Bridge Street United Church

In the lesson from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus challenges the expectations of his disciples in two different areas—their expectations about the Messiah and their expectations about the value of a child. In regard to the former, he challenged the expectation of the Jewish tradition of his day about who the Messiah was and what the Messiah would do. The notion that the Messiah would suffer and die ran counter to what the disciples expected; indeed, it seemed incomprehensible. He also challenged the prevailing view of his society about the value of a child. Jesus’ world was one in which children had little value. They were “adults in preparation,” one might say, and they were certainly seen as possessions of their father.

But Jesus’ words also represented challenging expectations for those who would be his followers, challenging in terms of what would be expected of those who would be his followers. This week’s sermon will explore some challenging expectations this passage suggests for us in our time, both the way in which some of our expectations are challenged and the way in which we may find following Jesus in our day to be highly challenging.

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The book of Genesis contains two accounts of the creation of the world, the first running from Genesis 1:1 – 2:3. In chapter one, verses twenty-six through thirty-one, this account makes one of Scripture’s most consequential claims about we human beings, namely that we are created in the image of God. Unquestionably, these verses give human beings a special or “higher” place in the created order than other creatures, an understanding found elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Psalm 8, a passage we shall also read during this Sunday’s worship service). With that “special or ‘higher’ place” also comes increased responsibility, even if we have not always exercised that.

But what do these verses about our creation as human beings, and most especially our creation “in the image of God,” say to us as we live in early twenty-first century Canada, a world that seems so very far away from the Biblical world in which this understanding first circulated? This week’s sermon will explore some aspects of that question.

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