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Having just Jesus prophesy that he must suffer the disciples began arguing about which one of them was the greatest. It was as though they wanted to build their wall of pride as a protection against the possibility of future suffering. Fear, in other words, made them assert themselves.
Jesus invites us to drop those walls of protection so that we can welcome others. The disciples were building walls that would have limited their ability to help others. They were only interested in seeing others helped insofar as it attested to their own greatest and built their own brand.
“Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name
and we tried to prevent him
because he does not follow in our company.”
Jesus asks that we be able to welcome and embrace others whether or not they can do anything for us. We could perhaps be proud of others casting out demons as part of the same company as ours. We could welcome them for the sake of making ourselves look better since they were part of the same company. But what if they're doing good, but not in a way that automatically reflects favorably on us as well? Or what if they are children, with nothing to contribute, whose presence in our midst seems to suggest our weakness rather than anything in which we can take pride?
Fear causes us to be tribal and self-protective. We are only interested in the success of those we perceive to be in our company. And we are only interested in that as evidence that we ourselves our the greatest. Because then maybe, if we are the greatest, the suffering which Jesus predicted can be averted. It seems dangerous to drop those walls.
Our self-protective strategies are doomed to fail in the end. They might not end with great catastrophes like about which we read in the life of Job. But we know that treasure on earth cannot last. We know that those who seek to save their lives will lose them. Job shows us how to have an attitude that is able to welcome whatever the LORD permits. He himself was childlike in the face of terrible suffering. It was not easy for him, but because he allowed all that to which he clinged to be stripped from him he was able to avoid losing himself along with the world. He let himself lose his life for God's will and so regained it.
“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,
and naked shall I go back again.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!”
When we talk about letting our barriers down we are in fact talking about letting ourselves be vulnerable. And if we are vulnerable we will doubtlessly suffer on some level. But from this posture we will find the ability to embrace the whole world and whatever God might send us.
Show your wondrous mercies,
O savior of those who flee
from their foes to refuge at your right hand.
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