Questions

Text: Mark 9:30-37 Title: Questions
9/20/09 Clarksville

“I’m not asking him, you ask.” “No, you ask him.” “I’m not saying anything.” That’s how I imagine the muttered conversation between disciples in Mark 9. They had a question and no one wanted to voice it. First there was a look of confusion. Then there was a room check to see if anyone else looked like they got it. Usually there is at least one in the group who nods and tries to look like they understand everything when the truth is they don’t’ have a clue. Not this time. There were raised eyebrows and nods as each one tried to get someone else to say what everyone else was thinking.
Questions. From the first generation of Jesus-followers there have been questions about the things He said. When you say as many things as Jesus did that were totally out of the ordinary, I guess you’d expect to get a lot of questions. Forgive how many times? Do what for those who persecute me? I’m glad Jesus doesn’t ask us to leave our inquisitiveness at the door of faith. In fact, curiosity makes for some good discipleship.

Questions. Questions about faith don’t have to be a threat to the faith. In fact, questions can help form our faith, help it to become our own. From the basic “Is God for real? To the specific, “What do you want me to do with this decision, right now, today?” questions are good. Questions like, “How is a Jesus-following life supposed to look in 2009, in my life, at school, in my marriage, where I work?” Or, “What does this Scripture really mean and what am I supposed to do with it, or better yet, what is God trying to do to me through it?” Questions.
Sometimes the thought of asking a question can be intimidating. I should already know the answer to this and I don’t which means I might end up looking like an idiot. What if I ask her out and she says no? What if I ask and the teacher makes me look like a moron?
In our story today, the disciples have a question on their minds and a lock on their lips, because they’re all too afraid to ask (vs. 32). They have been silenced by fear. Jesus has just told them for the 2nd time in Mark’s Gospel that He’s going to be killed, and three days later be resurrected. They don’t get it. What’s he talking about? No one knows but no one is willing to ask either, not even Peter which makes me wonder if he missed that part, was busy sending a text message, had to go answer the call of nature, or was late getting to discipleship class that day.
I think Jesus would say to questioning people then and now, “fire away.” Don’t be afraid. Ask what’s on your mind. I think He welcomes honest questions. For whatever reason the disciples can’t bring themselves to ask. Even though I’m sure Jesus knows what they’re wondering about, He doesn’t offer any answers. He’s like that sometimes. Sometimes He wants us to stay in the struggle between question and answer, hang out for a while in the crucible between confusion and clarity. How many of you have been in that place? Sometimes Jesus is content to let us linger with our questions where somehow He’s forming us.
Even though these guys are not up to asking any questions, Jesus is. Have you ever noticed how Jesus has a way of asking telling questions, the kind that you don’t know if you want to answer or not because they reveal something you may not want other people to see - and may not want to see yourself? This is one of those questions. I know what that’s like. My dad was good with those kinds of questions too. He would as, and I knew he knew more than he was letting on. My twin brother Scott and I would come back into the house after being out doing something we shouldn’t have been doing and my dad would say, “What have you boys been doing?” If we’d just been doing something like throwing rocks, wrestling in the yard with our good clothes on, or climbing up on the neighbor’s roof, we knew that the conversation that started with a question like that probably wasn’t going to have a very good ending. Questions.
God has a way of asking those kinds of questions. To Adam Eve when they were hiding in the Garden, it was “Where are you?” He knew where they were, God just wanted to give them an opportunity to see it for themselves. He wanted them to see where they were, who they had become. To the woman at the well, it was “Where’s your husband?” He knew her situation. She had been through 5 husbands and was shacked up with another guy right then. Jesus wanted her to see where she was, take a look at who she had become. Jesus had a way of cutting through the crud with a simple yet pointed question. He does it again here in Mark 9.
What were you boys arguing about (vs. 33) on the road? (or on the way to church, or on the phone last night?) They were on the way to Capernaum where Jesus was going to get away for a while, hide out for a few days because He needed a break - see vs. 30. I can just imagine the sheepish looks of these grown men who suddenly look like little boys who’ve just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, or drinking out the milk jug, or walking on the carpet with muddy shoes, or trying to sneak back into the house after curfew but get caught. In a matter of minutes they’ve gone from sticking their chests out with pride to hanging their heads in shame (James 3:6 "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed."). Funny thing is Jesus didn’t give them a beat down. He didn’t have to. All he had to do was ask a question that forced them to take a look at where they were, at who they had become. What were you fellas arguing about on the way here? Busted!

They were arguing about who was the greatest. “Who’s the greatest?” is one question they weren’t afraid to ask. On one hand I applaud their ambition but on the other, there’s a little word in front that taints it - selfish. It’s what James wrote about in James 3:14-16 which is one of the other texts we heard read this morning. “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every kind of evil practice.”

They didn’t ask Jesus who was the greatest but He gave them an answer anyway. He couldn’t ignore it because his disciples would have continued further and faster down the wrong road. They were headed on a collision course with kingdom reality and rather than let them build up speed, Jesus tried to put on the brakes. “You want to be great? OK, I’ll tell you how because you’re idea of greatness is all messed up and I want you to get this right. Greatness isn’t about position or pride, it’s about service and humility. Greatness that is too proud to notice the least of these isn’t greatness at all. Greatness that demands a position and a place at the front isn’t greatness either. Greatness in the Kingdom has more to do with service than status, with humility and hospitality than celebrity. If you want to be great, be a servant, be last instead of first. That’s how it works in the Kingdom.” Jesus said it in Mark 9, and Matt. 20 and showed it in John 13 when he washed his disciple’s feet. Who is the greatest? The one who serves - and the disciples were probably not too sure they liked Jesus’ answer. Here would be a great place for us to ask a question. “Jesus, what do you want this serving other people business to look like in my life - at home, at work, at church? I think He’ll answer that because He wants us to get it right.

There are some questions Jesus is content to let us wrestle with. There are others He has to clear up right now because the wrong answer is destructive to Kingdom living -like disciples running around with the wrong ideas about greatness who fight for first place. He can’t be having that. He ignores the question they won’t ask and exposes the question they want to hide. In the process these disciples, and us along with them - find out a little bit more about the kind of people Jesus wants us to become.

Asking the hard questions, making the connection between greatness and serving, putting others first - if that was easy we’d all be doing it already. It isn’t. We don’t. We need help. The good thing is God gives it. The help He gives - that’s called grace, and the Jesus who was delivered into human hands, was killed, and raised from the dead just like He said He would be, offers it today. Grace for those who need the courage to voice their questions. Grace for those who are living in the crucible between confusion and clarity, still struggling for answers that are slow coming. Grace for those who aren’t great, who might not even be good, but who want to be in the way Jesus defines greatness. Our help, this grace, it takes the form of bread and cup, and in these sacred symbols of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we find all we need to get it right today. He offers His grace to all who would receive it, freely, abundantly, and lavishly - no question about it. Amen.

Communion (give opportunity to pray at altar)

Benediction: II Cor. 13:14