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{"id":8868,"date":"2024-09-17T04:39:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T08:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=8868"},"modified":"2024-09-18T07:32:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T11:32:52","slug":"servants-most-vulnerable-part1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2024\/09\/servants-most-vulnerable-part1\/","title":{"rendered":"Servants of the Most Vulnerable, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our subject this week is being servants to the vulnerable, and 0ur reading this week is from the gospel of Mark:<\/p>\n

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, \u201cThe Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.\u201d But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.<\/p>\n

Welcome Readers! <\/i><\/b>Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, \u201cWhat were you arguing about on the road?\u201d But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.<\/p>\n

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, \u201cAnyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.\u201d He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, \u201cWhoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.(Mark 9:30-37)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s quite a bit for us to unpack this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, our reading affirms the resurrection in a way that the Markan community for whom this version of the Jesus story was written would have expected. In this narrative, Jesus knew he was going to be resurrected all along. It was only the disciples that didn\u2019t understand what was going to happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what grabs my attention most in our reading this week is the argument by the disciples over who was the greatest disciple of Jesus\u2019 and how Jesus responded. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus turns our hierarchical ways of structuring our communities upside down. He is a genuine anarchist in the truest definition of the term: one opposed to hierarchal ways of structuring society. What our passage also reveals is that the Markan community must have needed to address this issue. I can easily imagine debates in the early Jesus movement\u00a0 <\/span>after Jesus\u2019 death over who was the greatest of his disciples, especially as some of them competed for positions of power and influence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s gospel doesn\u2019t completely eliminate hierarchical structure here, but instead defines leadership in the community as about serving community needs, not simply holding a position of power over others. We find this echoed in other parts of the Christian scriptures:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ\u2019s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God\u2019s flock that is under your care, watching over them\u2014not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you<\/i>, but being examples to the flock.\u201d (1 Peter 5:1-3, emphasis added.)<\/p>\n

I do want to offer a word of caution here. We\u2019ll begin with that next.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Read Part 2<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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