Mark 9:30-37

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 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." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

My task as a preacher is to take the good news, which often comes to us as an abstract theological idea, and flesh it out in terms that we can relate to. Luckily, today’s gospel texts include both an abstract theological idea and an object lesson provided by Jesus himself. By simply reading the gospel I’ve done just about all I can hope to accomplish in a sermon. So, allow me simply to remind you of what you’ve just heard in the gospel text.

Today’s theological idea is the concept of greatness. Who or what is great? What makes someone great?

I hope the irony is not lost on you that the disciples are the ones arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. Up to this point in Mark’s gospel, the disciples have been busy doubting Jesus’ teaching and doubting their ability to heal and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. They really do come across as the bumbling Keystone Cops in Mark’s gospel.

And what were they doing in today’s story as they walked to the next town? They were arguing about who among them was the greatest. This is like players on a winless team arguing about who on the team is the best. It’s a discussion that misses the mark. The disciples wanted to be greatest. They wanted to be first. So they sped off to the next town, leaving Jesus behind on the road, and argued while they were on their way.

Jesus entered the room where all the disciples have gathered after their roadside argument. Notice, this means Jesus walked in last; which makes his words all the more demonstrative and incisive: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

Jesus is literally talking the talk and walking the walk. He literally walks in the room last and calls the disciples’ attention to the fact that when they get too far ahead of him they lose focus and direction. I imagine Jesus saying, “Quit running ahead in ignorance and arrogance. Instead, walk with me, or ••gasp•• even behind me once in a while so you can see what it is I’m actually doing in the world.”

But he doesn’t stop there. The gospel continues, “Then [Jesus] took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’”

These disciples who run off ahead of Jesus…

These disciples who can’t manage to do what Jesus promises they can do…

These disciples who misunderstand what he says…

These disciples who argue among themselves about who is the greatest…

…do you think these disciples are the type of people who would make any time for children?

I doubt it. After all, children were invisible in that culture. Children had no inherent worth until they reached the age where they could produce income for the family. Males would work and females would marry. In that culture, children were nothing more than potential adults.

Showing attention, care, or affection to a child would have been a significant waste of time in that day and age. But along comes Jesus insisting that whomever wishes to be great must be last, a servant, and a friend to valueless and overlooked people such as children.

Here, too, Jesus talks the talk and walks the walk. Jesus heals and casts out spirits from children, such as daughter of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark chapter 7 and the boy from the passage immediately preceding today’s account from chapter 9.

In another account, in Matthew 10, Jesus raises a girl from the dead! Imagine that…not just any child, but a female child (a double whammy of cultural valuelessness at the time) – a female child benefiting from what we could call Jesus’ most amazing miracle.

Jesus insists that children have intrinsic worth and they should be welcomed.

And so, we, like the disciples, are called to be welcoming

Unfortunately, I can’t think of any churchy word that has come to mean as little as the word “welcoming.” Every single church today would claim to be welcoming. Even if they don’t allow you to take communion due to not being the right denomination, or if they don’t allow you to serve in any leadership capacity because you’re a woman or not straight, I guarantee you their signs will say “All are welcome.”

Welcoming does not mean merely tolerating. Instead, to be welcoming means to actively draw people into full inclusion, participation, and relationship.

Children are a great gift…not because of their potential, but because of who they are right now. Children are open to possibilities, full of enthusiasm, truly humble, and living as through no one can keep them at arm’s length from God’s love.

By welcoming children, by actively drawing children into full inclusion, participation and relationship, children change us. Their openness, enthusiasm, humility, innocence, and love rubs off on us. It’s frankly a selfish commandment for us to follow, because we stand to gain so much from being in relationship with children.

So, permit me to extend an invitation for you to reflect on the degree to which you heed Jesus’ words about children, particularly as it relates to our ministry in our church and community. Are you someone who tolerates the presence of children, or are you someone who actively celebrates their full inclusion, participation, and relationship?

Trust me when I say there is a need for more inter-generational relationships in this congregation. Would you consider spending an hour a month helping other adults teach a Sunday school class? Would you stand to gain anything from learning the name of the child who is sitting near your seat in worship? Would you go to cheer on one of youth as they demonstrate their talents in extracurricular events? Would you help staff the nursery once in a while so that parents who are completely submerged in the art of parenting little ones can have an hour of the week to focus and worship?

I nearly talked myself out of making this sermon an appeal for you to get involved in the life of our youth. I thought maybe it would come across as heavy-handed. I thought you’d probably say “no” to the invitation; or tell me that’s my job, not yours; or tell me it’s a woman’s job, not yours (which must be a thought some of you have because we only have one male Sunday school teacher right now). But then I remembered that this isn’t an appeal for help, it’s an invitation to follow Christ by having fun with awesome little people. I would be doing you a disservice by withholding the invitation.

Regardless of where you individually go from here. Here’s what we as a congregation are going to do to honor our youth this morning. Before the music plays, I am going to ask the children’s church leaders to bring the kids back to the sanctuary. As they walk in I want you all to turn to face them and applaud them as they enter. These kids deserve a standing ovation.

Mark 7:24-37

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

Allow me to begin with a series of disappointing stories:

The other day my wife and I decided to go out to eat at one of the trendy new restaurants in Indianapolis that we had heard a lot about. We looked it up online and saw that it was closed. So, we didn’t go.

I bought a book last year that I was really excited to read. I placed it on the top of my “to read” pile in my office. To this day I have not cracked it open.

Some people were once presented with an idea that challenged them; so they did not even try to understand the idea, nor understand the person who posited the idea. These people successfully avoided having their minds changed and were able to go about business as usual.

An archaeologist discovered a long-lost ancient Egyptian vault said to contain treasures of unparalleled value. The archaeologist never opened the vault to explore it and he never told anyone else about it.

A new family moved into a community. The parents and the children all found it difficult to make friends in this new place because it seemed like everyone they met already had enough friends. The new family continues to feel sad and alone.

A child unwrapped a gift from under the Christmas tree and found the one present she wanted most. Unfortunately, it was one of those clam shell packages encased with thick plastic that is heat-sealed all the way around and nearly impossible to open by any mere mortal. So the present remained firmly encased in molded plastic until the family could figure out how to open the package.

These are all pretty disappointing stories. I could unpack each one, add more details, and flesh out the characters, but it wouldn’t change the fact that these are not stories that resonate with us. They are uninteresting and fail to speak to the heart of the human condition because these are stories about things being closed. Restaurants, books, minds, discoveries, groups, presents – these are all things that are only worthwhile when they are open.

We love things that are open. When I say the phrase, “open it up,” it likely brings a smile to your face as you think about an experience of flooring the accelerator of a car or perhaps holding a wrapped gift. The only reason your friends are your friends is because you were all open; they took a risk in inviting you into their hearts, you took a risk in being vulnerable and reaching out. One of the appeals about buying things online is that the store is always open. And I venture a guess that your favorite book is one that you have actually opened and read.

Today’s gospel is ultimately about openness. However, to get there we first have to endure the disappointing story of Jesus NOT being open.

The Syrophoenician woman in the first half of today’s gospel has a daughter with an unclean spirit. The woman seeks out the notorious miracle-worker named Jesus. This is a radical decision because Jesus is a Hebrew man and she is neither of those things. She is a Gentile (that is, not Hebrew) and a woman, which means she has no religious or cultural right to ask a rabbi to heal her daughter. Jesus is well within his religious and cultural rights of his time to say no to her. And boy does he say no!

Did you catch that from the story? The woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter and Jesus doesn’t just say “No!”; he actually calls the woman and her daughter dogs, which is an unmistakable racial slur.

This is a story about closed-minded Jesus, and it’s disappointing. This is a picture of the Son of God looking a suffering woman in the face and saying, “Sorry, but you’re not worth my time, my compassion, or my miracles because you are not the right type of person.”

The woman remains steadfast, however, and refuses to take no for an answer. With some quick thinking, she turns Jesus’ prejudice on its head and points out an insight that fills her with strength and hope – the truth that God’s kingdom is more expansive than even Jesus had yet come to believe.

This desperate woman pushes Jesus, stretches his vision of God's grace, and makes clear to him that there is room in God's kingdom for all, for Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, insider and outsider, even so-called dogs like her and her daughter. Jesus’ mind and heart is open because of the woman’s bravery.

She persisted and her hopeful insight changes the nature of Jesus’ ministry. Recall that from there, Jesus then goes to the Decapolis, which is a Gentile area, and continues his ministry of teaching and healing among both Jews and Gentiles.

Which brings us to the second part of today’s gospel, where Jesus restores the hearing and speech of a man who is deaf. He does so by putting his fingers in the man’s ears, then spitting (why, or on what, we do not know), touching the man’s tongue, sighing, and saying “Ephphatha” (Aramaic for “Be opened”).

Sighing and saying “Be opened.” People, this is beautiful. A man who, just a couple verse ago, was hurling verbal dismissive close-minded insults at a Gentile woman is now in a Gentile land healing people by commanding them to “be open.”

Fair warning to any of us who would be inspired to follow in Jesus’ footsteps: this openness takes a toll on Jesus. He’s still trying to figure out this new open version of himself. We see this in how he takes the man away from the crowd where no one can see. We see this in the way that he sighs before healing the man, which could mean Jesus is still a little hesitant. And we see this in his request that the account of the healing be kept silent.

Another fair warning to any of us who would be inspired to follow in his footsteps: once Jesus starts down this path, he doesn’t stop. And this path leads to his conquering the power of death on behalf of all people, be they Hebrew, Gentile, man, woman, rich, poor, dark skinned or light skinned, old, young, master or slave.

Throughout this next week, as you follow the footsteps of Jesus in your daily life, I encourage you to reflect on what it means that the Son of God moved from closed-mindedness to open-mindedness. I encourage you to adopt a spiritual posture of openness to new possibilities, new people, and new ideas. And I encourage you to be open to a better story.

Amen.

Children Are Great!

Open to a Better Story