(Mark 9:30-37)

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Doctor.
Doctor who?
Yes.
(from Vicar of Dibley)

Michael has lived around or by the church for a number of years. He and I were having a conversation; nearby was a man lying down by the gate. I went simply to check whether he was breathing or whether he was dead and then I left him assuming that he was sleeping off some drink. I returned to my conversation with Michael. Meanwhile, someone from down the street went by, saw the man lying down and called an ambulance. The ambulance arrived took the man away and I was left still talking to Michael. I wondered whether I had become like the Pharisee or priest in the story of the Good Samaritan walking by on the other side. I did not do that much better half an hour later when I wanted to go into the church. There was someone sitting on the church step warming a needle with matches before injecting himself with heroin. He was jittery, frightened, polite and nervous. We talk about what has happened that day as if what he was doing was straightforward and normal. I made no attempt to talk to him about what he was doing and why he was doing it.

The beauty of this passage today is that ultimately if I did get things wrong then it does not matter. The good news of Christianity is that we are forgiven in Christ – it does not matter if we make mistakes…it is easier to say sorry than to ask permission…Don’t always worry and live your life too carefully…I have finished my first year here and I am needing people to come along and have a go.

The disciples in this story get things wrong. They are at home in Capernaum, maybe even in Jesus' own home (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1; Luke 4:23). They did not know how to deal with Jesus' death or with their own. Jesus was telling them to expect his betrayal and death; they were thinking about their place in the kingdom.  Denial had set in - Jesus asks them about the arguments he had overheard among them as they had travelled.  Guilt must have flooded over all of them, and they responded like school children caught breaking the rules. Jesus' question provokes an embarrassing silence, making it clear that the disciples understand the inappropriateness of their conversation. 

Jesus uses the image of the child to subvert their question about the power and prestige they will have in the Kingdom of Heaven. The idea of the child (in Jewish society without legal status or social standing) itself, throws the focus on power as vulnerability rather than as strength. The image of the child challenges me because the child would have been more startled, more intrigued and more amazed than I was about someone lying down fast asleep on their front drive. Maybe after a year in Shepherds Bush I have become apathetic.