Readings for Pentecost 16

Jeremiah 11:18-20

James 3:13-4:10

Mark 9:30-37

Passage for meditation:  Mark 9:35  And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

Devotion:  Humble pie is a hard pie to swallow.  There’s not too much more humiliating than being shown up by someone younger than you.

Guys- you know how that goes.  You’ve been playing basket ball for years and aren’t too shabby.  Along comes a kid who is half your age and runs circles around you on the court dunking over your head while not even breaking a sweat.

Ladies- you know too.  You’ve been faithfully raising your children, fixing meals, getting them to school- keeping the house from falling apart at the seams.  Then comes the young mom down the street who grows her own organic vegetables, raises free range chickens, home schools her four kids plus watches three others all while running a successful home business.

It’s hard to be humbled by someone younger.

In Mark’s gospel, it’s not the child that Jesus takes in his arms that humbles the disciples.  It’s Jesus who is serving up the humble pie.  He challenges and changes their preconceived ideas about who is important- for them, it’s not just the adults, those who can contribute to the ministry.  It’s the children, those who are dependent and helpless on their own who are also important in God’s eyes.

Jesus serves up a warm slice of humble pie.  He brings the disciples low- but for the purpose of shaping them more into his image.  He brings them low to raise them up- that they may be conformed to God’s will that they might live lives of service to even the” least of these”.

He brings us low and raises us up too.  By the humiliation of the cross which he endured for us and for our sin, we ought to be humbled by the price he paid for us.  By the glorious empty tomb and his raising from the dead, we too ought to be raised up in the promise of the forgiveness of our sin.  By our baptism into Jesus death and resurrection and our daily remembrance, we are called to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will and does raise us up.