Proper
20 Sunday September 23, 2012
The
Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Pennsylvania
The
Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
Mark
9:30-37
I remember once being sent in my car to find something described to me over the phone. I remember being completely disoriented as I had no idea what it is exactly I was looking for. I called from the car and asked stupidly, Where am I? It is frustrating and disorienting sometimes when you are looking for something that has been described but that you have never seen before.
“Look for the resurrection," says Jesus, as he walks with the disciples to Jerusalem. He Is teaching them about his death and resurrection, but they don’t understand. They are confused again, they don’t get it again, Who would really in that moment. Like a student in Algebra I who doesn’t get it, but in order to save face because they think everyone else gets it, they don’t bother to ask for clarification. Or maybe they are just plain scared because Jesus one line portrait of their journey’s point is filled with description of suffering and death, and they are still filled with the excitement of examples of power and miracles witnessing healings, expulsions of demons, and first rate miracles.
These companions of Jesus instead find themselves on this walk engaged in a discussion about which of them is the greatest? The greatest what? Or what do we mean by the greatest? Well, I think its just human nature here at play. It’s like students comparing scores after a test. Like anyone competing for the notice and commendation of their supervisor. Like gathering with clergy who ask, So what is your average Sunday attendance, Mine is (fill in the bland) Well, maybe we need be careful not to judge the disciples too harshly or unfairly; Perhaps the conversation is driven by earnest and authentic desires to be faithful to this charismatic dream in a man they have yet to come to understand. Maybe they are trying to find a way to measure their commitment to the Rabbi? Maybe they are struggling with the big question Mark’s gospel would have us struggle with ……Who is this guy anyway, the first to figure it our perhaps, the top of the class, the greatest, Or perhaps they were even jockeying for position to be the first to storm the gates of Jerusalem with Jesus, not at all being able to “see” the cross in the imaging of following Jesus there to Jersusalem.
All of this it seems to me a worthy struggle for his disciples to “see things more clearly”. This following Jesus thing it seems just as confounding sometimes to us, particularly the part about following Jesus to the cross, about working through our own nature to work out way to proficiency, find the correct curriculum to bring us to competency, finding measurables to demonstrate our faithfulness. All of this perhaps sometimes impairing our vision to a life lived in the heart of God.
And so we go back into that house in Capernaum where the teacher Jesus is about to take his disciples to school. Not interested in their discussion about who is the greatest, Jesus takes them to school again, by offering them a new way to “look at the conversation”. There he picks up a child and invites them to “see with their hearts”. You need to know that in this culture to these adult males striving to produce the greatest outcome in the eyes of their great master; a child is the unlikeliest of props. A child is the last thing they would be “looking for” to “see” deeper into this experience of following Jesus. Children were of no significance until they were old enough to produce (work in male; babies in female). Children were invisible.
Jesus wants to stop the moment, change the frame, catch the attention of these focused men. So, he again makes the invisible, visible. "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me (Mark 9:37). The disciples want to know who is the best at following Jesus, and Jesus says, "Do you see this child?’ In other words if you want to follow me into the mystery of the cross can you see the invisible? The unimportant, the vulnerable, the one yet to gain value unable to yet “produce”. The one not yet noticed. The one whose needs and wants you have not heard, you have not seen, you have been conditioned to be blind too?
Whats more Jesus it seems to be saying by inviting this child into their midst to change the frame of the picture, not only are you to see things you haven’t been looking for, but you are to welcome them into your very heart, existence, life! For when you do, you “see” me! And when you “see” me, you also “see” the one who him.
Another sign along the way might read “seeing is believing”, in this case “seeing is receiving into one’s very heart”.
Where is the invisible Jesus who will teach you the way of the cross? In the grief of an awkward acquaintance whose behavior sometimes puts you on the defense, who is crying out for your compassion, an ear, and heart of consolation? In the sweet proclamation of a small child who persists to be heard when you are “busy with other adult things”, offering you a simple grace if you will hear it, “you are beautiful”. Or in the stories of a Sr. Citizen, whom you have never taken the time to really listen to, because life’s busyness has kept you from really “seeing” the amazing values that have driven a persons entire life.
Today we have a nice reminder to “Look for the invisible
Jesus” as we take three young children into our midst and welcome them! We
receive them not knowing at all what life will hold for them, trials,
disappointment, triumphs and joys. But they remind us as we welcome them to
look for Jesus, to point out those places and people that have become invisible
to many and to greet them with warm and loving hearts. To allow these and all
young persons to point to Jesus for us and join them in a journey into God’s
very heart. Amen.
