Tree Fort Theology

Gospel: Mark 9: 30-37 

If a neighborhood has a tree fort, inevitably children will create a club for this tree fort.  They will define membership as to who belongs and who does not, and for a while they will have meetings in the club.  And just as inevitably the club will come to dissolution over who is in charge and who is most important.  Based on this dispute, the membership rules will be modified to exclude those on the opposite side of the dispute, and further splintering will make the original club nonexistent.  

Does all this sound familiar? In today's Gospel Jesus rebukes his disciples for having this very dispute as to who was most important, a dispute that will be repeated in every time and place in Church life.  Is it any wonder people do not take the life of religion seriously when most of our energy is devoted to the retention of power and so little to the work of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus went about caring for those in need and solely for that purpose.  He avoided crowds and commanded no one spread news about the miracles he performed.  The miracles were solely for the help of those in need.  If we imitate the work of the Lord Jesus and devote ourselves entirely to the care and love of others, then the disputes of the self-important will not consume us and lead us to ruin.