The Seventeenth Sunday of Trinity
Sermon
22 September 2024
The Reverend Devin McLachlan
Mark 9.30-37
Jesus said, Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
So, a quick primer on the Gospels —
already some of you are thinking, for this I made it through Chariots of Fire?,
but I’ll try to stay focused here.
Of our four canonical Gospels, three of them —
Mark, Matthew, and Luke —
are called the synoptic gospels.
Straightforward Greek here, syn - optic
(well, synoptikos συνοπτικός, if you’re going to go and conjugate ),
syn — together (as in synthesis and synaesthesia),
optic — seen (as in, well, optics).
Because Mark, Matthew, and Luke see together —
they, more or less, give an account of the life of Jesus in about the same order.
(John is a different story of the One Story,
but that’s for another sermon)
Mark — the shortest, punchiest Gospel — was likely the eldest of the three,
and about 97% of Mark also shows up in Matthew and/or Luke’s Gospel. [1]
To cut a lot of scholarship very briefly to the core —
a very Markan thing to do, by the way —
while Matthew and Luke’s gospels have additional stories of Jesus
not found in Mark,[2]
only 3% of Mark remains unique to his Gospel.
So when Mark stands out against the other synoptics,
I try to sit up and pay attention.
You might have noticed something familiar
when Jesus takes a child
and placing them in the midst of the disciples.
After all, it happens twice in each of the synoptic gospels![3]
But did you catch that Mark seems to make it especially confusing?
I’d missed it the first time I read this passage.
In Chapter 10,
when the disciples try to prevent parents from bringing children to Jesus,
he declares :
“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”[4]
And here in Chapter 9,
when the disciples are arguing over who is best,
Jesus announces,
“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me”[5]
At this point, we queue the record-scratch sound effect.[6]
and do a double-take:
Shouldn’t ‘receive the kingdom as a child’
be the punchline to today’s story of humility,
and ‘receive the child as you receive me’
be the punchline to chapter 10’s story of welcoming children?
Matthew and Luke seem to have thought so,
and both ‘fixed’ this apparent contradiction
In Matthew’s gospel, when the disciples argue over who was the greatest,
Jesus, child in hand, tells them to become like children:
“Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”[7]
and when the disciples try to stop parents from bringing their children,
he clearly declares “Let the children come to me”[8]
But today’s pericope is classic Mark.
Matthew, and even more so Luke, are a bit smoother,
a lot more pastoral.
Mark is punchy and taciturn — he reminds me of my Scots Presbyterian ancestors.
My paternal grandfather, Gordon Lamont McLachlan,
was not a chatty man.
But when my mother mentioned she’d never met his eldest son, Jack,
Gordon replied:
“… …. Wouldn’t want to meet Jack….[very long pause]….
…. He doesn’t talk much.”
Mark’s Gospel doesn’t start with shepherds tending their flocks by night,
but boom! with John the Baptist.
By verse 9, Jesus is baptised and by verse 12 is in the wilderness.
By the end of Chapter One(!) Jesus has called disciples,
driven out unclean spirits,
healed lepers and Simon’s mother-in-law,
cast out demons, and preached up and down the length of Galilee,
teaching in the synagogues and curing the sick.
The kingdom is very near you, Mark shouts out.
There is no time to waste time on metaphor,
and no leisure for the seduction of easy answers.
Don’t stop the children from coming to me —
become yourselves as children.
Don’t argue over who is greater —
welcome children, even the least of these,
because that is the only way you can welcome me.
Boom.[9]
And here we are today.
The Kingdom is very near us,
and whether you read that in an apocalyptic or a blossoming way,
Mark’s gospel tells us there is no time to waste on comfortable religion.
When we are seduced into preserving power and status,
the unearned privileges of race and birth, and the trappings of establishment
then Jesus calls us to set down all our power over others,
to kneel down in humility and welcome children,
to welcome everyone who has been thought of as ‘less than’
Not because it’s a good photo op.
But because every time we’re feeling puffed up,
the Holy Spirit comes to ask us:
Who isn’t in the room?
Who is still waiting at the door, knocking but unheard?
And when we are feeling broken by the bigotry of our times and institutions,
outcast or anxious, struggling to make ends meet,
struggling to be treated as fully human by neighbours, family, or even church:
Then Jesus softly and unwaveringly reminds us
that’s who he is too —
the most unwelcome, the furthest from power,
the least of these,
however the powers and principalities chose to define ‘least’
It’s why all the time and treasure and talent
this church puts into our children’s and young people’s ministry,
and the Warm Wednesdays during the winter,
are part of the same Christian calling
It’s the same reason why we ask for your generous help
to care for creation with our new solar panels,
and collect for the homeless and vulnerable through Cambridge Besom.
And it’s why the Safe Space icon on our front door,
and the icon of Anne and infant Mary,
are the same icon:
A sign to say this church is where all can come for safety;
where all are not merely welcome,
but vitally part of our common life, our common ministry,
a nurturing church
where we serve one another that we might serve Christ.
—————————
[1] In addition to the material all 3 gospels share, about 10% of Matthew is shared with Mark but not Luke; only about 1% of Luke is shared with Mark but not Matthew. More significantly, Matthew and Luke also share about a quarter of their material with each other but not Mark, as if they both consulted not only Mark but perhaps also another, now lost, source. We call that hypothetical source Q — not for the extra-dimensional being in Stark Trek, but from the German for ‘source’, quelle … In addition, Luke and Matthew had their own unique sources — about ⅓ of Luke, and ⅕ of Matthew have passages not in the other synoptic gospels. Only 3% of Mark is unique to Mark.
[2] John’s gospel famously remarks“But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written….” (John 21.25)
[3] for what follows see, amongst others, Morna D. Hooker, The Gospel According to Saint Mark. London: A. & C. Black, 1991
[4] Mark 10.15
[5] Mark 9.37
[6] https://youtu.be/7px2h-d7X3c
[7] Matthew 18.1-5
[8] Matthew 19.13-15; Luke 18.15-17
