NOT THE WAYS OF THE WORLD!
Selections from Proverbs 31
Mark 9:30-37
Betty Berghaus
In the central section of Mark, chapters 8 through 10, Mark teaches about discipleship. In this section he also gives 3 (holy number!) predictions of the Passion, his suffering and death and resurrection. The second of these predictions falls in our passage today. He told this to his disciples privately. The first prediction came more openly, after Jesus had cured the blind man at Bethsaida. And at that time, Peter rebuked Jesus for speaking of such things, so we see that he did not really understand what Jesus was saying. Again here we are told that the disciples did not understand. Throughout the Gospel of Mark the disciples did not understand, and in this passage, they were even afraid to ask him what he meant. Perhaps they did not want to think about such things. They must have thought they were on the road to glory with a marvelous healer and preacher. So they ignored or shut out anything contrary to that.
After the first prediction, Jesus had told them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” They must not have understood that either, because after this second prediction, Jesus entered the house where they were and asked them what they had been arguing about on the way. The disciples must have felt some shame, because they did not want to tell him, and remained silent, for as the text tells us, they had argued about who was the greatest. Jesus then began to formally teach them, signified by his sitting down (as rabbis did when they taught). And the text says that he called the twelve, which signified that this was teaching for leaders, as he intended for them to be.
But (Alas!) Jesus did not teach them what they wanted to hear. He did not teach them the ways of this world. He taught the ways of God’s kingdom. They wanted glory and greatness. He talked of betrayal and death for the Son of Man, and of humble service for them as leaders. Even in the ancient world, as now, greatness was not generally measured by lowly service. Yet the word translated from the Greek as servant is “diakonos,” the word from which we get Deacon. It can also be translated as “minister,” or one who ministers to others. Service or ministry was the duty of life for a slave, but diakonos was a more considerate term than doulos, translated as “slave.” “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all,” said Jesus. No one wanted to hear that.
Jesus then enacted a sort of parable to better illustrate. He brought in a child, and embraced the child, and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Children were not highly esteemed in the Greco-Roman world. They were regarded, perhaps as the old, obsolete saying goes: “Children are to be seen and not to be heard.” Yet Jesus told the disciples that to welcome the child was the same as welcoming God. Those who work with children might simply see this as a blessing of the joy and innocence of children. But the word translated as “child” (pais) can also be translated as “servant.” So Jesus humbly presented himself and God once again to be received as a lowly servant, as a wee child.
Both of our scripture readings for today present contrary views to the ways of the world. Proverbs 31 is a most unique portrayal of an ordinary woman, a mother and wife. From this passage we get a glimpse into the ancient household, headed by the man in name and social status, but run by the wise and busy woman. Ellen Davis, a professor of Bible at Duke Divinity School, says that there is nothing to match such a glowing tribute to a woman in all ancient Eastern literature, and that, in fact, this is the most flattering portrait in Hebrew scripture of any individual, male or female. This passage literally sings the woman’s praises “from A to Z,” as it is an acrostic poem, going through the Hebrew alphabet to list her attributes. This too is a passage that goes against the ways of the world. Women were not highly regarded in ancient times, except as a vehicle for producing sons.
So we see that our faith views things differently than our world! That is not perhaps a surprising statement, yet it is still not a highly accepted one. We, as a society, value success, riches, power, and fame. We want to “Be the best that we can be!” We strive to be “number one!” not just in school sports, but in all aspects of life. We do not highly value humility or meekness, or lowly service jobs or positions. And yet our God does.
But we are like the disciples. As Paul said last week, we just don’t get it.
When I think of great people who have displayed this dichotomy of being the least yet the greatest, I think of folks like Mother Teresa, who never wanted any fame for herself, and who never gave any thought to endangering her own life as she ministered to the very sick and very poor. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work to overcome poverty and distress, and thus to establish peace in the world, she refused the elaborate ceremony, and asked that the $6,000 award funds be given to help the poor in Calcutta. When asked by the Prize committee what we can do to promote peace, she said simply, “Go home and love your families.” If she had been able, Mother Teresa probably would have refused the full state funeral given to her by the Indian government when she died in 1997, an honor usually given to only presidents and prime ministers!
And I think of Betsie Ten Boom, sister of the writer Corrie Ten Boom. In the concentration camp in which they were imprisoned in the 1940’s in Germany, Betsie one night prayed in thanks for the innumerable fleas in their room, based the passage in I Thessalonians (5:16-18) that says, “Rejoice always, praying without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Sister Corrie stopped her, saying “This was too much! Betsie, there is no way even God can make me grateful for a flea!” Betsie persisted, “’Give thanks in ALL circumstances,’ she quoted. “It doesn’t say ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are a part of this place where God has put us.’” Betsie and Corrie were able to hide a Bible in their barracks, and the women held Bible studies whenever possible, hiding from the guards, and they could not understand why. Betsie was sick and weak and could not move fast. So one day she was beaten by a guard, and spent time in the infirmary. She overheard the guards and learned why they had this unusual freedom in their room to keep a Bible and hold Bible and prayer meetings– The guards stayed away because of the fleas for which Betsie had given thanks! Betsy did not live to leave the concentration camp. But her faith remained strong and positive throughout the horrible experience. Perhaps few would view frail Betsie Ten Boom as great. Yet I think Christ would.
And I think of Mattie Stepanek, the young boy who had a rare form of muscular dystrophy which kept him confined to a wheelchair and breathing tube for most of his short life. Mattie wrote several books of very inspiring poems about life and death, and campaigned for peace in the world. One of his greatest desires was to meet former President Carter, whom he saw as a great world peacemaker. Good Morning, America surprised him with that meeting one day as he visited in his wheelchair. Mattie died of his disease at age 12 or 13. He was not great by the world’s standards, in any way, but perhaps he was in God’s eyes.
Again and again the teachings of Christ show us a way different from the ways of the world. In Mark, we see that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, people hated and avoided even by the religious leaders. “I have come not to call the righteous, but the sinner,” he said. Every church, as you know, is full of sinners!
Jesus also healed on the Sabbath, wrong according to the religious leaders of his day. And when asked to explain the parable of the sower, who threw some seed on the path, where it was eaten up by birds before it could grow, and some on rocky ground, where it had little soil or water to feed it and so died, some among thorns which choked it, and some into good soil, Jesus said:
“The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, the immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and hundredfold.” (Mark 4:13-20)
Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:43-35) When some of the disciples later wanted to know who would sit beside Jesus in glory, Jesus said, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be a slave to all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45)
The ways of God often may not agree with the ways of the world. The God of Isaiah declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). And yet in Jesus we get a glimpse into God’s ways, and we see how we ought to live “in the world but not of the world.” It is a hard act to balance. We are greatly influenced by the society around us. The media makes it hard to ignore. And we perhaps do not want to ignore it. Fot it attracts us, like moths to a flame. And yet we are called by Christ to be servants among all people, and to show a way that is different, a way that is innocent, like a child, and humble and caring, like a servant. It is not easy to live this way. Yet if we hear the call of God, we cannot help but follow.
Perhaps in our lifetime our faith will never require us to stand up against such earthly horrors as the Holocaust or the ravages of disease, although we do see the effects of terrorism and war creeping closer and closer to our homes, and we do battle dire diseases. But, certainly, our faith asks us to look at life, and to live life, differently than the ways of the world around us. So I invite you to re-examine your lives in the context of Kingdom living as Christ describes it. Look to live not as the world presents to us, but as Christ gives to us and shows to us. Strive to live perhaps as the author of Ephesians interpreted Christ’s call, “a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). And to help you along the way, continue to worship, to study the Word of God, and to pray to God to guide you in such a beautiful and loving, and yet perhaps counter-cultural, way of life. Good luck and God guide you (and me)!
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, AMEN.