Loving God, you value all whom you have made, whether great or small by human standards.  Help us to live as the people you have made us to be, open to your power working within and through us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    How would you compare Jesus’ disciples with us?  Were they smarter?  More faithful?  Saintlier?  Were they better equipped to tell people about Jesus?  Could you ever be a disciple?  It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of you are thinking: “Nope.  Not me!”  However, I beg to differ, and I’m pretty sure that Jesus does, too.

    You see, the disciples actually weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.  They weren’t overly educated.  Plus, they misunderstood Jesus over and over again.  Take today’s gospel for example.  This is not the first time that Jesus has told them about his betrayal, suffering and death.  This is not the first time he has told them that he will rise from the dead.  Yet, they continue to not understand, and they continue to be afraid to ask Jesus what he means.

    When we think about it, Jesus rising from the dead really shouldn’t be that much of a stretch for them.  After all, they have already witnessed Jesus raising a girl from the dead (Mk. 5), and they saw him talking to people long dead who are alive, as he speaks with Moses and Elijah on the mountain top (Mk. 9).  Yet, they do not understand.

    They have witnessed many things – like Jesus walking on the water, or feeding multitudes of people, or calming a storm at sea, or shining with heavenly glory on the mountain top.  These things even prompted Peter to say, “You are the Messiah” (Mk. 8:29).  Yet, they cannot comprehend a Messiah who would allow himself to be betrayed and to suffer and to be put to death.

    The disciples believe but they don’t believe.  They understand but they don’t understand.  They trust but they are afraid.  They try to cast a demon out of a boy but forget to pray.  They know that Jesus wouldn’t look kindly on their discussion about who is the greatest, but they do it anyway.  They know that asking questions is part of learning, but they are afraid to ask.  Are they really so much better and more faithful than any of us?  I think not!

    Now, you might be tempted to point out what the disciples did later on.  They preached the good news about Jesus.  They healed people.  They baptized those who came to believe in Jesus.  They spoke in other languages.  They even raised the dead.  All of this took place after they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  In other words, the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Jesus - enabled them to do these things.  They remained fallible and mistake prone human beings, but they opened themselves to the Holy Spirit and allowed God to work through them in order to make Jesus of Nazareth known to many people.

    Have any of you ever received the Holy Spirit?  Has God ever placed his Spirit within you and given you gifts for ministry?  Has the Holy Spirit ever worked through you in order to touch the life of another person?  If you are saying “no” to all of these things, it’s not because God is unable to work through you.  Rather, it is because you haven’t allowed it.  God does not work through us without our consent.  We’re not talking about some kind of weird possession here.  We’re talking about an openness to God’s power and presence in our lives, believing and trusting that God can do more than we could ever ask or imagine in us and through us.

    Our God is not limited by our education (or lack thereof), or by our doubts and questions.  Our God is not limited by our inability to understand, or the skills that we believe we don’t have.  Our God is only limited by us when we block ourselves off from the Holy Spirit and refuse to allow the power of God into our lives.

    The thing is that God has always worked through human beings – and especially through those who have frailties and failings.  When we are the weakest, that is when God’s power can be seen most strongly, and that is when we learn to allow God to work through us.  Remember - “Little ones to him belong.  They are weak but he is strong”!  What is it that our God is just waiting to do through us?

    So often, it seems that we, too, are afraid.  How many people are afraid to come to a Bible study because they might not know enough?  How many people are afraid to say one word to anybody about their faith in Jesus Christ?  How many people are afraid to say a prayer out loud because they might not say it right?  How many people are afraid to ask questions when they don’t understand something?  This is where we can learn a lot from children.

    The little girl is two and a half years old.  At a family dinner, she sees her uncle sit down and begin to eat without praying.  She goes up to him and says, “No uncle.  You can’t eat until you bow your head like this and hold your hands like this.  You have to say thank you to God.”  Her uncle tells her that he doesn’t know what to say and asks if she could teach him.  She begins to say a prayer, but then stops and tells him that he needs to close his eyes, too.  Then she says, “Thank you God for the food, and for mommy and daddy, and for toys.  Amen.”  And then she says, “Now you can eat.”  There.  Was that so hard?

    The little boy is five and says grace for his family before every meal, because he says the best prayers.  His parents never cease to be amazed at the things for which he gives thanks.  Thank you for the food.  Thank you for the furnace that keeps us warm.  Thank you for our church. Thank you for a bed to sleep in.  Thank you for the animals.  Thank you for mommy and daddy and big sister.  Who says that children don’t know what they’re doing and don’t understand?

    Jesus wasn’t joking when he said that welcoming a little child is the same as welcoming him.  In other passages, it is the disciples who are representatives of Jesus.  In Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me” (Mt. 10:40).  However, in today’s gospel, welcoming a little child is the same as welcoming Jesus (Mk. 9:37).  How come?

    It would seem that Jesus has a special place in his heart for the weak and vulnerable among us, and he expects his followers to think in the same way.  You see, in Jesus’ culture, children were considered to be the lowest of the low.  They were non-persons who were expected to stay with the women.  It would have been inconceivable to the disciples that a teacher like Jesus would want to spend any time with children.  And then Jesus tells his disciples that they, too, should embrace children and welcome them.

    Time after time, Jesus took a special interest in those who were given no status at all in his society.  It was his way of teaching people that all of us get our status from God and not from any human standards as to who is great or powerful.  We are not accepted because of how much we know, or how good our understanding is, or how smart we are, or how much money we have, or how much people respect us.  Rather, we are accepted because God created us and loves us and redeemed us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We are accepted by God’s grace - as a gift - because God believes that we are worth it.

    Let us then live believing in Jesus Christ, giving thanks for God’s love, and inviting the Holy Spirit to work through us in order to make Christ known.  Amen.

Lectionary 25(B)                                Mark 9:30-37
September 20, 2009
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved