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How Low Can You Go?

Pastor Jeremy Schultz
September 20, 2009

On Friday evening, your staff at St. Paul got together in our backyard for a little fun! We enjoyed food, music, a bonfire and good old fashioned Christian fellowship. We had a blast! But you know what we did not have? Party games. It's not that I'm not against party games – in fact, I think they're fun. But isn't it interesting how party games are really designed with only one thing in mind? To make people look ridiculous! And the one game that does a really outstanding job of that is the dreaded limbo contest. You know how it works. When it's your turn, you sidle up to the limbo stick swaying and dancing back and forth. The people are clapping in rhythm. Everyone begins to wonder, "How low can you go?" And then you start to contort your back to a degree it was never meant to bend. The more obtuse the angle of your back; the more obtuse you begin to look! I mean, let's face it. Even if you win the limbo contest – the fact is that you’ve also lost...you've lost your dignity and it's a pretty safe bet that you'll land on YouTube within the hour! Well, that's not really so bad. It's just a party game!

But outside the limbo world, nobody really ever wants to know how low you can go! Because that's pretty depressing! For example, nobody really wants to know how much further the family income can drop! How much more dismal morale in the work place can get! How much more strained the relationship between yourself and your teenager might become! How far down you can drop into depression! How much more dim-witted you can feel at school! How unprepared emotionally, mentally, fiscally you might be for retirement! We spend our whole lives, and huge amounts of energies, clawing our way UP. Nobody really wants to know how low you can go! Certainly not the 12 men who followed Jesus!

As Jesus and the disciples left the site of last week's failed attempt to cast out a demon, the Lord began to inform them of the itinerary. "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him and after three days He will rise." Their heads were still low. Their egos had been bruised. Did they even hear? St. Mark tells us that they certainly did not understand. And they were afraid to ask. But it appears from today's Gospel lesson that there's even more that they're struggling to understand. So as they walked along the road, they let the Lord's words pass and they themselves retreated into a much more comfortable conversation – something they felt like they could control. On the heels of their failure and frustration and the great letdown, an argument broke out among them as to who was the greatest.

Well, we too have a desire to be first. We don't like to wait. We don't like being second. And we sure don't like being number 39. Like when you walk into the post office and pick up number 39 and you notice that the person at the counter being served is number 26! We don't like that! But it's worse when you sense that someone has gotten ahead or gained an advantage because of their looks or personality - and all the while you have honed your skills and gained your experience only to be passed over again! "Oh great" you say. "Nice guys finish last again." And you make up your mind right then and there that you're not going to finish last again!

After all, wouldn't it be nice for YOU to be waited on, for YOU to get the promotion, for YOU to have the better pay, for YOU to have a chance to advance, for YOU to be first! Well, yes it would. And really – there's nothing wrong with that thinking. At least, not according to Jesus.

Jesus never condemned His disciples for wanting to be first. He does not condemn people who are first. It seems that's actually a very good place to be. However, when they reach the house where they were staying in Capernaum, Jesus pulls up a chair and has the men sit. Because there IS something that they need to chat about. Being first is not bad. But as soon as someone does something out of a desire to be first, he has not made himself last. He has not been a servant of all. And this runs contrary to what Christ was doing and what Christ's followers are to be all about!

Jesus would go on to Jerusalem and everything would happen to Him that He had explained. And what Jesus would show by His humiliation unto death is His true greatness. And we know that. Jesus is the very greatest because Jesus truly is the servant of all. He served us by making Himself low – lower than anyone else could ever become – so low that His knees buckled under the strain of bearing this world's sin. And by doing so – He has elevated you to the very first position. Jesus made Himself last, but in so doing, He made you first! He gives you the forgiveness of all your sins, eternal life, salvation at His table, the promise of heaven which sustains you in all trials and the pledge of His mercy to keep you in all temptation.

And Friends, what this means is that you could never be higher in the sight of Jesus than you are right now! He loves you! He died for you and rose for you! He has freed you from the humiliation and has brought you up from your very low position. So understand this clearly – you are very important in to God. In fact, we could say that you are of first importance to God! Therefore, there is nothing that you can gain for yourself. You are set free from the pursuit of anything that would falsely puff yourself up. And you are thus free to serve your God and your neighbor by putting yourself last.

There was once a tribe of Indians who lived a long time ago in the state of Mississippi. They lived next to a very swift and dangerous river. The current was so strong that if somebody happened to fall in or stumbled into it they could be swept away downstream. One day the tribe was attacked by a hostile group of settlers. They found themselves with their backs against the river. They were greatly outnumbered and their only chance for escape was to cross the rushing river. They huddled together and those who were strong picked up the weak and put them on their shoulders; the little children, the sick, the old and the infirm, those who were ill or wounded were carried on the backs of those who were strongest. They waded out into the river, and to their surprise they discovered that the weight on their shoulders carrying the least and the lowest helped them to keep their footing and to make it safely across the river.

Jesus shows that by putting yourself last and being a servant of all, you really do remain up there at the first. And that is of course your new natural position and one of His children. It's not a position that you must climb and claw your way up to. You're already there – seated at the right hand in heavenly glory. It's the position given you by grace through faith and in baptism. The question is not "How high can you get?" But rather, how low you can go? Amen.