In our house we have three ladders and two step stools, and one of those fold up things that goes to the attic.
Lots of ways to climb up to different high up spots.
It is interesting how ladders are usually associated with climbing up more so than climbing down, though, on a good day, I usually climb back down the same way I went up.
I’ve been thinking about climbing, the relentless drive to get up higher.
One of the fun things I do each week as I mull over the scriptures is that I look for images that reflect some aspect of the lessons for that week.
I went looking for images of ladders, and almost all of the images were of people climbing up.
The image of a ladder is applied to careers, to self improvement, to physical health, to finances, to emotional well being and to God.
There is even an early church document called the Ladder of Divine Ascent.
The Gospel lesson today calls into question our human quest for climbing up.
Imagine a carton of the apostles all climbing up a ladder to the sky, and right next to it there is another ladder with Jesus climbing down and they are passing each other by, and the apostles and Jesus say to one another, “Hey, which way are you going?”
Jesus has taken the disciples to be alone for a time for them to learn and he tells them again that he is to be betrayed and killed and raised up. They don’t understand, they are quiet and afraid to ask, and then on the way home they argue amongst themselves who is the greatest, and Jesus tells them the first must be last and servant of all, and that whoever welcomes a child in his name welcomes Jesus and the one who sent him..
The disciples keeping coming off looking thick headed, not understanding what it means to follow a messiah who is betrayed, rejected and killed. They look for ways to be important and powerful and influential instead.
I have always found great comfort in the Apostles being thick headed, I know I am in good company.
What Jesus is trying to communicate to us is something very different than what is normal to us, it is foreign and contrary to what we know.
Jesus is telling us that the way up-is down.
We are use to climbing up.
And he says no we need to follow him down the ladder.
Young children in the first century had no legal or moral status, they were not worthy of notice- yet. This is hard for us to understand today. They were largely invisible, not seen or heard. Today we romanticize children and we about kill one another over who is responsible for a child’s wellbeing, even in health care, we are at one another’s throats over how to better care for the children of our country. We don’t agree on how to do it but we all recognize the nightmare and shame of our Country’s and especially our State of SC’s extremely high infant mortality rates. We all agree that thousands of dead children are worth arguing about. I find this encouraging.
This would not have been a burning issue in the first century. Children weren’t even considered to have gender yet, they were more of an it than a she or a he.
So when Jesus takes the child in his arms and tells the disciples that whoever welcomes one such child in Jesus name, welcomes not only Jesus but the one who sent Jesus, the very God, what he has done is to say that to follow Jesus is to pay attention to those who are not noticed, or valued, all those who are invisible without status or voice.
You know the old saying that you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep? To be in the company of the great is to be great, to be in the company of those without honor or value is to be without honor or value.
So Jesus is playing on that ancient honoring system of the company we keep. If we want to be in the company of the truly Great, the Lord God Almighty, then we are to be in the company of those without power, the invisible ones, because, and this is key, that is where God is to be found.
Do we want to be in God’s company? Then we must climb down the ladder.
The way up is down.
This is the classic understanding of discipleship, of following Jesus, of repenting of our ladder climbing propensities, and start exercising another set of muscles, the muscles of descending, and seeking out the forgotten.
This is called the way of the cross for a reason. There is a reason Jesus speaks of being rejected and killed. This descending ladder is contrary to our nature and our culture. It leads to a conflict, it leads to being unprotected before the powerful, who can devastate the lives of others, often deliberately but usually without even noticing, accidentally.
Discipleship can be like trying to walk across an eight lane interstate highway, full of large cars and trucks going eighty miles an hour, while all the drivers are distracted with holding cell phones to their ears. People are not run over on purpose, they are run over because there is no alternative. That is the conflict discipleship leads toward.
It is important that we always remember that we worship and follow a Messiah who was rejected, and killed for a reason, and it is also important to remember that he rose on the third day, the way of the Cross is stronger than the powers of sin and death that run us down.
This also reveals something important about who God is, about what God is like, Jesus reveals the God who descends, who sees the unseen, who acts on their behalf, God’s nature is to pour out God’s life so that others might have life, to forsake freedom so that others may be free, to descend so that we, the fallen, may ascend.
We follow and worship the God who is redemptive, who sets us free from all that enslaves and devours and Jesus is that redeeming love descending into our lives.
This is what love is, this is what love is like, and this is where we find our life’s work and calling, and the very God that we worship.
Which way to climb?
Which way is up?