Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 3 - 2021

March 9, 2021

Text: Mark 9:33-50

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The disciples were discussing something embarrassing.  Jesus asked them about it and they just stood there looking at their sandals.  But He knew that they were arguing over who is the greatest disciple.  So Jesus is going to show them.  He places the greatest disciple in the middle – and it is none of the twelve.  Rather it is a “little child” – one so small that Jesus has to takes him up in His arms.

In the kingdom, greatness is not about accomplishment, intellectual prowess, riches, eloquence, physical strength, or charisma.  It isn’t about degrees, titles, positions, or ink on the resume.  Instead, greatness is humble service and childlike trust. 

For more than fifteen centuries, no Christian church or pastor ever refused baptism to these, our greatest disciples.  Only the radical wing of the Reformation, known as the Anabaptists, separated youth from Holy Baptism.  This is based on the idea that since these “little ones” lack reason, they are incapable of belief.  Hence, “believer’s Baptism” only administered after a certain level of mental development.  But faith and reason are not the same thing.  It doesn’t take intelligence to trust.  The kingdom of God does not exclude the mentally handicapped or those with dementia.  The greatest disciples of all are those who trust – not in themselves or their own strength, but who, in their weakness, trust in Jesus, in His Word.  Little children have no problem believing the Word of God.  As we get older, our reason is often an impediment to our faith rather than empowering it.

This idea that these little ones cannot believe in Jesus is contradicted by our Lord’s clear words in Scripture, referring to “these little ones who believe in Me.”  It doesn’t get much clearer than that, dear friends.

The disciples were right to be embarrassed by their vainglory.  And so should we.  In several contexts, I’ve heard lay people who serve alongside pastors complain that they should not be relegated to pouring coffee, as if this were demeaning work.  But as I pointed out, it is often the pastors and chaplains who pour coffee for people, fetch water for others, and look for humble ways to comfort and be of service.  Truth be told, pastors do a lot of things that people don’t see on Sunday morning.  And this is true with lay Christians as well – who should never think that their work for the kingdom is inferior to those who are called to preach and teach.

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.