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Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
I think what Jesus is saying is that slowly what happens in our life is that our imagination of what's possible gets slowly drummed out of us, and it leaves us with very small margins, only so many ways out of each predicament. And faith is about widening that. Believing that there are many more possibilities than we realize. Today though, we begin that journey, through death toward resurrection, and we enter into Jerusalem with Jesus. And this year, we spent a lot of time in the gospel of Mark.
Jeremy Duncan:We started there in fall with the first half of the story. We picked up again at the start of Lent, but over the last couple weeks, we have really focused in on what is probably the major turning point in this gospel. The moment where Jesus allows His disciples to name their hope, and then He turns their attention toward Jerusalem. And last week, we found ourselves at a bit of an awkward moment. Peter finally puts breath behind his imagination.
Jeremy Duncan:He declares Jesus Messiah. And Jesus begins to unload what he's been holding onto. What he's afraid of and what's coming. He tells his friends about his impending death and Peter rebukes him for doing it. Now, rebukes is kind of a funny word here.
Jeremy Duncan:I mean, it fits, but it's not something that probably most of us say regularly in real life beyond last week's sermon where I said it a lot. I'm not sure I've said the word rebukes in a sentence in a very long time, which is why I think it's helpful to look at the ways that Mark has used this particular Greek word throughout the gospel so far. It's used in chapter 1 when Jesus silences a demon. It's used again in chapter 3, when Jesus silences the wind. And beyond the high stakes drama of this moment, I think that's probably a better image of what's actually going on here.
Jeremy Duncan:Peter isn't rebuking Jesus like he's a disappointed dad. He's silencing him. He doesn't want to hear this. Jesus is telling him things he doesn't want to know, and Peter is very publicly sticking his fingers in his ears and yelling, la la la la la. And I kind of think that makes a little more sense.
Jeremy Duncan:It makes it a little more relatable. We've all been in a situation somewhere where a friend told us maybe some bad news. And we wanted to be kind, we wanted to be supportive, but for whatever reason in that moment we just couldn't muster it. And so, we defaulted to a shallow cheeriness. Oh, don't worry.
Jeremy Duncan:Everything's going to be okay. Or deflected to other topics that were easier to talk about rather than diving into the muck of that moment with them. Peter's not a bad guy. He's confused, and he's afraid of what he's hearing, and I'm not sure what he thinks he's going to do with it. So, he slams the door on it, and honestly I get it.
Jeremy Duncan:But to that we get this somewhat startling moment where Jesus responds, get behind me, Satan. And, we talked about a lot of the complexities here. The way that Jesus wants to re center his friend's imagination of messiah away from perhaps the more militaristic fantasy toward the more grounded imagination of the Divine. Messiah as the human one who shows us what it means to be human. Who establishes justice from the ground up from within us, rather than from the top down like a conqueror.
Jeremy Duncan:We talked about the geography of this moment. Right? How Peter takes Jesus away aside from the disciples to rebuke him, and how Jesus turns away from Peter back toward the Disciples before He speaks. The key here is I don't think Jesus is calling Peter Satan. I don't even think that Jesus is calling Peter His enemy.
Jeremy Duncan:In fact, in His rebuke of Peter, I think Jesus is very conscious to place Peter safely behind him before he speaks. And that's because Jesus knows that Peter is His friend. He knows that Peter, even even though he is misguided cares about him deeply, so Jesus places Peter safely behind them, and he turns his attention to his real adversary in this moment. This triumphalist, militaristic, political, conquer at all costs image of God, and he demands that that story get behind him as well. And don't miss it.
Jeremy Duncan:It's a rebuke of Peter and his hopes for Jesus, but it's also in a sense an invitation for Peter to see Jesus in a new way. To begin to understand that the glory of God, the kingdom Jesus proclaims will come not through might, or force, or violence, or coercion, or manipulation, but only through the self giving power of love. And, for Jesus, that is the way of the cross. So, this is our big contrast on these last steps toward Jerusalem. Jesus has tipped his hand for the very first time.
Jeremy Duncan:His victory will look like death, and his closest friends have balked at that idea. Today, Jesus will try twice more to reframe his story, and he will find himself deeply alone as his friends in the crowds celebrate their missing the point. But first, let's pray. Spirit of God, who is present in and through every breath, with every rise and fall of our chest. Might we slow ourselves enough in this moment to notice you here with us surrounding us today, Leading us in quiet confidence back to your true image in the world.
Jeremy Duncan:Humble on a donkey, arriving in peace amidst a world that clamors for more volume and strength, more power. As we remember your prayers for us, and as we rehearse your entry here today, as we approach your final steps toward your cross, would you awaken us to the truth and the beauty of your example that still lays before us even today? Not only that you come, but how and why and for whom you were willing to give your life away. My we then follow in those footsteps, tracing your path in the world in humble service to all we encounter. This we pray in the strong name of the risen Christ.
Jeremy Duncan:Amen. Last week, Jesus predicted his death, and his closest friends did not respond well. Today we are on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, and twice more Jesus will predict the path ahead. Twice more His closest friends will miss his point. And in that perhaps, I think we have an opportunity to slowly come to see what so many have missed before us about the path of Jesus.
Jeremy Duncan:But today, we'll talk about getting stung, being first the right hand and the problem with palms. But let's start in Mark 9, and this is verse 30. They left that place and passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because He was teaching His disciples. And we're gonna pause here just quickly because last week, Sunday night during Q and R somebody asked me about that moment where Peter described his, or Jesus described his friend Peter as a little bit Satan esque.
Jeremy Duncan:What did I think that Peter might have felt in that moment when he heard those words? And immediately, perhaps because she was standing on the stage beside me at the time, my men mind went to moments where Bobbie had had to call me out on things that I had said or done, perhaps in front of the staff. Thankfully she didn't call me Satan at the time, and yet she did call me out on things. Not because I'm a bad guy. Not because any of that, but because I make mistakes, and Bobby is my friend, and she cares about me.
Jeremy Duncan:Now, the truth is those moments still sting. I don't like my ego bruised any more than anyone else does, and yet because of our history together, and how long we've worked together, and how we trust each other, I know that her perspective is ultimately for my good. That's what I hope for Peter there in that moment. And sure, it probably did sting, and it probably did feel a little bit humbling, and he probably did grumble under his breath just like I did, but ultimately that encounter was a punctuated moment that was pulled out for us to learn from. But for Peter, that moment existed within an ongoing long form evolving friendship with Jesus.
Jeremy Duncan:Jesus didn't hit and run. He stayed and he explained and he continued to help Peter grow and mature. And so I like seeing these moments just a couple verses later where Jesus is teaching his disciples, but he doesn't want anyone else around. He wants them to have his full attention because he is invested in who they are as human beings, invested in their growth. And I think it's really important to keep all of that in the back of our mind when we key in on maybe the more fiery moments between Peter and Jesus.
Jeremy Duncan:There's a lot of history off the page that helps to contextualize the hard edge of discipleship even when Jesus has to say hard things. And as strange as it sounds in that sense, I I kind of hope that you and I both have some friend in our lives who might call us Satan from time to time when we need to hear it. But here, Jesus is alone with the disciples teaching them, and He tries again. He tells them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after 3 days He will rise.
Jeremy Duncan:Almost exactly what he told them in our story last week when Peter responded so poorly, but this time we read that they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. Now, one more pause here. It seems kind of obvious to us what Jesus is talking about. Right? I mean, he says it pretty clearly.
Jeremy Duncan:I'm going to die, but I'll be back. How were they not getting this? But it's kind of like I said last week, like we have to remember we are looking back on the story knowing the ending. So, of course, it seems obvious to us. It's quite plain here.
Jeremy Duncan:But for the disciples, this is Jesus who teaches them parables, like, all the time. Jesus who explicitly said in Mark 4 that he used parables. So that some would be ever seeing but never perceiving. So, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility at at all that the disciples simply assumed this was another one of those weird obscure parables that they just hadn't figured out yet. I mean, they've never seen someone come back from the dead?
Jeremy Duncan:I think it's pretty reasonable if I was in their shoes I would assume this was a metaphor for something. And so, perhaps, because of Peter's involuntary humility last week, this time they're like, I'm gonna keep it to myself. Except, eventually they came to Capernaum. And once he was in the house, Jesus asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they had been arguing about who was the greatest among them.
Jeremy Duncan:At least they're wise enough to keep this one to themselves. Or so they thought. Because sitting down Jesus called the 12 and said, look, anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all. He took a little child who was placed among them, and 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 only welcome me, but the one who sent me. Now, a couple of things here before we move on to his third prediction in this series, but first of all, I think it's becoming kind of obvious that Mark is building an intentional theme here.
Jeremy Duncan:Jesus predicts his death. Peter argues with him about that path. Jesus predicts his death again. The disciples immediately begin arguing about who among them is the greatest. Spoiler here.
Jeremy Duncan:Jesus predicts His death a third time, and the disciples get into an argument about who gets to sit at His right hand in glory. Like, this is not just about not getting what is coming, although that's certainly part of it. More importantly though, this is about the disciples not understanding the way of Jesus. And in fact, maybe that is precisely why they can't understand what's coming. They still think of Jesus as a conqueror larger than life, Not someone who would give His life away.
Jeremy Duncan:Not someone who will show us what it means to be human like we talked about last week, but as one who will impose His will, His kingdom on the world. Someone perhaps more like an emperor, but this time on their side. So, on his way to Jerusalem and all that's coming for him, Jesus is intent on trying to disabuse them of that notion. And I like how he continues the project here. The last time he took a pretty direct approach.
Jeremy Duncan:Get behind me, Satan. That one probably stung, even though it was talking about ideologies and not Peter himself. This time, though, Jesus takes a slightly gentler approach with a question and a child and an object lesson. So, let's look at how he approaches this attempt, and I like this because he starts with a question here. This is something I'm trying to do more at home with my kids.
Jeremy Duncan:Oftentimes I will overhear something or catch a glimpse of something from the other room and sadly sometimes assume the worst, when perhaps, maybe, just a simple clarifying question could clear things up a little easier. Now, last week, I looked outside at the back window, and I saw our son in our backyard covered in mud with a shovel digging a hole in the middle of my lawn. And, so I ran to the door and I flung it open, and I asked, what on earth are you doing? Now, he said digging a mud hole, which does not make anything better, but I still, I was glad that I at least asked the question. So, I do like that Jesus does more than let this conversation get on his nerves here.
Jeremy Duncan:He decides to ask them about it. And all kidding aside, I think that's a good instinct for a lot of us. We could probably all stand to ask more questions rather than just let rampant speculation drive us even further into more frustration. Ask more questions. But second, Jesus uses an object lesson, and they won't tell him about their conversation, but he knows what they've been talking about.
Jeremy Duncan:He understands the disconnect between their trust in him and their inability to see the way of peace. And so he sits with them, and he says, look. Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last. You must be the servant of all. And then he takes a little smile child in his arms, and he says basically, you see what I mean?
Jeremy Duncan:There's a couple things going on here. First, I always wonder about where this kid came from. Obviously, we don't get a satisfying answer for that. We are told when the story is introduced that Jesus and his friends came to a house in Capernaum, likely that was the house of a friend or a follower. So it follows then that the child is likely part of this family that's hosting them for the evening.
Jeremy Duncan:Kind of a neat moment for the kid. Nice. But, in a really interesting play on words here, Jesus introduces the child by saying, you must be the servant of all. And in the Aramaic language that Jesus would have spoken with his friends in more informal settings, it's likely what he's speaking here. Child and servant are actually the same word, talia.
Jeremy Duncan:The child isn't just a setup for something that's coming. The child is the explanation for what Jesus just said. See, the disciples were actually probably pretty comfortable with considering themselves servants. In the ancient world, when you followed a teacher, you would very generally be considered a student or a servant of that teacher. One of the common phrases was diakonos.
Jeremy Duncan:That's where we get the term deacon from. Even the more intense doulas, which actually really meant slave was often used for the follower of a teacher. Now, Paul uses that phrase to describe himself. English translations will often try to soften it back to servant of Christ, but really he's using the word doulos there. The thing is child was a step below either of those terms.
Jeremy Duncan:You see in calling yourself a servant or even a doulas of a certain teacher, you were still in a very important way taking on the mantle, the authority of that teacher. You were representing them in the world with that title. A child, Italia had no such significance culturally. In fact in the Mishnah, it records Rabbi Dosa Ben Harkness his list of things that displeased God And there we read morning sleep, midday wine, and listening to the talk of children. That along with sitting in the assemblies of the ignorant, all of that puts you outside of the world, he says.
Jeremy Duncan:So, for Jesus to overhear their argument about who will be the greatest, and then to say, look guys, the first will be last. You have to be the servant of everyone. That could have sounded, for a moment at least, like an answer to their question. How do you get to the top? Well, you serve those around you.
Jeremy Duncan:You rep me in the world. You assume my authority when you do that. But then Jesus pulls up a little child and he says something like this, and all of a sudden all of that prestige goes out the window because Jesus actually means serving with no corollary benefit to anyone's social standing. And that's a tricky one. Right?
Jeremy Duncan:Because I've been there. You know, the coffee spills in the gym, and so you run and you pick up a mop, but in the back of your head you're like, I hope everyone here knows that the senior pastor is cleaning up coffee between the services. Wow, that's impressive. He's got a lot to do. I don't really, but still sometimes there's a lot of pride in being last.
Jeremy Duncan:Am I right? Jesus wants to put all of that to death. No, I mean last, he says. I mean serve everyone, he says. Not only that, you should be happy to be as insignificant as this child.
Jeremy Duncan:In fact, you you should welcome this child. Because in welcoming those who have no significance to offer back to you, you welcome me, and when you welcome me you welcome the divine that does not care anything about position or privilege. In fact, it's fun to think about this today because Jesus will pick up this image again in the next chapter. Right? I tell you honestly, anyone who will not receive the kingdom like a child will never get it.
Jeremy Duncan:A passage we read earlier when we did children dedications and baptisms. I think part of what Jesus is saying with this emphasis on childlike faith, particularly here in the midst of this movement toward Jerusalem. Even in talking about being born again, which he does in John, I think what Jesus is saying is that slowly what happens in our life is that our imagination of what's possible gets slowly drummed out of us, and it leaves us with very small margins, only so many ways out of each predicament, and faith is about widening that, believing that there are many more possibilities than we realize. So many ways for goodness to emerge in the world. So much more than just the pursuit of wealth, and warfare, and power to change the world.
Jeremy Duncan:Maybe love actually can win. And, we say that and it might sound silly, or a little naive, a little childlike you might even say, but I think maybe that's the point. That Jesus believes what you believed when you were a kid and the evil of the world didn't seem so insurmountable. And so for a third time, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection, his conviction that violence will be its own undoing. This is chapter 10 verse 32.
Jeremy Duncan:When they were on their way up to Jerusalem, so they're right on the edge now with Jesus leading the way, The disciples were astonished, while those followed were afraid. But, again, He took the 12 aside, and He told them what was going to happen to Him. We are going up to Jerusalem, he said, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests. To the teachers of the law, they will condemn him to death, and they will hand him over to Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him, and kill him. 3 days later, he will rise.
Jeremy Duncan:And I know you're thinking, surely this time they get it, but next verse. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. Bold play, bros. And then, Jesus said, well, what do you want?
Jeremy Duncan:They said, let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left hand in glory. And Jesus said, you guys don't even know what you're talking about. Now, this time, surely we can see that Mark is absolutely doing all of this on purpose. Right? Three times Jesus has predicted his death at the hands of power.
Jeremy Duncan:The first time Peter rebukes him. The second time his friends argue about who's the greatest among them. The third time they wonder if they can be the right hand man. Like, this isn't about the disciples not understanding the prediction anymore. This is about the disciples not understanding the way of Jesus at all yet now.
Jeremy Duncan:Jesus thinks power is ultimately undone by self sacrifice. Jesus thinks life is ultimately reborn when we give it away. Jesus thinks the demonstration of love can actually ultimately overcome all of our displays of might, and yet the disciples and the crowds just don't get it. His people want a warrior. And the crowds want a strong man, and the disciples want to feel powerful in their association with him.
Jeremy Duncan:And Jesus just keeps saying, no, no, no. And ultimately, that that is the story of Palm Sunday. It's what Mark has been building and seeding all the way along since the major turning point in chapter 8. All of these missed opportunities along the road to get there, and now as Jesus reaches Jerusalem, the crowds gather, and they chant hosanna. They wave palm branches.
Jeremy Duncan:They proclaim him king. These are symbols and slogans of national uprising against the occupying Roman government, political protest against Caesar. I know it sounds innocuous to us, but to proclaim Jesus king was tantamount to treason in Rome. It's the same story Mark has told us 3 times along the way now, and so instead Jesus asked his disciples this time to get him a colt, a donkey to ride into town on, a very conscious counter program to what everyone expects from him. See, that image goes all the way back to Zechariah who describes the king returning on a donkey proclaiming peace, but it goes beyond just the prophets as well because Caesar would also return from war riding a donkey in the victory parade.
Jeremy Duncan:And that was done to tell people that the fighting was over. Rome had won. Peace had returned through the fearsome might of Caesar, And yet, here is Jesus, for lack of a better term, entering the battle, confronting His adversary, facing down Good Friday, and he's already in the posture of peace. In fact, Luke tells us that when he drew near the city and he saw it, he wept over it saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. Matthew adds that Jesus cried out, I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood safe under her wing, but you were not willing.
Jeremy Duncan:Because you wanted violence, and you wanted strength, and you wanted to be first, and you wanted to be there on my right hand, you rebuked the way of peace, but now all that's left is war. Historically, it was less than a generation after Jesus death that Rome marched in and destroyed the Jewish temple. It was less than a century after Jesus' death that the Bar Kokhba revolt left Judea absolutely decimated by Roman forces. Today, we continue to choose war at every turn, but there was a time that peace stood at the gates. And all of us, we turned away for something else.
Jeremy Duncan:And so over and over again, we silence calls for peace. We fight over who is first. We demand to be at the right hand, and we miss the way that is now hidden from our eyes. The way of peace that overcomes through self giving. And, years later, we will look back on Palm Sunday, and we will see the palms, and we will see the celebration, and we will glimpse the coming of peace, and we will now understand all the way that self giving love did overcome just the way that Jesus said.
Jeremy Duncan:The resurrection is the proof. But Palm Sunday always will be bittersweet for us. Because it's the story of how God comes to save us, to show us peace, and we miss the point and how God loves us anyway. And that feels a lot like life. Knowing that Jesus keeps calling me to follow His way in the world and I keep arguing with Him about all the wrong things.
Jeremy Duncan:And I know that Jesus never gives up on any of us. I trust that he hinds a way to always bring us home, but here on the steps of the story of Holy Week, we find ourselves caught in the confusion. The celebration of the one who brings peace and the realization that we often miss it and choose violence anyway. But here, we begin the movement toward the depths of our violence on Good Friday and the ultimate resurrection of love and life on Easter Sunday. And, we embrace the whole story knowing that it is our salvation.
Jeremy Duncan:Let's pray. God, for all the ways that we have exchanged the way of peace for something that's felt more exciting, stronger, more effective, Something that we thought could force your way in the world rather than birth it within us. For all of these things, we are sorry, and we redirect our eyes to you. We ask that by your spirit you would reform our imagination to see that love can win, that self giving can overcome, that when we give ourselves away in service to another, not for the status it affords, but truly for the good of those near us, that this can begin to plant a seed of peace. It grows and expands, and over time, once enough of us come to see your way in the world, to follow your path back to God.
Jeremy Duncan:That the world can be bit by bit transformed into the kingdom you imagine. We trust that your resurrection is ours and in that new life that we might actually begin to follow your way well. In the strong name, the risen Christ we pray. Amen. Hey.
Jeremy Duncan:Jeremy here, and thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at commons, you can head to our website commons.church for more information. You can find us on all of the socials at commonschurch. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel where we are posting content regularly for the community. You can also join our Discord server.
Jeremy Duncan:Head to commons.church/discord for the invite, and there you will find the community having all kinds of conversations about how we can encourage each other to follow the way of Jesus. We would love to hear from you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in. Have a great week. We'll talk to you soon.