October 7, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
I don’t know why it is, but little children love to
play follow the leader. They love to
walk around a play ground following behind and doing everything exactly the
same as the person in the lead. If the
leader takes big steps, those following take the same type of big steps. If the leader steps up on a tree stump and
them jumps off, everyone who is following steps up on that same tree stump
before jumping off. If the leader spins
in a circle three times, shouting I’m the greatest while waving his hands above
his head, then everyone who is following recognizes that it is now their turn
to reflect everything the leader does as they faithfully follow him around the
playground. Well, in our lesson today,
we are being urged to faithfully follow our Savior. Though we are not being asked to play follow
the leader with him, we are none the less being called on to recognize his
great service for us and reflect that service in our lives as we faithfully
follow after Jesus Christ our Savior.
Following their Savior was something that the
disciples had become quite good at over the past two or so years. They had grown used to following Jesus
wherever he led them, and they had learned a great deal from him as their
teacher. The problem, however, was that
they had still had not come to recognize that Jesus’ life was not a pursuit of
greatness, but rather, it was a life of service that he performed for you and
me. Take a look at how Mark records this
in our lesson today! “They left that
place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they
were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man
is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after
three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were
afraid to ask him about it.” (Mark 9:30-32, NIV84)
Shortly before our lesson opens, Jesus had been in
the region of Caesarea Philippi, about 50 miles to the Northeast from where he
was now. He had begun to plainly teach
the disciples that it was necessary for him to suffer many things at the hands
of the religious leaders, that he would die, and on the third day rise
again. On that occasion Peter had taken
him aside and tried to convince Jesus that he didn’t really need to go through
all that suffering, to which Jesus had responded, “Get behind me satan!” As we meet Jesus and his disciples today,
about 2 weeks has passed and Jesus again teaches his faithful followers that he
would soon have to suffer, die, and rise again.
Though Jesus had quite likely taught the disciples this very thing over
the past two weeks, take a look at the disciples response in vs. 32, “They did
not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” (Mark 9:32,
NIV84)
Though Jesus had explained it quite clearly, the
disciples simply didn’t recognize or perhaps they simply didn’t want to
recognize that Jesus’ life was not leading to a glorious earthly kingdom, but
that his life had been a great act of service which he had provided for the
people of the world. His life had been a
great act of service, at the end of which, he would give his life on the cross
to free all people from the curse of their sins.
But even though this was something that the
disciples didn’t recognize at this point in their lives, as Jesus followers,
this was something that they would come to understand and take comfort in after
Jesus rose from the dead, just as we recognize it today. For today, as we seek to follow our Savior,
we do take great comfort in the fact that our Savior served us by living a
perfect life on our behalf. We recognize
how Jesus served us by living the perfect life that we who have been forever
tainted with sin could not live. As we
follow him, we recognize how he served us by allowing his people to make fun of
him, spit on him, beat him and abuse him, reject him, and finally crucify
him. We recognize how Christ served us
by enduring the excruciating weight of the countless sins of every single
person in creation that were heaped upon him in that moment. We recognize how Jesus served us by bearing in
our place the full punishment of God’s righteous anger over our sins. We recognize how Jesus served us by willingly
committing his spirit to his heavenly father and dying the death that we
deserved to die. But best of all, as his
followers today, we recognize and take comfort in the fact that Jesus rose
again from the dead to assure us that our sins had been forgiven! It is because of this that we who are his
followers are now willing to serve him with our lives. It is because of this that we, his followers
seek to reflect his love and his service in our own lives. It is because of this that we who seek to
faithfully follow our Savior do indeed seek to reflect his service in all that
we say and all that we do.
For the disciples, who were still struggling to make
peace with the fact that Jesus’ mission as the Messiah was not to seek glory
and greatness for himself, or to seek to establish an earthly kingdom, the idea
the idea of reflecting Christ’s service in their lives was still a foreign concept. It was still a foreign concept because they
were still convinced that by following Jesus they would become his right hand
men in his earthly kingdom. This is why,
as Mark tells us, the disciples argued along the way about who was the
greatest. Take a look at Mark 9 starting
at verse 33: “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them,
“What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the
way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the
Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and
the servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them.
Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little
children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me
but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:33-37, NIV84)
Though the disciples were willing to faithfully
follow their Savior, at this point they did not yet understand that following
him was not about who was the greatest, but about serving him with their
lives. Unfortunately, this is something
that even we faithful followers of Jesus Christ still have trouble with
today. For even though we know that a
Christian life is a life of service, so often we would rather seek our own
glory and greatness, however, when we are reminded of all that Christ did for
us, it becomes that much easier for us to live our lives in such a way that we
reflect our Savior’s service in all that we do!
For the truth is, when we faithfully follow our
Savior and remember all that he did for us, we are naturally moved to serve him
in all that we say and all that we do.
We are moved to serve him by gathering regularly for worship. We are moved to serve him by gathering
together to study his Word with our fellow Christians. We are moved to reflect his love for us as we
care for the needs of friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers. We are moved to serve him by fighting against
the sinful desires that affect us on a daily basis. So do just that! Let your love for Christ reflect in all that
you say and do. Let your lives as
followers of Jesus be a reflection of the life of service that he undertook to
free you from your sins. Serve the Lord
by giving to him not only the first and best of what he has give to you, but
also of yourselves. Serve the Lord by
getting involved in your own congregation.
Serve the Lord by participating in worship. Serve the Lord by serving your neighbor. Serve the Lord by telling others about Jesus
their Savior. Serve the Lord by giving
to him of your time, of your talents, of your effort, and of your
attention.
These are but a few of the ways that we can reflect
our Savior’s service in our own lives as we follow him. For we who are his followers today do indeed
seek to follow just like children follow each other as they play follow the
leader. Though our Savior does not take
us on crazy circuitous routes through a playground, as we follow him we easily
recognize the great service he accomplished for each and every one of us, and
we, as his followers seek to reflect that service through every aspect of our
lives.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
