The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, September 20th
Jer 11:18-20
Ps 54
Jam 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Mk 9:30-37

This week as I was looking at this gospel text I got to thinking about how we evaluate success in America today. It reminded me of a story about two boll weevils who grew up in the cotton fields of the South. One little guy goes to Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other little critter stayed behind in the cotton fields and never really amounted to much.

As Jesus’ disciples were walking along with Him they were arguing with one another about who was the greatest among them, we often think of the greatest as the most successful. However, what did Jesus say about this and how does God evaluate success. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” and “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Is this double talk, how should we understand this distinction, the explanation Jesus makes seems a little obtuse? If we go back to our boll weevil story it’s not that the little critter who staid in the cotton fields was unsuccessful, but he was just the lesser of two weevils……..

Now in Jesus’ case He gave us something pretty meaty to chew on and perhaps hard to do most of the time, at least for most of us. Before we launch into what this means I’d like to mention how we look at or understand scripture. God’s wisdom, which is usually not our wisdom, can seem foolish for many of us.

As a pastor we try to do several things when looking at scripture in order to determine or understand it and interpret in the appropriate way.

Luther stressed a non-allegorical approach to interpreting scripture allowing the basic simple message of the text to come through as the first effort in understanding scripture.

Let’s look at one thing Jesus said to his disciples from today’s gospel. “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” There is nothing complex here, even in the Greek it’s straight forward. The only word that some may question is ‘rise’ in the Greek the base word is ἀνίσταμαι (anistamai), but it has a simple meaning, to get up or stand up.

I think the humorous part here is what the text says, “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” The only dumb question is the one that never gets asked. The words are not the problem here, but the context. The disciples could not grasp what Jesus was talking about. You’re going to be betrayed? Someone’s going to kill you and then you are going to rise again? Their lack of understanding is not in the basic words used, but in the preposterous statement that Jesus was making. It was more than they could comprehend at that time.

Exegesis – is the careful, systematic study of scripture to discover the original, intended meaning.

Hermeneutics – covers the whole field of interpretation, including exegesis, it is finding the contemporary relevance of ancient texts, seeking the original intent of the biblical text. Hermeneutics tries to determine the cultural influence of the scripture going back to its original context.

In order for us to understand it, we have the advantage of history and how it has unfolded, but history is a two edged sword. Not being there, not being immersed in the culture, in that place in time we can lose or misunderstand what actually was going on and then draw the wrong conclusion based on our lack of knowledge of the cultural context. In studying scripture, in order to thwart this tendency we use exegesis and hermeneutic analysis. (Come to my bible study and we will discuss further)

In discussions regarding culture, history, and context you/we have to listen very carefully.

Two pieces of string walk into a sports bar and the owner looks at them suspiciously. He says “Sorry, boys, we can’t serve your kind in here.” So the pieces of string walk out again.

They’re sitting outside in the parking lot and feeling really thirsty. Then one piece of string says to the other “Hey! I’ve got an idea to get me into that sports bar.”

So he starts twisting and turning, wriggling this way and that, pulling out a few threads here and there. His buddy’s looking at him and thinks he’s gone completely nuts.

Then the piece of string walks back into the bar. The owner again looks at him with suspiciously, and asks “Hey, aren’t you the string I just told to leave?”

The piece of string gives him a puzzled look and replies “No, I’m a frayed knot”

How we look at people, how we understand their situation, the context of the situation, the history of the people, whose involved, the prejudice’s of the time, what’s common in that society influences how we interpret what is going on and then how it might be applied to our current cultural environment.

In my little story about the ‘frayed knot,’ were there rules about why the string couldn’t be in a sports bar, were the strings too young so the owner was protecting them from themselves or was the owner prejudice against all strings? It’s important to ask questions about a biblical text in order to understand, first its basic meaning, and then how it might apply in our current cultural situation.

Going back to another one of Jesus’ statements to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Now it says nothing here about the disciples misunderstanding what Jesus means so in their society, in their culture they must have understood this pretty well. Servant here, (diakonos) depicts one who attends to the needs of others freely, not one in a servile position (slave – doulos).

The disciples lived in quite a patriarchal society where men ruled by being dominate, mostly authoritative. The meaning here should be obvious. Even when society thinks power and dominance is the idea of great – Jesus goes counter to society. He’s saying you must be a servant to all as a Christian.

The disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest among them. It seems like a pretty common argument, perhaps we see it more overtly within a group of children then we see it in an adult group, however, I would suggest it occurs in adult groups as well, but just in more subtle ways, and some not so subtle. Adrian Peterson is the best rusher in the NFL because he is dominant, powerful, fast, gains more yards than any other back in the league. He is considered the greatest currently, by many who know football.

I know from my own experience in male groups this is something that happens. Maybe you’re used to understanding it by another term ‘one-upmanship.’ We see it in commercials where they show a neighbor getting a new car and then they show the other guy or neighbor getting a new car, but it is bigger, more expensive, or with more options. Commercials use this kind of envy, a condition of the human heart to sell clothes, houses, perfume, you name it, they sell it.

Mark Twain said that the things in the Bible that bother me most are not those that I do not understand, but those that I do understand.

God’s wisdom here is elusive, troubling, frustrating, and not very attractive, especially for real men! His disciples obviously didn’t necessarily think of the greatest in those terms. They were hoping for the best spot at the table. I believe many of us find this troubling, if not stupid. Have you ever been encouraged by your boss to go be a servant to others, be last in line, allow others, especially your staff or coworkers to be promoted or given raises before you. These ideas are foolish aren’t they?

How can God’s wisdom seem so foolish in our world? Does our culture teach us something radically different so when we hear Jesus say whoever wants to be first must be last we just recoil? What influence does culture play on how we understand God?

Jesus also said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” This saying was ludicrous in ancient society. In that culture and time children were little more than chattel, useful for getting work done in an agrarian society, there was no value associated with children. This kind of a statement would have made no sense to the disciples.

How about in our culture today? We value children today so this same statement carries less bang, less significance than it did when Jesus spoke it 2000 years ago. If we were to put it into today’s culture we might say ‘Whoever welcomes one such HIV/Aids patient from Africa welcomes me’ that may have more impact.

The point being, in order to fully understand God’s wisdom we also must understand how to evaluate and interpret scripture within the culture and context in which it was written so we can apply it correctly to our own time and situation. This may be more detail or work than you want, and maybe your saying to yourself do the details really matter.

King Richard the Third mourned:
“For lack of a nail a shoe was lost.”
“For lack of a shoe a horse was lost.”
“For lack of a horse a soldier was lost.”
“For lack of a soldier a battle was lost”
“For lack of a battle a war was lost”
“For lack of a war a kingdom was lost.”
“All for lack of a nail.”

Understanding and interpreting scripture can be difficult, and we may not always agree on some of the more difficult passages, but one thing I know, I’m a sinner in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Keeping the law is impossible for me. How about you? Have you been able to live a perfect life this past week, month, year? Are you being a servant to all people in your circle of friends? When you look at the homeless, the sick, the poor, whether they are at home or abroad, do you see Jesus in their faces?

There was no lack of a nail when it came to the cross. The nails pierced Jesus hands and feet.
There was no lack of grace when God sent Jesus into this world to forgive our sin.
There was no lack of love when Jesus took our sin upon his shoulders and died in our place.
God’s wisdom can seem foolish to many, but to God perhaps our wisdom is foolish.
I pray that God will help us be discerning, wise, and loving servants in the coming weeks.

Amen.