Pentecost 17 (Mark 9:30-37) “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” The Kingdom of God is counter intuitive to the Kingdom of this world. I remember vividly as a college student grappling with my religious beliefs. I was particularly agitated by portions of the Bible I found barbaric, incomprehensible or simply inconvenient. I still remember thinking: this can’t be the word of God. I don’t like this portion. I don’t agree with this portion. This portion is totally primitive and unscientific. As my thoughts analyzed, dissected and criticized Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles I heard a small whisper of a thought. My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. It was, of course, a quote from the prophet Isaiah. I had never made any effort to read, study or memorize the Bible up to that point in my life. But, I am a cradle Episcopalian. I had heard the scriptures read at the liturgy all my life. Somewhere in my memory, God had stored up His word and was now bringing it to my conscious awareness. Then, somehow, I experienced a shift in perception. Suddenly, it occurred to me: if everything in the Bible agreed with my belief system as an 18 year old 20th century middle class American from Trenton, NJ, then I would be God. And if that were true, then we’d all be in trouble. The great challenge for the people in the first century who met Jesus personally was that he did not meet the expectations of their inherited beliefs. Jesus did indeed fulfill the teachings of Moses and the prophets. But, the religion of the day had so reworked and reinterpreted the Torah, the five books of Moses, and the prophets that they missed the obvious. The obvious is the principle God revealed to the prophet Isaiah: my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. The obvious is the principle God spoke verbally to Moses in the words: I am. There are several examples of this principle in the gospel reading today. These principles challenged the disciples, Jesus’ students, then. These principles challenge us today. The first principle is timing. The principle of timing is critical in reconciling what modern people identify as contradictions in the Bible. We hear how Jesus did not want the crowds to know where he was. This is not the first passage in which Jesus presents this message to us. Occasionally, Jesus would instruct someone he just healed not to tell anyone. Of course, the people would always do the opposite. Modern readers think Jesus was being passive aggressive, using reverse psychology. On other occasions Jesus instructed his followers to proclaim the prophetic message of repentance and preparation. There seems to be a contradiction when we read the accounts from our very limited cultural context. The reason is simple. God is who he is. He is real. He is personal. He is love. He is Jesus Christ. Depending on the circumstances of the situation, Jesus asked people not to proclaim his healing power and even withdrew from public life. The scriptures tell us why. He wanted to set aside time to train the future leaders of the church. He knew his time on earth was short. He knew their time on earth would be short. Jesus does not implement a rigid inflexible program. He engages with each of us personally according to the divine principles of love, compassion and holiness. Sometimes that means he asks us not to speak. Sometimes that means he asks us to proclaim boldly the Good News of God’s love. When Jesus offers teaching he expects our questions and delights in our questions. More often than not, Jesus’ students did not ask questions. They did not ask questions because of fear. A basic Biblical principle is that fear is a distortion of faith. That distortion proceeds from Pride. The disciples feared to ask questions for two basic reasons. They did not want to change their belief system. And, they thought God would punish them for asking questions. As I came to understand that God’s thoughts are not my thoughts and God’s ways are not my ways, I began to realize that belief can distort and subvert truth. Faith is personal but not individual. Faith invites us into a personal relationship and a process of transformation. If we are not careful, belief can subvert truth and take the place of fact. Sadly, people tend to confuse fact and belief as we assert the will to power to define God, other people and the world according to our own individual needs and desires. The disciples did not ask questions because what Jesus taught challenged their inherited beliefs about God, the messiah, humanity and the world. They reacted with fear. That fear paralyzed them and held them back from understanding. They were stuck in old beliefs and enslaved to old beliefs. The evidence of this is that they ignored Jesus’ teaching about our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation and focused on their own plan of salvation. That plan rejected the way of the cross and pursued the path of the sword. The disciples wanted a plan of salvation that brought them power and position through politics. And so, they argued among themselves about who would be Prime Minister and who would be Treasurer. They ignored Jesus’ invitation to grow in faith because they were stuck in the patterns of inherited belief. Those beliefs took bits and pieces of scripture and wove them into the political ideologies of the day to produce a religion of fear, self-will and pride. It was a religion of power for the righteous and a religion of bad news for everyone else. Jesus not only proclaims the Good News of universal love, He is the Good News of universal love. He uses the moment with his disciples to challenge their inherited beliefs in order to help them grow in faith. First: Jesus sets forth the principle in words. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” The disciples wanted political power. Jesus explained to them that the Kingdom of God is about compassion. It is not about the ability to impose my will on other people. It is about my surrender to Divine Will by helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of other people. Moses taught that God chose Israel to serve in the three fold action of love: worship, compassion, personal holiness. The prophets called the people to repent of the arrogance of pride and self-will that subverted that great and wonderful call. Jesus embodied the call of God and personalized the call. By his words and deeds Jesus revealed how to be the chosen of God. The disciples were not there yet. They were stuck in the belief that God had chosen their nation and them individually to rule. Jesus said: you are chosen to serve. After Jesus speaks his teaching he demonstrates it. He invites a child from the crowd to come near. Children loved Jesus. The child embraced him and Jesus held him in his arms. Then, Jesus reveals another counterintuitive principle of the Kingdom of God. Whoever welcomes one such child welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me welcomes God. Why is this counterintuitive? From time to time as I am speaking with a child or a teen an adult will interrupt the conversation to tell me something or to ask me something. This happens less frequently if I am speaking with another adult. Certainly in the ancient world adults believed children should be seen but not heard. After all, children lack experience and knowledge to offer any meaningful contribution to a discussion or a program. They are at best students whom adults are preparing to die in battle or to pay taxes. Jesus not only valued children he honored them. He respected them. Of course, as the co-eternal Son of the Eternal Father, Jesus perceives all of us as children: charming, immature and sometimes temperamental. He welcomes all of us and each of us regardless of our age. He values each of us at every age and stage of personal development. He does not look at children and see future soldiers for a cause. He sees and values children (and adults) as unique manifestations of Divine love and holiness. One important aspect of children is that they are, for the most part, teachable. They have not yet fully absorbed the biases of their culture. They have not yet learned who to fear and who to hate. That is the message Jesus communicates as he embraces a child and says: as you welcome him so you welcome me. On another occasion Jesus says: how you treat the least powerful and the least respected in your society is how you treat me. And, how you treat me reveals your belief about God. The counterintuitive principle is that compassion is more important than power. Preserving the relationship is more important than being right. Do not seek to use whatever position of authority you may have to impose your will on others. Use that position to help others. Do not lock your mind into rigid inflexible uncompromising belief systems. Allow your mind to be transformed by the scriptures through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Continue to be open to fact. Continue to be teachable. Do not confuse inherited belief with living faith. Allow God to be God. Listen. Pray. Question. Grow in grace. Practice compassion to others. Grow in personal holiness to form your soul into a living chalice of grace. Jesus said: Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.