Readings: Psalm 124, Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22, James 5:13-20 , Mark 9:38-50
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, September 26 2021
Church communities are fascinating institutions. Particularly Presbyterian ones. Our structure includes a lot of checks and balances. We have processes we follow through and sometimes we find it hard to make decisions. I sometimes find myself saying, “Well, I'd like to help with that, I think it is a great idea, but we'd have to run it past, the such and such team, and it will need to be approved by Session.
Sometimes people presume that because you are the pastor, that you have total control over every single thing that happens in the church. That has never been the Presbyterian way! We strive for democracy and community and hesitate to give any one person (or even any group of people) total authority in deciding what the mission of our church should be. We believe that discerning the way the Holy Spirit is leading us should be a group effort. We try and allow God to be in charge of what we do in Jesus name.
That kind of questioning “Who’s in charge when it comes to what goes on in Jesus name?” is the same kind of questioning that our bible reading from Mark places before us. Here is the situation. The disciples have their heads full of questions. Questions about what sort of Messiah Jesus would turn out to be. Questions about what true greatness looked like.
John’s got all these question marks swirling around in his head, so he goes off for a walk on his own, to try and get focused. He turns a corner and encounters a group of people doing an exorcism for some poor tormented soul. John’s thinking, “I know about this stuff. Seen Jesus do it a few times.” He’s ready to offer his expert advice.
As he approaches, he hears them praying. They are praying, “Help this person, In Jesus name… help him…Lord, in the name of Jesus.” And the person is responding. They are looking calmer. Something good is happening here!
This makes Johns’ blood boil. Who do these people think they are? He didn’t recognize any of them and they didn’t seem to realize just how important he was! “I’m a disciple of Jesus don’t you know!” So John gives them a mouthful of bad advice and then heads off to find Jesus. Jesus would put them right. How dare they!
The reply John receives from Jesus totally confounds him. "Do not forbid them; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us.”
Do you see what is going on here? It is a control issue. John thinks he should be in control. He is not, so he calls on Jesus to control the situation. Jesus, in effect tells him that there was nothing to control… because God was already in control of the whole situation. In fact, Jesus sees possibilities where John could only problems! Jesus suggests that wherever loving service is being expressed then people are opening up for themselves a real possibility of encountering God’s love.
This was not something to get mad about but something to be glad about. “John, don’t you get it?” “He that is not against us is for us.” Anything other than outright opposition to the Kingdom was something that favored the growth of the Kingdom.
Such did nothing for John’s personal rewards account or enhance his reputation as being the greatest disciple whoever walked on the planet, but “John, do you see… it’s not about you…”, it is not even about Jesus… it’s about God’s will being done, about God’s love not just being spoken about but acted upon. “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.”
Who’s in charge? You know that very statement is all about issues of control. That’s what this passage is about. And you know what? I do not mind being in control when things go well. I don't mind taking the credit when something good happens. When I meet other pastors and they say, “How are things going?” I can say, “Pretty well actually, I” (meaning probably some of you) “just finished this project or took this action.” If I needed a resume, then I would welcome things that would look good on my resume.
I’d meet Saint Peter at the gates of glory, and he’d smile and say “C’mon on in Saint Adrian of Bridgehampton, here are the keys to your mansion... We are so pleased and privileged to have you grace heaven with your presence.”
You see I think that is what John was expecting from Jesus. That as he had rebuked those ignorant disciples for using Jesus name, Jesus was going to slap him on the back and say, “Good job. You can sit with me at supper tonight. I’ll reserve a special table just for us!”
Instead, Jesus turns the whole thing around and calls us to examine our own personal control issues. First off, he chastises John for the potential damage he had done to those who were taking their first steps in discovering the power of His name. To discourage those who were just starting out on the road of discipleship was a terrible thing. Verse 42: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea."
It is a harsh picture, but a necessary one. It is important that we realize how damaging our proud and unfaithful actions can be to those who are just starting out to find faith. I have heard too many stories of folk who started to go to churches and then, when they tried to suggest something or sought to understand something, some “know it all” church member cut them down and belittled them so completely that they never came through the door again.
We can be so proud. So insensitive. So judgmental. So controlling of others and not in control of ourselves. Jesus then turns the spotlight on our darkness with a glaring intensity. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,”
When people look at this verse they invariably pick on the wrong things. Cutting off hands and feet, gouging out eyes, what kind of talk is that? We need to come at it from a different angle. It is a verse about sin and the avenues through which sin comes into our lives. Remember what has just happened? John is standing there before Jesus feeling as tiny as an ant at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He thought he was doing right, and he was shown to have been doing everything wrong because of his misplaced pride.
Here’s Jesus saying, “John, if you want to control something, then work on controlling yourself.” Sin, in these verses, is attached to hands, feet and eyes. Hands, feet and eyes have to do with what we touch, where we travel and what we see.
Remember as a kid going shopping and your mum or dad would say, “You can look but don’t touch?” “But mum I want too”… crash… “I thought I told you!” Remember somebody said “Listen, you don’t want to go there. If you do there will be trouble!” and you went there and you got into trouble! You know how temptation gets at us. We look. We desire. We want it. We cannot live without it. Next minute we are in deeper than we can handle.
Another way of phrasing “Cut it Off” is to say, “Cut it Out.” It is as though we are complaining to God that we have a problem with this or that sin and God tells us loud and clear “So don’t touch it, so don’t go there, so don’t look at that! So, don't do that! Cut it out!” Cut it out. Change the way you are doing things and you will not be in the situation that causes you to fall. Refocus. Redirect your path. Get some hands-on experience of something that causes you to be a positive influence rather than something that causes you to sin.
Better that than to be thrown into hell “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Did you notice the worm in that verse? Or rather to whom the worm belongs? Listen again, verse 47, ‘their worm does not die’. Whose worm? The person who insists on carrying with their destructive habits and fails to deal with the sin that is eating them alive.
Sin is like a tape worm. It clings inside us. The more we feed it the more it grows. It ruins our appetite. It saps our vitality. It takes away our taste. It makes us sick and unable to function in the way we were created to. Tape worms are personal. They do not eat somebody else. If you want to get rid of them, you take care of it. You get it removed and you are careful to watch what you consume.
Jesus concludes His talk with a word of encouragement. “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." In the context of His conversation with John He is saying, “John you messed up, learn from your mistake. You are like salt in the world. You are, by your actions bringing my Kingdom to others. Do not lose that. Let me burn away what is bad, and let’s all move on… together… in peace… being who we are meant to be.
Who's in charge? Our Presbyterian system, with its checks and balances, seeks to ensure that God is in charge, seeks to allow God's Spirit to work through us as a community.
We try to recognize that everybody has something to offer and even if things are not being done in precisely the way we have always done them, if the name of Jesus is being honored, then we are on the right track!
Our calling as individuals, as the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, as part of the a worldwide community of Presbyterian Churches (and churches of all denominations) is to lay our lives before Jesus Christ as a response to the tremendous love He has shown by laying down His life on the Cross, to seek daily to live as disciples of the Kingdom and seek to be a means of resurrection life to others, all in Jesus name.
To God's name be all the glory. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
No comments:
Post a Comment