Jesus’ criteria for greatness is dramatically different than that of the world. Greatness is found in being a servant to all. Here’s the sermon for September 19, 2021, on Mark 9:30-37 (and why “The Activist” is a terrible idea for a tv show).
Especially for the section on welcoming children, I found helpful C. Clifton Black’s commentary at Working Preacher.
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Some pastors are really gifted at using current, relevant pop culture illustrations in sermons. I am not one of them. Every so often I’ve tried…I used a line from Star Wars: Rogue One as the theme for a sermon once, and only like one person here had seen the movie opening weekend like I did.
Or when I used an idea from the preview trailer of the movie Free Guy in a sermon two years ago – it was a good illustration, but I finally saw the whole movie a couple weeks ago, and it’s not actually what the movie turned out to be about.
But I’m trying again today. Have any of you heard of the show The Activist?
I just heard about it this week. It was supposed to be a reality show this fall on CBS, sort of a similar concept to how The Apprentice used to be, with three celebrity judges. Let me read you part of an NPR article about it:
“Six contestants would compete in a variety of activism-themed contests before appearing at a summit of world leaders in Italy — a format that press materials called ‘awe-inspiring,’ ‘ground-breaking’ and sure to ‘inspire real change.’
But in the week since the network’s announcement, backlash has come from all corners — including an apology from one of the program’s own hosts.
Now, the show’s producers have announced they will dramatically reformat the show, dropping the competitive elements to become a one-time documentary special rather than a five-episode series.
Quote: ‘It has become apparent the format of the show as announced distracts from the vital work these incredible activists do in their communities every day,’ said CBS and its co-producers…
’Global activism centers on collaboration and cooperation, not competition. We apologize to the activists, hosts, and the larger activist community — we got it wrong.’” (Source: this NPR article, see also this additional article on Vulture)
Now, since the pandemic started, I’m closer to being a televangelist than I’d like, but I will never be in a position to produce or approve reality television shows. But taking non-profits and activists and having them do publicity stunts as a competition for a pile of money and calling it entertainment is a terrible idea, right?
The point of being an activist is to support a cause, in order to help with some issue. I don’t know exactly what the people who were supposed to be on this show were working on, but apparently they work in the areas of education, environment, and health. Those are all good causes.
I don’t know if the people involved are Christians, but Christians should care about all of that, taking care of the creation God’s given us, helping the sick, teaching—those are all areas where faith has an impact.
The causes are good. But the producers of the show missed a key point: Serving is not a competition! But they’re hardly the only ones to make that mistake. They’re in good company in today’s reading.
“Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mark 9:33-35)
Being a servant of all does not make for entertaining reality television. But an attitude of humble service is much more likely to make a real difference in the world.
God’s kingdom is built on God’s people humbly serving, putting others first, loving our neighbors, not on big splashy well-funded campaigns and publicity stunts.
As an example for the disciples, Jesus takes a little child in his arms. I hear that, and I think, aww, how cute. Everybody likes little kids, right? But that’s not exactly what Jesus is going for. In that culture, children are loved, but they’re considered kind of useless. They have the least social status of anyone. They rank even below slaves. In fact, there’s sort of a pun happening in the Greek language, where the word “paidion” means both little child and slave.
So, to serve a child, well, that takes some humility. Serving a child is the kind of work everyone does, nothing special or glamorous about it. It’s not the kind of project you’d work on if you’re trying to be the greatest.
But that’s who Jesus says to welcome. That’s who Jesus says to pay attention to, the least in society, the ones who can’t offer you anything in return. It’s the kind of work even we can do.
It’s the same principle Jesus will demonstrate at the last supper, when he takes the position of a slave and washes his disciples’ feet, telling them, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should also do as I have done for you.” (John 13:14-15)
In another place, Paul tells us that as followers of Jesus, “we should let the same mind be in [us] that was in Christ Jesus, who…emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)
Jesus’ standards for greatness are dramatically different from the world’s. The “great” people of this world thrive on attention, publicity, ambition.
To be great, you need to get the most followers, or fans, or likes, or subscribers, depending on what platform you’re using. The goal is power—maybe political power, maybe the power to sell lots of some item or service in exchange for money, maybe just the power to attract attention.
That’s very different than the kind of service we are called to. Our reading from James illustrates this too. He says, “Where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above (God’s wisdom, the way God calls us to live) is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.”
Again, terrible criteria for a reality tv character. But much more fulfilling as a way to live. No one’s going to make a show about the day-to-day life of being a Christian. It’s not entertaining to watch live an honest life, to care for your neighbors.
Most of the time, faithful living is not dramatic. It’s reaching out to people who are lonely. Making donations to feed the hungry, welcome immigrants and refugees, clean up after disasters. It involves working to protect the environment, support education, provide healthcare, but because Jesus tells us to, not for publicity or fame or wealth.
It’s greeting people as they come for food this weekend, treating everyone we meet as a child of God rather than an anonymous number.
Siblings in Christ, our mission is always to share the hope we’ve been given in Christ, to reflect the love we have received. Humble service, loving our neighbors. Our call is to point people to Jesus, not to ourselves. May God give us the strength and humility to do so.
Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
Amen