War and Peace (Mark (9: 30-50)
In 1869 Leo Tolstoy published a 1500-page book about the history of war-torn Russia called War and Peace. The TV version is currently available on BBC iPlayer, and I recommend it, if you have 6 hours to spare. The title, War and Peace is very appropriate for it is a saga of political intrigue and warfare. While the setting is Russia’s war with Napoleon, War and Peace is also a story of personal conflict and resolution. In other words, the title of this book is an appropriate description of not only what happens on a Macro level between nations, but also what often happens in communities, churches, families and even in personal relationships between people.
It is sad but true that in life we find conflicts at all levels of society that is akin to a war but alongside that there is always and deep inner yearning for peace. So how might we obtain peace instead of war in our personal relationships.
In this passage we are going to look at today we see that in the midst of an open conflict between his disciples, Jesus gives a discourse on Peace. He will then question them about the reasons they are arguing among themselves. Then Jesus gives them some advice and teaching that at first sounds familiar, but then there is a surprise ending, a sting in the tail if you like. The opening of the verse of today’s text, tells us.
They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were.
(Mark 9: 30)
Remember the backdrop to this part of the passage is he had just recently taken Peter James and John and gone up onto a mountain top and been transfigured (appeared in his full heavenly glory) before them. Now he has come down from that mountain and He meets the other nine disciples, and they now leave the Galilean area because Jesus did not want anyone to know he was there. But that raises the question why he would he not want the people to know about his trip.
The next verse answers that question
Because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’
(Mark 9: 31)
This is going to be a private trip where he will have the opportunity to teach the disciples some things that he did not particularly want the general public to know at this time. This is what he taught them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’ In other words, he is telling them he is going to Jerusalem to die. This is an incredibly important spiritual truth he is teaching them. This foundation that Jesus is attempting to lay here, but sadly again they did not really grasp it.
But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
(Mark 9: 32)
You may recall that earlier in the story Jesus had already told Peter this truth, and Peter said Oh No! that’s not how it is going to happen.
And what was Jesus’ response. Jesus said, “Get thee behind me Satan”. So perhaps they were afraid to ask, in the light of what they saw happen to Peter, maybe they though, “let’s just not go there”. However, Jesus was not afraid to ask them a question, a question in light of what he had just witnessed happen among them on the road to Capernaum.
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.
(Mark 9: 33-34)
Jesus of course would have known they had been arguing because he would have heard their bickering as they made their way along the road. But having asked the question the disciples keep silent because they knew exactly what they had been doing, and that it was not going to go down well with Jesus. In response to this situation Jesus sits them down and begins to teach them about conflict.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child 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: 35-37)
Imagine a situation where we as a society or even a church we decided to put ourselves in a line of the most important person, down to the least important, and then we all marched up to heaven. It seems like when we arrive at the thrown of Grace Jesus will say, “about face”. Suddenly the first is last and the last is first. Don’t try and grasp the first place, because you shall end up being last in line at the coming kingdom. In order to be first in the kingdom of God, you have to decide to be last by being a “servant of all”. The philosophy of the world means that greatness is achieved by getting others to serve you but according to Jesus’ greatness come by serving others.
Let’s be clear this is not Jesus’ abolishing ambition, it is Jesus’ recreating and refocusing our drives and ambitions. Changing the ambition to rule into an ambition to serve. Removing the ambition of having things done for us and substituting them with the ambition of doing things for other people. It’s not that he doesn’t want us to be great, he just wants to show us a new way, of being great and in order to be great in Gods economy, you have to serve others.
By taking other into our arms and supporting them he tells us, we are in fact receiving him, and the one who sent him. All the time Jesus says this he has a small child in his arms. That child is a demonstration and illustration of what he is teaching. Remember a child has no influence. A child cannot even give us material things. By welcoming and ministering to those in need, those without influence or power we are in fact welcoming Him into our midst. It is easy to cultivate the friendships of those who can do things for us, whose influence can be useful to us. It is even easier to avoid the sort of people who will easily inconvenience us by needing our help.
So, to be great in the kingdom of God, what you have to do is serve others and the focus of your service should be those who are in need.
But notice that also part of serving God is particularly welcoming those who are already serving God and this is where there at first glance there appears to be a sort of interruption to the narrative and out of left field so to speak. This happens.
‘Teacher,’ said John, ‘we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.’
(Mark 9: 38)
Can you see what is happening here, people have been doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing, and crediting Jesus and the disciples told them to stop. Sometimes Christians are guilty of acting exclusively. Their attitude can be if you are not part of our group then you are not a proper Christian. Just because someone doesn’t see eye to eye with you or maybe is even not quite correct on minor theological issue does not mean that that person does not know the Lord and is not serving the Lord. This impulse to exclude people rather than welcome people can have serious consequences.
In the early 1950s a 13-year-old young lad troubled with mental health problems stood up and declared God is dead and that he was now a devout Marxist. Because of his troubled family background, he was referred by his physiatrist for adoption the express recommendation of his physiatrist was that he should if possible be placed in a Christian family. Attempts were made to place him with an adoption agency. The Catholic adoption agencies turned him away because of his mother connection with a cult who had broken away from the Jesuits. Protestant and Jewish agencies would not accept him because of his Catholic background. He remained in the care system until he was 17 and was never placed with a Christian family even though that was the recommendation. That young man was called Lee Harvey Oswald. We are often too quick to exclude people when we should not. Jesus goes on to say this in verse 39.
‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said. ‘For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.
(Mark 9: 39-40)
I believe here Jesus is reasoning that someone who is casting out demons in my name must be a believer. What does that tell you? Well, if he was a believer, they then should have brought him into their fellowship. He may have needed further discipleship and teaching, but they should have welcomed him and received him. Because by receiving such people you are receiving the Lord. The Lord then begins to amplify his teaching at this point with some additional illustrations.
Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
(Mark 9: 41)
So those who serve people in the name of the Lord especially serve those who cannot pay them back, but never forget service will also include welcoming and receiving those who already serve in His name. In this country and in our climate, we perhaps don’t readily get the image of offering something as simple as a cup of water as a sign of Hospitality. But that is what it meant to the audience in Jesus’ day. A cup of water in the heat of the day was indeed hospitality to someone in need. It’s about ministering to the needs of other including those who are themselves serving the Lord and that is like giving a cup of water to a thirsty traveller. Here is another turning point at this point in the passage because he turns his attention to those who might cause God’s servants to stumble.
‘If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung round their neck and they were thrown into the sea.
(Mark 9: 42)
This simply warns us that unbelievers who cause believers to stumble will be punished. Unbelievers in fact would be better off drowned and dead than it would be to hurt Gods people. In the next verse he turns the narrative away from those outside influences and this time it focuses on ourselves, and anything that might cause us to stumble.
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘“the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
(Mark 9: 43-48)
The point is this, anything that causes you to sin, or offends other believers, remove it from your life. Do everything you can to help serve others, particularly fellow believers and you will be rewarded. Furthermore, don’t do anything that would cause you or a fellow believer to stumble, else you are punished. But, then Jesus ends the passage by saying this.
Everyone will be salted with fire. ‘Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other.’
(Mark 9: 49-50)
All of a sudden, he is saying be good salt What does that mean? One commentator I read said, “this is one of the most difficult passages in all of Marks Gospel in both determining its meaning and it connection to what has just gone before.
It helps if we remember at this point Jesus is talking to his disciples, who are of course “believers”. The thoughts previously discussed have dealt with service and sacrifice. What is helpful to know is that in the Old Testament the people offered sacrifices and those sacrifices were seasoned with salt. The suggestion here is that if you on the receiving end of that which might cause you to struggle. If undergoing a fiery trail, the sacrifice you make to God will in effect help purges everything that is contrary to his will. In other words, believers are often purified by fire in order to become living sacrifices and thereby useful to others. So, when trials come along, they might indeed be the purifying instrument in your life. God is going to use them to weed out all that is against him and by doing this you will not only have peace with God but peace with one another.
Summary.
This passage starts out with a conflict and the dispute is over who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Who is going to be first?
Question: What causes conflict, what always causes conflict?
Answer: Wanting to be first, wanting to have your own way.
Saying, I want to be top of the pile, I want to be first, and I want everybody to serve me. If I were to analyse almost every conflict anywhere, there is always someone at the centre of it saying, I want to be first, I want my own way. Jesus is saying to be first in the kingdom, you have not only not got to put yourself first, but you have got to be a servant of others. The middle of the passage says, oh by the way, serving other includes offering support and hospitality to other Christians, like you would offer a cup to a thirsty traveller. Furthermore, it says, if by your action you cause other Christians to stumble, then if you are a believer, you will miss the blessing and if you are an unbeliever, you will be punished.
Finally, it closes by saying, put others first, be a living sacrifice seasoned with salt, then you’ll be refined, then you’ll be at peace with God, and with one another. That’s the surprise ending of this passage. The passage starts with the disciple bickering with one another.
And it ends with him saying be one another servants, sacrifice yourselves for your Christian brother or sister, and you will have peace with God and peace with one another.
That’s the point of this passage. Do you want to be cleansed from selfishness and self-seeking, and bitterness and anger, and grudge bearing? Do you want to be cleansed from moodiness and irritation and self-centeredness? Do you want to learn to live in peace with your fellow man and woman, your fellow church members, and have peace with God? Well Jesus is saying in order to do that you have got to become a servant. It is only the life that has been cleansed by Christ and lived in real service of him, and by serving other, is the real peace of God to be found.
I began by say in there was a novel called War and Peace, a novel as much about interpersonal conflict and relationships, as it is about politics or war. If we can say to our brothers and Sister in Christ, I am here to serve you, not to be served by you. I submit to you that if in every conflict in this and every church, if everyone of us was to say, how can I help, what can I do to be of service, how can I help you, we would resolve a lot of conflicts, really quick.
To sum this all up, the greatest in the kingdom and the people whose life is characterised by peace, are those that serve others. To put it in modern language, the greatest of those in the kingdom are those who are prepared to let others take first place and bear no ill will. I heard someone once say, the mark of spiritual believer is marked when someone takes off the bib and puts on the apron. Quit acting like a baby and expecting everyone to serve you. Take of your bib, stop thinking everything should revolve around you, and put on you apron and go serve other people. Babies wear bibs and expect others to meet their needs. Servants put on an apron and learn the joy of serving others. D L Moody said, the measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many people he serves.
You probably noticed that’s not the way the world operates but that’s the way the kingdom operates. You may not be well known in this world, but you will be well known in the kingdom that is to come and the people who are the most well-known down here may well not be known at all in heaven. Ok folks, time for us to take of our bibs and put on our aprons.