Sermon: September 22, 2024
Readings: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a / Mark 9:30-37
The disciples were afraid to ask Jesus the hard questions they needed answers to so they could understand. We need to learn from their mistake and ask those questions so we can better understand how to follow Jesus. We need to ask as individuals, as a community and as a nation; we need to ask as humanity, the one race created and loved by God. We need to ask if “We value things, objects, possessions, or earthly ideals of greatness and find them more precious than God’s love and grace for all?” Jesus tells us true greatness is serving the most vulnerable in our world. We’re not to create divisions or walls between races, genders, ethnic groups, or nations. We’re not to create divisions between fellow human beings, sisters, and brothers who are also children of God.
The disciples traveled with Jesus to Tyre, Sidon, the Decapolis, to Caesarea Philippi, and Capernaum. They witnessed the healings and miracles that Jesus performed, and yet they didn’t understand.
We have seen and experienced our risen Lord, God’s love, and amazing grace. We have heard the words spoken by Jesus Christ: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” How will we respond? Will we argue about greatness or listen and understand, demonstrating true greatness based on Jesus’s terms of being humble, lowly, and serving those most in need, welcoming those who are powerless and vulnerable as children in the name of Jesus Christ, demonstrating God’s love and amazing grace to the world?
