“THE UNSEEN SEER”
MARK 9:30-37

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,
31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”
34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
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.”
36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,
37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

It happened many years ago. I was learning how to ski at the time. I had graduated from the bunny slopes but wasn’t an accomplished skier by any stretch of the imagination. That was painfully obvious one day when I went to Sunday River with a friend. We were skiing down a trail that ended at one of the detachable quads. Now people who ski know that there’s usually a big crowd at the detachable quads. That’s because those ski lifts are the fastest when it comes to getting you back up the mountain. My friend was already waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. Everything was under control until the moment came for me to stop. If you’ve never skied before I can tell you that you stop by turning your body and digging your skies into the snow. You can stop by turning to the left or you can stop by turning to the right. For some reason when I was learning how to ski I could stop by turning to the right but I couldn’t do it by turning to the left. Sure enough when the time came for me to stop a bunch of skiers on my right suddenly appeared out of no where. I panicked. “What am I going to do I?” thought. “I can’t stop by turning to my right and I don’t know how to stop by turning to my left.” My friend told me later that he kept telling himself, “He’s going to stop in a second. A couple more seconds and I know he’s going to stop.” He held on to that optimistic thought right up until the moment I plowed into him and sent him flying through the air. He landed about 10 feet away from me and he landed with a bone crunching thud. I was horrified and the first thing that went through my mind was “Oh no! All these people standing here saw me do this really stupid thing.”

Now you can laugh but I bet you can remember a time when you did something and you immediately thought to yourself, “I hope no one was watching me.”

There is, of course, one person who is always watching. The disciples found that out shortly after they got to Capernaum and Jesus asked them that question. It was a simple question. Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

It was a simple question but it was a question that embarrassed the disciples, It embarrassed the disciples because their discussion was actually an argument. It was, if you will, a Muhammad Ali argument. The disciples wanted to know which on of them was the greatest. “I’m the greatest.” “No you’re not. I’m the greatest.” “Wait a minute. How can you be the greatest when everyone knows that Jesus thinks that I’m the greatest.”
It isn’t hard to figure out what prompted all their egotistical words. The disciples were on their way to Jerusalem and they were convinced that when they got there Jesus was going to lead them to victory against the Romans. So, their argument was all about jockeying for position. Each of them wanted to be first in line when the time came to hand out all the fame and fortune.

The disciples thought they were having a private conversation but they quickly learned that Jesus sees all, hears all and knows all. I don’t know about you but I learned that simple theological truth when I was in Sunday School. In fact, I can still remember the picture that showed a boy hiding under a table. He was hiding because he had done something wrong but he couldn’t hide from the Lord. There’s a story about another little boy who knew that Jesus hears and sees and knows all. That’s why he couldn’t figure out what was going on one night when his older brother started to shout while saying his prayers. “LORD,” he shouted, “I want an X-Box, a skateboard and an iPod for Christmas.” The younger brother looked at him and asked, “Why are you shouting? Jesus isn’t deaf.” “I know,” the older brother said, “but grandma is.”
Jesus hears all, sees all and knows all. Now imagine what the world would be like if everyone took that simple theological truth seriously. We’d probably have more honesty and less greed, more compassion and less anger, more giving and less taking.
Maybe Bernie Madoff wouldn’t have stolen all that money and ruined all those life’s.
Maybe Michael Vick wouldn’t have abused those dogs.
Maybe Serena Williams wouldn’t have threatened that line judge.
Maybe Joe Wilson wouldn’t have shouted that insult at the president.

Unfortunately, Mark Twain was right. He once said that “man is the only creature that has the ability to blush and the only creature that needs to.”

Of course, Mark Twain also knew that he wasn’t an exception to that rule. When he was growing up he was walking down the street one day when he saw a cart full of melons. Since no one was looking he swiped one of the melons and then ran around the corner into an alley. As soon as he sunk his teeth into the melon though a strange feeling came over him. Twain later said, “Without a moment’s hesitation, I made my decision. I walked back to the cart, replaced the melon – and took a ripe one.”

Now I don’t know about you but that’s why I want the Lord to keep an eye on me. I know I’m not perfect and I know that I get off track from time to time. So, I want him to keep an eye on me so he can help me get back on track.
That’s what Jesus did with the disciples. That’s why he sat them down for that heart to heart talk. He told them that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Then he gave that child a hug and in doing that showed the disciples what you need to do if you really want to be great. You have to love those who are weak and unimportant. You love those who can’t help you climb the ladder of success or make you look good. You have to love people more than you love things.
Notice that Jesus didn’t lay a guilt trip on the disciples. He didn’t scold them. He didn’t send them to bed without their supper. He didn’t make them to sit down and write, “I will not be egotistical” 100 million times. Jesus wasn’t like the woman who lowered the boom when she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. The husband and wife made the news a few weeks ago after William Taylor of Centerville, Virginia was spotted wearing a sign at a busy intersection just outside Washington D.C. The sign said, “I cheated. This is my punishment.” William Taylor told a reporter that he thought his wife was kidding when she told him to wear the sign but he quickly realized she was serious. “I figured I got to do what I got to do to make things right. So here I am.” He had to stand there with that sign every morning during rush hour for an entire week.
He didn’t lower the boom on them. Instead, he sat them down for that heart to heart talk. Jesus sees all, hears all and knows all. Imagine how much better the world would be and our lives would be if everyone took that simple theological truth seriously.
Maxie Dunnam is the chancellor of Ashbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore Kentucky. In his Commentary on Galatians he tells a story about a group of people who turned their lives around when they realized that the Lord hears all sees all and knows all. It happened many years ago. At the time the American Red Cross was gathering medicine, clothing and food for the people of Biafra. The people of Biafra were suffering because of a devastating drought and on ongoing Civil War. One day while going through boxes and boxes of donations a Red Cross worker found a pile of KKK sheets. Pinned to one of the sheets was a note. Written on the note were these words: “We have recently been converted and because of our conversion we want to…help. We won’t ever need these again. Can you use them for something?” Well, those sheets were used to help the people of Biafra. They were cut into strips and used to make bandages. Think about it. What had been symbols of hatred were turned into bandages of love; all because a few people decided that the Lord was watching and wanted them to turn their lives around.
Miracles great and small happen when you make the decision to walk with the Lord who sees all, hears all and knows all. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
September 20, 2009