Sermon for 18th Pentecost
Let’s Be Hopeful Fanatics
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
The ninth chapter of Mark began with a glorious vision, the story we call the “Transfiguration.” Jesus shined in dazzling light on the mountain top. It must have been an amazing sight! Peter, James and John shaded their eyes and saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Then a cloud descended on the mountain, just like in the days of Moses, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, the Beloved: listen to him." What an experience that must have been for Peter and James and John!
After that experience, Peter and James and John must have been dying to tell the other disciples about that vision and that voice. They must have thought to themselves, since Jesus had strictly ordered them to say nothing to anyone, they must have thought to themselves that, if they had been able to talk, they surely would have convinced the other disciples that they were the greatest.
But, now in today’s Gospel lesson, we are later in Mark’s 9th chapter and the disciples are still arguing about greatness! Jesus had just told them again about his coming betrayal and death. This was the second time he had said this. They still ignored most of what Jesus had just said, but, perhaps, some of them heard the last line about Jesus rising again after his death. Once they got past the betraying and the dying, well, perhaps a few of them began to dream of being in high places with the risen Jesus.
When they got home to Capernaum, the chapter that began on the mountain top comes crashing down to earth. Jesus asked them, even though he clearly already knew the answer, "What were you arguing about on the way?" Then Jesus sat down and tried again to get through to his disciples: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
The disciples had argued about who was greatest of all and Jesus called them to be last of all. No wonder they were silent. Their eyes probably started to glaze over. They had heard these opposites before--to save life/lose life, to be first you have to be last, to be great be a servant.
Jesus was always talking this way.
And Jesus could see that, once again, the disciples just did not get it. So, Jesus took a little child in his arms and put the child in the midst of them.
I wonder whose child Jesus chose? Perhaps the child of one of the women who was part of Jesus' community. Perhaps the child of one of the disciples or a relative of Jesus, because Jesus was now at home. Whoever the child was, Jesus saw the child. This child was as important to Jesus as the vision on the mountain. "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." Peter, James and John must have remembered the voice from the cloud. They knew who sent Jesus. While they were thinking about heavenly visions, they saw Jesus holding a child on his lap.
Jesus wanted them to see the child.
Jesus wants us to see the child, too--and welcome the child. Not because the child is innocent or perfect or pure or cute or curious or naturally religious. Jesus wanted them to welcome the child because the child was at the bottom of the social heap.
In Jesus’ day, children, loved by their parents, of course, children were little more than tiny property. Many of them died before the age of 4 or 5. In Mark’s Gospel, children are often sick or disabled: Jairus' daughter is near death when her father kneels before Jesus; the Syrophoenician woman's little daughter is possessed by an unclean spirit; and just before today's text, a man brings his son to Jesus. The boy had experienced terrible convulsions since childhood and the disciples weren't able to heal him. But Jesus commanded the spirit to leave the boy, then lifted him to new life.
Children in Mark are not symbols of holiness or innocence, but more often they are the victims of poverty and disease. Jesus brings the child from the margins into the very center. This child is not a symbol but a person, a little person easily overlooked, often unseen and unheard.
But, surely, we are different.
Well, let’s look at just three recent examples, all three related to our federal government:
• We put children coming across our border, children of parents who are often fleeing violence and abuse, we put their children in cages. But, first we separated many of these children from their parents. And just last week the federal government announced that they do not know where nearly 1,500 of these children are!
• One of the most important federal programs for poor children is one called CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 9.4 million children across our nation get their health insurance through this program. In the past, CHIP has enjoyed wide bi-partisan support. After some months of nail-biting delays Congress finally renewed this program earlier this year and did so for six years! That is wonderful. But, now the President has proposed a major reduction in funding for this very popular program, just when more children need it than ever!
• And now the President is threatening to cut the $25 million in humanitarian aid which goes each year to East Jerusalem hospitals! This directly affects our Lutheran Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mt. of Olives, the only hospital for Palestinian children suffering from cancer and kidney disease. On this one, there IS something we can all do – check out today’s bulletin insert for some suggested ways you can let the White House know that this support is vital to Palestinian children. Without this support, which has bipartisan support in Congress, without this support, our Augusta Victoria Hospital, which has served Christians and Muslims in East Jerusalem for nearly 70 years, this hospital may have to close!
"Do you see this child?" Jesus is asking his disciples and us. "Whoever welcomes this child welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me."
Mt. Olive is a welcoming place for children. We are justifiably proud of this. Even when children are very noisy during worship, we have been kind and compassionate.
However, Jesus is calling us to be concerned about more children than our own, about hungry children, forgotten children, children who depend on government programs for their next meal, perhaps their only meal of the day. Maybe, maybe, maybe we can find it in our hearts to love these children as much as we love those who we welcome here at Mt. Olive for worship. If we can see them in worship, perhaps we will remember them when Congress debates bills about the Children's Health Insurance and Head Start and food stamps.
Was Jesus a hopeless romantic when he set a little child in the midst of the disciples that day in Capernaum? No, Jesus was not a hopeless romantic--he was a hopeful fanatic! Jesus was fanatic about opening up the kingdom of God to those nobody wanted to see; he was fanatic about extending hospitality to those considered no more than property. Jesus didn't follow the rubrics or the rules. He healed when he wasn't supposed to, touched people he shouldn't have touched and talked about suffering after a wonderful moment of glory on the mountain top. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is not up but down. All our arguments about greatness mean nothing if we do not stoop down low enough to see the invisible ones in our midst. That day in Capernaum Jesus held a little child in his arms and brought the words of heaven down to earth. I can imagine Jesus whispering in the child's ear: "You are God's Beloved Child."
Then Jesus looked over the child's shoulder at his disciples and even farther off, Jesus is looking at us. "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Of course, this is not as simple as it sounds. It means caring for children even if we have none of our own. It means being committed to children's health programs, refugee children and children entering our country seeking asylum. Jesus wants us to see not only our children and grandchildren but children of migrant workers sleeping in the field and the child who moves from shelter to shelter every night. This means bending down low enough to see the child who cannot see any higher than our knees. We may not be able to do that at all--unless we're willing to become hopeful fanatics.
So, that’s my prayer for you and me today, that, for our children’s sake, we all become hopeful fanatics for Christ.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Barbara Lundblad).
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Kavanaugh/Ford and Sexual Assault
I want to share just a few words about sexual assault:
The current debate over Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation of past sexual assault against Judge Brett Kavanaugh has brought the memories of past sexual assaults to the surface for so many women. I do not wish to debate these accusations. What I wish to do is talk with the men who are here today.
Men need to be very aware that the current debate over these accusations has brought to the surface past, sometimes long buried assaults for many women, including some closest to us.
As a pastor, I have had more than 40 years ministering to women who have been victims of sexual assault. Based on my experience, here are just two suggestions for any men listening to this statement:
• It is most important to believe what women share about sexual assault. In my many years of experience, I NEVER heard a false statement from a woman who had been assaulted. Never. So, the first step for we men is to believe what women tell us whenever they finally feel they can share this information, no matter how many years have past since the reported incident.
• And the second suggestion is simply to listen. If someone shares information about a past sexual assault, it is not helpful to ask many, even any, questions. Most men cannot realize just how difficult sharing such information can be for women. So, do not comment, just listen.
Believe those who report sexual assault. And listen to their stories without question or judgement.
Thank you.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, September 22 & 23, 2018
