Readings: Wisdom of Solomon 1. 16-2.1, 12-22, James 3. 13-4.3, 7-8a, Mark 9. 30-37
You may have heard of a recent experiment when a man in America posed as someone who was homeless. He sat on the street with a piece of cardboard on which was written ‘No one has ever become poor from giving’. And then to passers-by he offered 10 dollars. He set up a camera to film people’s reaction. The response of passers-by was very revealing. A few people politely refused the money but the majority were highly offended by this offer; they considered it a personal insult and responded in kind, one man saying angrily he didn’t need the money – he could buy the homeless man.
So why did this offer of money produce such a strong, negative reaction? May be because for those being offered money their deeply-held belief about their place in the social order was turned upside down. When we’ve established independent lives, are able to earn enough money to live well ourselves, we don’t need the assistance of others; it can be an affront to our status to be offered money, especially by someone who appears to have almost nothing themselves.
A homeless man offering money to those who have no financial needs subverts the accepted power structures of our times where it is only those who have no money and no choice who receive from others.
It is this kind of subversion of values that Jesus embodies in his life and ministry. In today’s gospel reading he’s been trying to teach his disciples the character of a life which is based not on seeking status but on giving it up. Jesus knows that the deeply-held desire for power, for glory, and all the things we do to protect our sense of self, distorts our humanity. Our capacity to relate to one another is compromised because so often how I feel about myself relies on being better than my neighbour. Without realising it I become engaged in a
subtle war of one-up-man-ship. This too can create a chasm between ourselves and God. Our value comes from being made in the divine image; when we seek to make ourselves in the image of the world around us we, knowingly or not, turn away from our Creator.
Jesus teaches us difficult things which confound normal notions of value and status. It is no wonder the disciples find it hard to understand that Jesus, the Son of Man, will hand himself over into human hands, to his crucifixion. Peter, James and John have just seen Jesus transfigured and conversing with Moses and Elijah. And now Jesus is knowingly en route to the city where he will be put to death.
Perhaps they don’t want the full meaning of this teaching to be explained in case it demands similar sacrifices from them.
In fear they remain mute. And then they find a distraction; they turn away from talk of betrayal and death and all the things which challenge their worldview and instead turn resolutely in the opposite direction and ask themselves who is the greatest among them.
But this too is a difficult conversation; it has created argument among them. Presumably they all want pole position. They wish to claim power rather than give it up, actively seek status rather than graciously receive it.
The consequences of seeking glory, or desiring what other people have, is hi-lighted in the letter of James. “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness”. The conflicts and disputes within the community comes from “your cravings that are at war within you.” James recognises that when we look to the world around us for affirmation and status we can become alienated from our very selves- we are at war with ourselves.
And so once more Jesus challenges the disciples; ‘what were you arguing about on the way?’ In the face of their silent response he places within the circle a child and says ‘whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me’. We might think Jesus uses the example of a child because of what children commonly represent to us; innocence, newness, beauty and a certain charming naivety- although I know some of my friends who have young children may have a different take on things.
Nevertheless most of us have a natural desire to welcome a child in our midst and feel good when we do so. But if we leave it at that we risk overlooking the most radical element of Jesus’ teaching. Children were of no significance in the ancient world. They could not produce anything, the infant mortality rate was very high and so it was only when and if they had survived the dangers of childhood that they could be relied upon to produce something for the family. In infancy they could only receive what others gave them.
In the version of this text in Matthew’s gospel Jesus asks the disciples to welcome a child and also to become like a child. ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’. Part of becoming like a child means being on the receiving end of what others give you- even when this means being shunned -as children often were. So who are the people within our communities who are despised or seen to be a drain on resources? [pause]. Perhaps refugees are an obvious modern equivalent to children in the ancient world?
It may sound very strange to say that to enter the kingdom of heaven you must become like a refugee but this is an analogy that works on many different levels: it means being vulnerable enough to receive what God gives you rather than set the agenda yourself; also, as followers of Christ we will never truly belong in this world; we are on the run from the destructive forces and worldly values which can easily overwhelm us – we are also followers of a man who himself was born into poverty and was a migrant from another land, whose family were forced to flee from the persecution of Herod and escaped to Egypt.
When we embrace our status as refugees, people in need of God’s grace, we will be able to readily welcome those who are persecuted, regarded by their communities as lowly or insignificant, people whose lives are difficult and inconvenient to the world around them. Like them we are valuable because we each bear the imprint of God, a God whose very nature is self-giving. Incredibly the God who has created us does not force or require us to honour or love him; he relinquishes control so that we are free to choose how we respond to his grace.
So as we hear more news about the escalating crisis among refugees we can see in their need a reflection of our own. Seeing our own need we learn humility- a humility which means we need not feel insulted by an offer of help, as those financially secure Americans were offended by the offer of 10 dollars. When we see ourselves as of infinite value in the eyes of God we can lessen our hold on those things which give us prestige or status in the eyes of the world. Freedom and peace are the fruits of true humility- fruits which we share with others when we welcome them into a church community which knows its need of God.
have choices; with this comes a sense of power and status. We may be happy to share what we have but again this is a choice; I can give or withhold money on the basis of what I consider to be a worthy cause. Without money our choices are limited; we are recipients rather than givers. Being dependent on the generosity of others lowers our social status.