By Deacon Timothy Siburg
Revised Common Lectionary reflection, Proper 20, Lectionary 25, Year B
Key Verse: “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32).
Have you ever been too afraid to ask a question? Have you feared that by asking a question you might be seen as not very smart because you don’t understand something? Have you ever decided just to not ask a question for fear of being found out? Well, if so, you have good company with Jesus’ disciples. And in the spirit of confession as another person who fights the urge to be a perfectionist and doesn’t often like to be seen as not knowing something, I’m right there with you.
In this week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus and the disciples are traveling on the road through Galilee. The disciples may not have been aware of it, but Jesus is intentional in this journey about teaching them (Mark 9:31). As they travel, Jesus drops a number of teaching tidbits about what it means to be a disciple and to share and show God’s deep abiding and abundant love. But he begins with a passion prediction: “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again” (Mark 9:31).
To those of us on this side of the resurrection, we know what Jesus is saying. But to those first disciples, these words confounded logic and likely caused a good deal of fear. Faced with fear, people often confront it or hide from it. And it seems the disciples chose the latter because, “they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32). Perhaps they weren’t ready to ask, “What does this mean?” Maybe they feared that Jesus would assume they should already understand. Perhaps they were thinking of a triumphant and kingly Son of Man, and wasn’t exactly the picture Jesus was painting. Whatever the reason, they didn’t ask.
Instead, as they continue on to Capernaum, Jesus hear the disciples arguing. He confronts them and asks, “What were you arguing about on the way?” (Mark 9:33). But again they are silent. Perhaps they are, yet again, afraid to be found out – for they were arguing about “who was the greatest” (Mark 9:34). Jesus obviously knows what they were discussing, though, because he uses it as a teaching moment. He sits down and teaches through word and deed. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). That might seem straightforward enough about the importance of service in the life of servant and stewards, but Jesus then takes it a step further. He embraces a child and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:37). Jesus turns the fear of asking questions on their head. He turns the focus on power and greatness to service and welcome. I wonder what the disciples might have been wondering about at this point.
In Psalm 24, we hear, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). Part of stewardship is remembering that all things are God’s, and that includes our questions and our brains. We’re called to use them. We’re called to wonder. We’re called to learn and grow. That’s how discipleship spreads and deepens. If we are too afraid to ask the questions on our hearts and minds, we’ll never find out about what deep yearnings we might have, or even more so, what deep yearnings our neighbor might have. If we’re too afraid to ask, we might never find out the deeper sense of connection and relationship that God is inviting us into with God and one another. Part of living faith as a disciple and steward is to take the risk to ask the questions.
Sometimes we also avoid asking the question though because we may not want the answer. We like our perceptions as they are, and we like being comfortable as things are. We don’t want to deal with the hard work that comes with change or a new understanding. The problem is, that’s generally not what the life of disciple looks and feels like. Perhaps that is at the heart of the lesson Jesus is teaching the disciples this week. He sees and hears their arguing. He knows that they haven’t been asking the question. So he takes a step and connects the dots from their questions to service and welcome. Connecting the thread of faith from the work of God through the events of the cross, with the response of God’s people. Connecting God’s work that God alone can do, to the work and response we all share as stewards and disciples.
What might this story teach us about being stewards? Perhaps we are being invited to ask the questions we haven’t asked or that we might be too afraid to ask at times. Perhaps, too, by having Jesus connect the idea of welcome and the wonder that a child has, God is inviting us to live with child-like wonder and imagination. For with such wonder and imagination comes the chance to better sense God doing something new with and for all of God’s beloved here and now. And with it also comes the chance to not only sense God up to something, but to then respond and join in with God too.
In Worship and Congregational Life
Sometimes example offers the best way to unpack deceptively rich and complex stories like this Gospel lesson this week. What might it look like to invite the congregation to ask questions? As a pastoral leader, what kind of vulnerability and invitation would it take? Perhaps giving up some of the sermon time to listen to the deep wonderings on the hearts of God’s people could be time well spent. Perhaps the congregants could be invited to write a question or two on a post it note and then share it. That might be a meaningful way to lean into Jesus’ invitation for us to ask questions, to wonder, and to grow. This could be a good week to do something interactive as a congregation and learn from each other. What might make most sense in your context?
Several hymns might compliment the theme. One is “Ask the Complicated Questions.” The lyrics were written by David Bjorlin, and the tune is “Restoration,” which is a relatively familiar tune. It can be found in All Creation Sings, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2020), 1005.
Worship with Youth and Children
Jesus concludes his teaching by saying, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:37). What might it look like to lean into this in the life of your faith community this week? What might this look like in worship? Outside of worship? In the use of space in the church building? In the way children are listened to? In the way the curiosity and wonder in a child’s eyes might not only be acknowledged but seen as a gift to encourage and imitate?
At the very least, this is a great opportunity to let the children lead during the Children’s Message time that you may have in worship. Perhaps this week might be a chance to think a little more deeply and intentionally about what it might truly look like to experiment with welcome and wonder. What if the younger saints among us are given the chance to “shadow the pastor” or help with all parts of worship this week, and then towards the end of worship were asked, “what was that like?” If the younger saints in your congregation are like my own kids, they will be brutally honest. And that honesty might just be a welcome breath of fresh air which may be Jesus inviting us to do things a little differently for the sake of truly meeting all of God’s children where they are at and growing together as Jesus’ disciples and stewards.
Previous Reflections for Proper 20B:
2018 – Welcome the children/welcome God
2015 – Missing the point
2012 – A righteous harvest
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