The Greatest

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Apple Watch

I was working at Best Buy when the Apple watch first came out. I remember that there were three different price-points for the Apple watch when it made its debut. There was the economy version for around $300, a higher-end model around $500, and then there was the luxury 18 karat gold version that cost a whopping $10,000.

One evening, a guy came in after a lucky streak at the casino. And he was interested in purchasing one of those new fancy Apple Watches. But, he wanted to know the difference from one watch to the next.

If you made the jump from the $300 model up to the $500 model you would be treated to a watch that had sapphire glass and was nearly impervious to scratches. Even the metal itself was built to resist more punishment. But he wanted to know what made that $10,000 model worth so much… and I remember telling him that the watch was forged with 18 karat gold! They were beautiful and all about making a statement about having the best of the best.

The guy paused in thought. And then he said, yeah but… what can do the $10,000 model do that the $300 can’t?

And the answer was? Nothing. And yet, despite there being no difference in function in capability, Apple sold somewhere around 2,000 of those 18karat gold watches that would become obsolete in just a year and a half. And why? Because people wanted to have the claim to owning the greatest.

Text Intro

In today’s Gospel text the disciples are less concerned about having greatest and instead they want to be the greatest. They have followed Christ for some time now. They have listened to his teachings, watched his miracles, and they have come to believe that Jesus is something special. And they themselves want to be close to the uniqueness that was Christ. There becomes a feeling among the disciples that they are somehow set apart from others through their relationship with Christ. They are the special ones.

But then, they want to know who the greatest is among the special few? Who among them has the closest relationship with Christ. Who has the best ability to tug on the ear of the Son of God? Which one of them has the closest walk with thee in the garden?

And for the backdrop of this conversation of who is the greatest, we see Jesus and the disciples on what should be a somber walk. Jesus and the disciples were on their way from Galilee to Capernaum and Jesus has been trying to spend those precious days of journeying in the in-between as a time focused on teaching his disciples. He tries to teach them, once again, that the son of man will one day be betrayed into human hands, killed, and then on the third day rise again.

Now remember the last time Jesus brought this up, Peter tried to rebuke Jesus for it. Peter tried to silence the Savior. And we remember the powerful warning from Christ, “Get behind me Satan! For you set your mind not on divine things but on human things!” What happens this time that Jesus tries to teach the disciples? Mark records that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was talking about. And that rather than seeking clarification they chose to remain silent on this issue because they were afraid to ask. They did not want to appear less wise or less in-the-know compared to the other disciples. 12 men and all of them afraid to ask for directions.

Gonculator

For those of you who remember watching Hogan’s Heroes, you may remember a brilliant episode from season four about a gonculator. The ever-clever Hogan and his fellow P.O.W.s convince Sergeant Schultz that the rabbit trap they’ve been working on in their barracks is, in truth, a state-of-the-art, top-secret, high-tech device known as a gonculator.

Sergeant Scheultz runs to Colonel Klink with this discovered information regarding this gonculator. Colonel Klink pretends to know precisely what a gonculator is, but then calls up the chain of command for more information. Concerned about sounding like a fool, however, Colonel Klink speaks with confidence as he asks the information officer about the differences between a German and American Gonculator. After the information officer rifles through some papers with great angst, obviously unsure of what he is looking for, he replies that the information is top secret and that he is not allowed to share it. Soon, the Gestapo and a Luftwaffe General find themselves involved in this comic-relief effort to not look like the fool.

The beauty of episode is that every individual in the Nazi chain of command goes with the flow that this top secret device exists because each individual does not want to be the one who appears to not know. Thus, each officer claims to have familiarity with a gonculator in order to not be the one left out of the loop.

Hogan plays on the desire of human nature to be the greatest, the most outstanding, the one who is not lacking knowledge. The brilliance of this particular episode comes from its truth. We do not like being left out. We do not like to appear ignorant. Certainly Colonel Klink to not like that idea… And in our gospel today neither did the disciples.

Disciples and Greatness

So, like Colonel Klink, General Burkhalter, and all of the rest of the Hogan’s Heroes Nazi cast… the disciples choose to hide their ignorance and refrain from seeking knowledge. And rather than pursuing knowledge, they battle with one another over who is the greatest.

And it’s a shame, really, because the battle of pride among the disciples causes them to focus more on themselves than on Christ’s teachings. These precious few moments that Christ has to teach the disciples are spent by those disciples not by soaking in Christ’s wisdom but bickering like brothers in the back seat of the car.

Remember when Jesus first selected the disciples? They were not renown scholars of the day… they were not sought-after philosophers… most of them were fishermen. They likely had some very basic education in Torah, but for the most part they were salt of the earth folks. Not one of them should have had a right to call themselves the greatest… and yet the more they walk with Christ and are a part of his great wonders the more highly they think of themselves and their own greatness. But the more they focus on themselves and their own personal blessed importance to Jesus… the less they are able to hear of the teachings Christ offers.

Proving Oneself

And that’s really the catch, isn’t it? The more we try to prove our own worth, the less worth we have to offer. And in fact, the more of a stumbling block we become both for ourselves and for those around us. Christ didn’t choose the disciples because they were such outstanding candidates. In fact, God has a history throughout the ages of calling very broken individuals who seemingly had little to offer to become the greatest of prophets and teachers and doers of the Word.

The great joke of this story is that in our effort to prove our worth by having great wisdom, great job performance records, a great car, great seats at the game, the $10,000 watch, or the mug which boldly proclaims greatest parent ever… we see Christ embracing not the greatest of his disciples but instead the most humble of individuals around him.

Throughout his ministry, he embraced the last and the least in society -- Gentile women (Mark 7:24-30), bleeding women (Mark 5:24-34), lepers (Mark 1:40-45), raging demoniacs (Mark 5:1-20), tax collectors and other notorious “sinners” (Mark 1:13-17). He even welcomes and makes time for little children here and then again later on, much to the disciples’ frustration (Mark 10:13-16).

In the words of Robert Clemente—Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player from 1955-1972 with the Cincinatti Pirates, “If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this Earth.” Robert, by the way, died in 1972 in a plane crash while delivering supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.

Jesus's message to the disciples then and to us now is clear. When we spend our time focused on proving ourselves and improving just our own lives we fail to see those who we are most called to serve. Your worth has already been declared by Christ on the cross. There is no need to worry about that—you don’t need to say you know about the gonculator… you don’t need to wear the $10,000 watch… you don’t need to prove yourself to be the most spiritual or the best educated or the most talents.. again, your worth has already been declared by Christ on the cross. Instead care for your neighbor, love those who seem less than deserving, embrace the most vulnerable. Look to who Christ points us toward… those who seemingly have no importance in society… for as we embrace them so too do we embrace Christ.

Today’s gospel lesson is one which teaches us what it is to be a disciple which is a challenging path to walk. It is more than showing up for worship and putting memes up on facebook that say “like if you love Jesus.”

Jesus says if you want to follow me, you don’t need to worry about the social media posts that make you look holy. You don’t need to worry about putting on a big show in front of others to be the greatest. No. You just need to love those that others would pass by. Being a disciple of Christ is seeing and loving those that others would pass by. Being a disciple of Christ is to look beyond ourselves, look beyond our own securities, look beyond our own aspirations… and care for the needs of those that are hurting.

You are already loved by and claimed by God. But today, how will we respond to this call of discipleship? Will we take this call from Christ seriously as we enter into the week?

Here is my challenge to you in growing your own sense of call to discipleship this week. I challenge you to reach out to one or two people this week whom are on the fringes in your life. Find a way to share a taste of God’s love with them. A special deed, a home-cooked meal, words of encouragement… how you do it is up to you. But consider who it is that God might be calling you to care for as we follow Christ’s call.

God’s peace be with you. Amen.