. Gentle Jesus meek and mild, we love you. Amen. Sermon #2: They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 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. 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 33 Then they came to Capernaum 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. It is easy to sentimentalize this story. But always remember to place Biblical stories in the context of their time. And always remember that Jesus lived during the Roman Empire, and that he was a radical and a revolutionary, and everything he said and did had layers of meaning. The Gospel of Mark is one long march to the cross. Jesus spends most of the Gospel of Mark preparing himself and his disciples for his bloody, awful death. He prepares them constantly, and he will not let a teachable moment pass him by. I will be betrayed into human hands, Jesus tells them. In fact into the hands of the Roman authorities known for their brutal treatment of dissidents and troublemakers. Jesus is a dissident and a troublemaker. He is constantly preaching the scandalous message of the Gospel. Competition for power, wealth, and prestige infected every aspect of life in the Roman Empire and Jesus had the nerve and the gall to walk around saying it did not have to be that way. The poor are blessed, the meek are powerful, the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Jesus knew such teachings would get him killed. He knew that he was essentially living on death row. 3

4 Jesus prepares his disciples so that they will be ready, so that they will absorb all his teachings and carry on his ministry when he is gone. After sharing the horrific news about his death, he shifts gears. He was famous for doing that. He made a point, he moved on, he taught something new. Jesus shifts gears and speaks about children. But this is not an arbitrary, sweet, can-be-dismissed moment. This is not merely gentle Jesus meek and mild. This is the relentless Rabbi teaching and preaching his primary message again. Jesus chooses to lift a child at this moment. A child. There is no one lower on the social hierarchy, no one with less power, no one less important than a child in ancient Roman culture. Jesus is saying: when you welcome in your heart someone as insignificant and powerless as a child, you welcome me. Children were non-persons. They were below slaves and servants. Slaves and servants could inherit wealth and property. Children could not. Children contributed NOTHING to the family income or well-being. It was not that they were to be seen but not heard, they were not even to be seen. They were potential people, not full people until they could be useful. I have spoken to you before about how the ancient culture in Jesus time was based on honor and shame who had honor, who experienced shame, how that careful calibration was calculated each day. Children had no honor. Consequently, they could not confer honor on anyone who interacted with them. There was no benefit to interacting with children. They were powerless and useless. And children could be abandoned without that action causing any shame on a family. There was an ancient Roman custom that when a child was born, the father would survey the child look it over from head to toe. If the child had anything wrong with him or her, or the father did not take to the child, the father would simply step away which means the child was to be abandoned.put out in the desert or countryside and left for some sympathetic person to rescue and raise. It was only when a father reached down, took the child in his arms and lifted the child that the child was claimed by the family and kept and safe. A child had to be lifted by the father to be claimed as family. Jesus knows that custom. He is not doing some sweet and benign gesture by lifting the child and saying Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me this is not a sentimental, meaningless gesture. Jesus knows precisely what he is doing. 4

5 Jesus is taking THE most vulnerable, THE least important person in the social hierarchy, THE most insignificant human being around and elevating this little person to his level, making this non-person as important as he is, making this lower-than-the-slaves child the equivalent of this powerful Rabbi. Jesus was known for reaching to the margins of society and saying those poor people, those lepers, those widows, those demon-possessed folks, those hated taxcollectors they are our people. They will help us create the kingdom of God on earth. They are the future and the hope. I have come to talk to, heal, and empower THEM. In this story, Jesus is going to an even greater extreme. He is lifting a CHILD, the low of the low, and saying if you love and welcome one of THESE you are loving and welcoming ME. Theologian Joyce Ann Mercer suggests that Jesus treatment of children throughout his ministry shows his struggle and resistance to the purposes of empire. Roman imperial politics always always favored relationships of power and privilege. Those relationships were always based on status and honor. Jesus first calls the disciples to emulate the child, thus renouncing social status. Then he calls them to welcome the child, to make space for those with NO social status at all, since to do so was to welcome Jesus himself and the One who sent him. According to this story, a child enables God to be known as the one who overturns social hierarchies, welcoming the lowly into God s embrace. Jesus lifting and holding this child is not just about the delight and the wonder that children embody. Jesus lifting and holding the child is also about the way that children call Jesus followers into resisting imperial power. Lifting and holding this child is about claiming the weakest and most vulnerable as family.as a father would lift and claim a child as his own. It is about defying the cultural norms of the time that dismissed, ignored and regularly abandoned children. Gentle Jesus meek and mild? Not in this case. This is revolutionary Jesus with an agenda, an analysis, and a radical way of seeing the world. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. This is an intentional, pointed and brave thing to declare. In this story, Jesus began by telling the disciples he would be betrayed into human hands. And he knows that actions such a claiming that if you welcome a child you welcome him will hasten his journey to the cross. Amen. 5