“Muscular Christianity Is an Oxymoron”

Mark 9:33-37

Philippians 2:3a: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit…

Mark 9:35b: Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.

[prayer]

Being childlike is one thing; being childish is something else altogether. To be childlike is to be curious, energetic, innocent, open, and vulnerable. To be childish is to be selfish, whiney, stubborn, and sometimes just plain mean. Childlike is good. Childishness is not.

In today’s text the disciples have been caught in the act of being childish. Like sneaky little kids talking behind the teacher’s back they were whispering back and forth among themselves as they followed along after Jesus. Unlike a modern teacher who might stop teaching and ask those who are whispering if they’d like to share with the class, Jesus let them jabber on until they got where they were going. Then he asked them what all the bickering had been about.

Embarrassed they said nothing. Not one peep. But Jesus knew what all the whispering was about. The disciples had been discussing – make that arguing - among themselves about who was going to sit where in relation to the Messiah in the realized Kingdom of God. They had not yet grasped the reality that this Kingdom wasn’t going to be an earthly kingdom. Jesus wasn’t going to rule the world from a throne in Jerusalem. They were not going to serve in the King’s cabinet. There would be no new Israelite Empire as in the days of David and Solomon. Nor would Israel rise up and defeat the Romans politically, economically, or through some sort of mighty military victory. There would be no first century equivalent of shock and awe.

Be that as it may they stubbornly hung on to the notion that they had hooked their wagons to a star. They were, at least in their own minds, headed to the top of the heap. They were already competing for the choice assignments. Each and every one of them hoped to be the Lord’s number one right hand man. They were confusing grandness with greatness, the exercise of spiritual authority with the use of raw power.

This squabble would continue right up until just before the Last Supper. There they fought over which one of them got to sit on the right hand of Jesus as they celebrated Passover. They were shamelessly ambitious; not to mention a wee bit grandiose.

Jesus called them on it. He made it clear that leadership in the Kingdom of God was going to involve humility and servanthood not power and status. There was to be no top of the heap. There wasn’t even going to be a heap. Competitiveness and ambition would have no place in the Kingdom. Nor would conceit. There would be no top spot, no window office, no first chair, and no first class in the Kingdom.

Basically Jesus was telling them to get over themselves, to stop it with all the childishness. In fact, instead of being childish, he cautioned them on at least one occasion to be to be childlike: vulnerable and powerless. In the first century children were among the most vulnerable people in every society, in every culture. They had no rights, no vote, no income, no property, no power, no authority. They could not choose for themselves or even defend themselves. They lived or died at the whim of their parents and other adults.

Jesus then took a child in his arms and told those bickering, competitive, misguided disciples that welcoming such a powerless, vulnerable person was the same as welcoming him and the One who sent him. Jesus made it clear that following him required a willingness to stoop to the level of a child and be a servant to the most vulnerable people in society. He would later act out such stooping and serving as he washed the filthy feet of his disciples on the night of his betrayal.

That same night he refused to let them wash his feet. The servanthood he demonstrated on their behalf betrayed no hidden agenda. He didn’t serve them with an expectation that they would serve him in return. He didn’t expect any kind of reward or reciprocation. He was simply giving them an up close and personal lesson in humility, vulnerability, and servanthood.

He, the Suffering Servant Messiah, was setting an example for those disciples. He was setting an example for those of us who today call ourselves Christians today. If Christ’s Body, his Church, is truly going to carry out his mission on earth, then that Church – you and I – must be willing to become a Suffering Servant Church.

Walter Brueggemann puts it another way. He describes the towel and the basin as the tools of discipleship. It was with a towel and basin that Jesus stooped to serve his disciples. Down on his knees, washing their feet, he took on the humiliating role of a lowly slave. Down on his knees he made himself vulnerable to a kick in the face.

The towel and basin: these are our tools. They serve as symbols of what discipleship truly is: following Jesus in the way of the cross. The towel and basin also remind us that our only source of power and authority is our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he alone is our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and Deliverer. They remind us that the Kingdom is advanced only by speaking and living out the Gospel. They remind us that the fruit of the Spirit is love not hate, joy not bitterness, and peace not violence - patience not pushiness, kindness not harshness, and generosity not selfishness - faithfulness to God alone not the gods of this world, gentleness not roughness, and control of self not the control of others.

In the words of William Barclay’s translation of the third Beatitude, our gentleness is to be our strength. While we are called to share the Gospel boldly and powerfully with everybody, we are not allowed to impose it on anybody. We are to invite people to Christ, to ask them to join us in the Kingdom of God. We do not shanghai anyone into the faith.

On more than one occasion in recent years I’ve come across the term muscular Christianity. It’s a term used in evangelical circles within the context of getting out the votes, electing the right people, and making sure that right- thinking judges get appointed. It’s all about flexing our political and financial muscles in order to reclaim America for Christ and restore Christianity to its rightful place in society.

I find no fault with the motives behind such thinking. I share the feelings of frustration. Our narcissistic culture is going to hell in a hand basket. If ever America really was a Christian nation, it isn’t anymore. Morality has gone into the toilet. Ethics have taken a backseat to profits. If it feels good, do it. If it’ll make a buck, sell it. Drugs, abortions, and pornography are all big businesses. Our national motto seems to have been stolen from the Oakland Raiders: “Just win, baby!” Do whatever you have to do and use whomever you have to use to get to the top.

That’s the cultural mindset we encounter every day. But are we really supposed to counter such a mindset by adopting its methodology. That’s what the Devil invited Jesus to do in the wilderness: feed the hungry by way magic tricks, awe the populace with publicity stunts, rule the world the way the Romans do. Those were the temptations.

Jesus didn’t buy into the Devil’s methodology then; we should guard against buying into it now. We must not forget that our only Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ – not political power or social status. We will never advance the Kingdom of God by using the tools and rhetoric of the kingdom of this world. We cannot outfight, outspend, out scheme, or outmuscle the Devil. We cannot make our culture Christian by force. That’s the way other religions do it. It is not the way of Christ.

If we are to have within us the same mind that was in Jesus – if gentleness really is our strength – if we’re going to be first by being last – if we are to win by losing – if we are to imitate our Lord’s humility, vulnerability, and servanthood – if the tools of discipleship are the towel and basin, then muscular Christianity is an oxymoron, you know, like giant shrimp.

Our only model for dealing with culture is Jesus, the One who really did stoop to conquer, the One who did give up the prerogatives of heaven to become one of us, the One who taught us to turn the other cheek and forgive seventy times seven. Do we seriously think that he would approve of this so-called muscular Christianity that some of us wish to exercise?

I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. Not if we take seriously the words of our Lord: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Amen.