What does it mean to put Jesus first?

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Let’s pray quickly before we look at God’s word.

Lord Jesus, help us to move into a deeper understanding of your truth. We lay our lives down before you and ask that you would move amongst us. May we all feel safe; Safe to think and question, Safe to ask for help And safe to share our lives with you, our loving heavenly Father.

I want to focus on the Mark passage for today’s sermon because I believe there is an important message for us in that passage.

The context for this particular incident with Jesus is really important. This passage follows two really powerful experiences of Jesus. The first one is the transfiguration and shortly afterward, the incident with the demon-possessed boy. And it is in the middle of a whole list of things that point to the power and authority of Jesus and the source of Jesus’ power and authority.

In the passage we see Jesus telling his disciples for a second time that he was going to be killed and rise again. The disciples do what we normally do when they hear things they don’t like. They change the subject and they start to talk about the things that were important to them, like who was the greatest.

It’s really interesting that he doesn’t rebuke them directly but takes it as an opportunity to teach them something. And it’s that lesson I want to focus on. To quote an old version ‘He who would be first must be last and servant of all.’

Jesus back up his statement by taking the least person in the room, a child, and as I said to the girls earlier making the child as important as he was. 

In Philippians 2 we have that wonderful passage that talks about Jesus becoming human.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Ad the reason that I mention the Philippians passage is that it demonstrates very clearly what Jesus is trying to tell his disciples. If we are to be true disciples of Jesus we must be like him.

The theological term for what Jesus did is Kenosis. It means emptying and it describes what Jesus did to become human in that he emptied himself of his divinity. So what does that mean to us as Jesus disciples? How do we empty ourselves and truly become the servants of others? Perhaps a better question is what do we need to empty ourselves of in order to serve others? That my friends, is only something you can answer but there are a few generic things I can list.  Things like pride. Look at me I am so important. Things like prejudice. We don’t accept this or that group of people. Things like fear. I can’t speak to someone because of…

You see when Jesus took that child he was demonstrating something really important. Children generally aren’t arrogant like adults are. They generally don’t hold prejudices. Someone pointed out recently that children learn prejudice. They’re not born with them. And we all know that children can be fearless. Jesus was using the child as a model of how to be a servant. Yes, children are naughty and willful and they can be brats but they demonstrate what it means to different from the world. I remember reading a book for college and there was a quote that stuck out to me. ‘Children see the world as it is, not as it should be or as they would have it to be.’

I struggled with that one until I realized that what the author was saying is that children don’t yet have the lenses adults have. Lenses like position, prejudice or fear.

If we truly want to serve each other we must take off the lenses and empty ourselves of the things that inhibit us from loving each other and loving God. Only then will we have learnt the lesson Jesus was trying to teach his disciples. Serve one another without pride, prejudice or fear.

Amen