It's Not About Being First

Mark 9:30-37 - September 19th, 2021

The Lord Be With You.

A parable …

There once was a farmer who had many acres of land. Usually he planted corn and he was known county wide for the best corn produced. But on a narrow strip of land he grew nothing. Year after year he would be advised that the strip of land that he planted nothing on would yield the most profitable crop and that he should plant there. But he refused year after year. And, each year, many also noticed that crops did spring up but they weren’t corn. Each year many in the county would see this strip growing crops and then, somehow, become harvested but no one knew how it was done. Each year the residents would see that one day that abnormal crop would be there and the next day it would be gone. No one knew what was happening and the farmer would not say. However, the farmer grew sick just when the planting was to be done and he was not available to direct his planters. So the little strip was planted with corn. And it grew just like all the other corn. When the farmer became well, he saw what was going on and proceeded to dig up the corn planted on that strip. He also told why that strip was vacant all those years. It seemed that a family that was very poor lived across the valley. They were too proud to ask for help but the father of that family was a childhood friend of this farmer. The father of that family had asked him if he could use just a small portion of his land to grow his crops so he could feed his family and he would pay from the sale of those crops. The farmer agreed and when it came time collect, the famer put all the proceeds in a savings for the poor man’s kids to go to school. And they did.

Here ends the parable.

I’ve focused on verse 35 which says, in part, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant to all” because when we get right down to what each of us leaves behind when we’re gone, it’ll be what we’ve done for our neighbor from ourselves rather than what we’ve done to that neighbor in order to win, or to be first. Now, competition’s not a bad thing necessarily. Striving to win the race or to be the best. That’s not what this is saying. This is saying that when we create the mindset that winning is everything no matter what, then we’re what Jesus is referring to here.

I’ve called this message, “It’s Not About Being First” because it’s so easy to look at people, size them up, and then either welcome them because they’re a winner or discard them because they’re a loser. Most of the time we don’t even do it consciously but our general demeanor towards those that are on the bottom rung of the winning scale is something akin to looking down our noses at them. And that feeds those people’s negative self-worth image of themselves and they begin to believe that they’re not even worthy of God’s love and His abiding presence.

But you know what? Who we help is a true indication of what we believe. And when we step over another for our own self-gain, then we’re as the disciples in this passage that are vying for the best place at the table of God. Vying for the best seat in the house of Jesus. Vying for the prime attention of the Saviour Himself. All at the expense of their brothers and sisters who are God’s creation too.

Those around us are created to be our neighbors. We’re to love them as we love ourselves. Sometimes it’s a real challenge though. Sometimes they can lead us astray and we find our own selves in a kettle of hot water even though we didn’t start out that way. But Jesus is telling us to abide with each other because it’s only when we do abide together can we can truly grasp the idea that none of us is the first if we’re not willing to be the last. But sometimes we might have a lot of work to do in the process when we go along to get along. Sort of like this story I’m reminded of …

You know, Mickey Mantle had a friend who would let him hunt on his ranch. One day they went to the ranch to hunt along with teammate Billy Martin. Billy stayed in the car while Mickey checked with his friend.

Mickey was given permission to hunt, but the rancher asked him for a favor. His old mule was going blind and had become crippled, but the rancher just didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery – so he asked Mickey if he would shoot the old mule as a favor.

When Mickey came back to the car, he decided to play a trick on Billy and pretended to be angry. “What’s wrong?” asked Billy. “My friend told me NO HUNTING!!!” Mickey pounded his fist on the dashboard feigning anger and said, “Why, that guy’s got me so mad I’m going into the barn and shoot one of his mules.”

With that, Mickey jumped out of the car and headed for the barn. In quick order he took care of the mule and started back to the car to tell his friend it was just a joke. At that moment Mickey heard two shots fired and found Billy Martin standing over two dead cows. “What are you doing?” asked Mickey.

Martin answered, “Why, I saw how mad you were, so I wanted to let the rancher know he couldn’t fool with me either.”

You know? Discretion and contemplation are, I think, what Jesus was trying to get at here.

Reading about Jesus and the children brings this to mind. In Jesus’ day, children weren’t considered people. It wasn’t until they reached the age of maturity, usually around 12 to 13, that they were even elevated above the status of livestock. It’s not like today where we have helicopter parents who hover over their children and pack them in bubble wrap to keep the evil world at bay. I remember riding in the car in the back dash. It was a great place to sleep when we were on the road. Or the pickup full of straw going thru downtown Austin, Texas for the hayride. Or hanging on to the fender while skating just to see how far you could get before wiping out. Man, it’s amazing any of us are still alive. But, on the other hand, I remember getting the message that my cousin died falling out of a truck while reaching for a baseball cap. I guess the story goes both ways.

But back 2,000 plus years ago the Romans viewed infants as little more than expendable garbage. They even threw those infants who were not what that Roman family desired on the trash heap. If the infant had a defect, and many did, they threw them on the garbage dump. If the infant wasn’t a boy but a girl, they threw them out with yesterday’s garbage. Threw them there to be taken and eaten by wild animals. And it was the Jesus followers who would go and rescue them and raise them as their own. Of course, some would say that we do the exact same thing as the Romans did then in our todays and have been doing it en-mass since early 1973. It seems nothing has changed.

But Jesus changed all that when He picked up the child and told His disciples that by taking care of those considered unworthy to be even thought of that they were receiving Him. And that by receiving Him they were receiving God. By receiving the little children to be treasured, as something that God designed and created and valued, they were receiving God, Himself. This was landmark talk. This view would’ve raised a few eyebrows since it went against literally everything those around Him thought about the order of society.

But it goes deeper than that. It goes to the heart of our approach to each other. See, if you can receive a little child, a being that was not even considered a human, then you could also receive those around you that others considered less than desirable. You could accept and receive anyone that comes here as children and creations of God almighty. And that would put you in the right framework to begin to disciple to all those others that you might have considered not worth your time. Undesirables so to speak.

That’s harder than it sounds because there are many people I know I’d like to just have disappear. Not have to hear their names anymore. Not have to concern myself with ever again. It’s not hating the other person, per se, but that they just irritate me. I hope that you can relate to that. So Jesus’ command here just rubs me raw in that it’s gonna take a lot of forgiveness by the Father on my part because of that irritation. I ask for it each and every day. Do you?

You see, your greatness in the kingdom is determined by just how you and me accept those that you’d rather just walk on by. It’s determined by the patience we can give, no matter how hard, to those who are trying on a daily basis. It’s determined by what we stand up for that tells the truth of God’s word rather than what we allow that continues the narrative of this world’s lies. When Jesus states that “Whoever receives one child like this” He’s really talking about the truth of that child being worth something which also equates to the truth being worth something. And when you accept the truth in His name then you can receive Him within your own heart and receive the Father within your own lives.

Folks, as usual, Jesus is upsetting the proverbial apple cart. He’s redefining the value that ordinary folks put on one another. He’s telling us that all people regardless of which side of the aisle we’re on are to be valued equally because God values them equally. It don’t mean that we can’t disagree with others but we’re to still be brothers and sisters in the end. Jesus would frown on all those woke folks who engage in the cancel culture because to do that is no different than what the Romans did with the infants. Throwing them on the trash heap. To be valued less just because they have a difference in the way they view life.

Jesus says that in order to accept Him we gotta accept those of our neighbors that are under the same umbrella as we all are. And by accepting our neighbors regardless of whether you can accept their viewpoint is a test of our own dignity. 1st Timothy 4:12 puts it this way, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” Wherein Paul says to love your neighbor as yourself. Pure and simple.

We’re challenged in our own day and age. Everything from people destroying the very homes and businesses they claim they’re there to support to flagrant lies told by our leaders that are spun by a media that loves to convince you that reality is only truth if it’s politically correct, whatever that is, to folks who change their justifications for doing something to fit whatever they want to believe regardless if it contradicts what they just stood for. We’re truly in a time that challenges the essence of what God has told us but what we have yet to learn. We’re hard pressed to hear the words of Jesus and reflect on them as truths without an and-but. We’re so sure of ourselves it’s like the Texas oilman who died and went to heaven. After a few days, his bragging was getting on St. Peter’s nerves. No matter what part of paradise he was shown, the oilman claimed it failed to measure up to Texas. Finally, St. Peter took him to the edge of heaven so he could look straight down into hell. “Have you got anything like that in Texas?” he asked. “No.” the oilman replied. “But I know some ol’ boys down in Houston who can put it out.”

Jesus was pretty simple about what He said. We tend to take it and try to make it fit into our own agenda. The scariest part is that it seems that we keep doing what we know and are surprised when the outcome is no different. We come here on Sundays and hear the Gospel and then walk away not fully realizing that Jesus might have been speaking to His disciples then but He’s actually talking to you here and now. What He said then is exactly what we need to hear now. How we can live out the lessons that He has explained and have them fill us with the possibilities rather than what this world wants you to focus on. How we can affect those around us rather than shrink within ourselves trying to protect what we have no control over. How our presence does affect others in ways that we may not know but in ways that are valuable to others never the less.

Our parable, this morning, is to show us that what we have around us and within us is valuable if we can share it with others. What the farmer displayed towards that poor family is what we can also do. Monetary actions are good but the actions we do from our hearts have a more lasting effect on those around us. Whether anyone else knows of what we do to give of ourselves does not add to or subtract from what we give. The least of us can be the first of us to be the servant to us all. To be the first calls us all to be the last because it’s only through this servanthood that we can reach down and live with others where they are.

I’ve said this before, probably, that you and I can go home and keep church here on Sundays in this house that God built or we can choose to greet others in the same way that Jesus elevated a previously forgotten part of the community. Our choice. Our time. Something to think about! Something to pray about?

Can we pray? …

Father in heaven. We come to you to help us to understand the truth of what you sent your Son down here to tell us. We come to the table with our own views of who our neighbors are and our own pasts that direct us in dealing with them. Help us to realize that all are your creations even though we see them through the eyes of this world which makes us skeptical. We come bearing our own pasts and our own hopes for our futures. We know our time on this earth is limited. Help us to give even a smidgeon of your grace and mercy to others so they don’t miss the wonders that you have promised to us all. We pray for guidance. We pray for your mercy. We pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus the Christ our Lord.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!

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