We are the Church. There is really nothing else quite like it. We are a living, breathing body that transcends time and space. We bring our individual gifts to bear for the good of the Church, and somehow, the Holy Spirit weaves us together in ways that bring goodness and more goodness into God’s world. It’s not something we could orchestrate even if we tried. Being a part of the Church means we regularly and intentionally choose Christ’s Way of Love as our path, and it requires that we set down the baggage we are often inclined to carry with us. In particular, we must leave behind our own sense of self-importance. And by self importance, I mean anything under the umbrella of: feeling superior to others; a sense that we are in the know when others clearly are not; when we believe we understand how things need to be done, and refuse to genuinely consider there might be other valuable points of view. When we’re caught up in our own sense of self importance, we often forget to be more curious than certain, and we lose track of the bigger picture -- God’s view. We could pretend getting caught up in our own sense of self importance is not something we have to concern ourselves with, but in an election year, nearly all of us fall prey, at least a little bit. We stop seeing our neighbors through the eyes of Christ, we forget that each person, whatever their political views, is made in the image and likeness of God. Getting caught up in our own sense of self importance is a concern that Jesus repeatedly addresses with his disciples in Mark’s gospel. Jesus is constantly holding up the bigger picture; deeply in tune with God’s vision. Meanwhile, for many of us, it is hard to sit with the ambiguity of that vision. We want a sense of order, and to know the rules of how things work. We want to be able to count on those rules, and proceed onward. We want a concrete plan of how we will get from the messy world of today, to God’s beautiful dream tomorrow. While we might see this as a shortcoming in our character, I actually think it has more to do with how we navigate living. When a little one begins to crawl and then walk, we babyproof our homes. We put up gates and soft materials over hard edges. We want to help our little one be successful as they learn to move their body independently through the world. Yet as we grow up, those physical boundaries become invisible, and we find other ways to frame and guide our lives. When we look at this week’s Gospel, we see the disciple John expressing concern about someone functioning in Jesus’ name without his permission. John and some other disciples came across an individual casting out demons, or what we might think of as offering prayers of healing. What floored them was this individual was offering these prayers in the name of Jesus - their Jesus! This was out of order, and so, they tried to stop the person. It’s curious that they actually acted. They confronted this person, presumably in public, and asked them to stop offering healing in Jesus’ name. There is a hint later in the text that those being healed were folks living on the margins, the folks so often overlooked. Which means here you have a handful of Jesus disciples, confronting someone offering healing prayers in Jesus name, because they don’t think Jesus would be okay with it. They literally tried to bring an end to healing being offered to those most in need of healing and those with the least access to healing. Such a course of action may on the surface appear to be about following the rules. In actuality, I think it was about the disciples' own false sense of self importance. After all, if anyone was going to be offering healing in Jesus' name - it should have been them! That unspoken pecking order that is so often present. Can you imagine for a moment what Jesus must have been thinking when they raised this concern? If God’s vision were a 1,000 piece puzzle, these disciples might have 10-12 pieces. Enough to get a glimpse of the bigger picture, and to give them the confidence to believe they know where it will go. Except, they are only aware of a very small piece of the whole. Which is why Jesus needed to remind his followers, one more time, that there is more at play than they realize. Jesus tells them - Don't stop him! No one who works miracles in my name will soon turn and say something bad about me. Anyone who isn't against us is for us. And anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name, just because you belong to me, will surely be rewarded (Mark 9:39-41 CEV) The person offering healing may not have been a follower of Jesus, or been given permission to offer healing in Jesus’ name. That said, the person was ministering to the people Jesus knew were the most in need of such love and care, and the individual was actively seeking to bring about good in God’s world. Jesus asks the disciples, and us, to try and appreciate the bigger picture: Whoever is not against us is for us. Jesus then makes this curious shift where he is offering a warning. The warning has often been read as Jesus warning against the perils of sexual immorality. But I’m not so sure that’s what Jesus is getting at. He is warning against the temptation to sin. But I don’t think he’s talking about the individual who John and his fellow disciples tried to stop. Rather, it would seem Jesus is warning those very disciples to not let their own sense of self importance disrupt the Way of Love at work in the world. Jesus tells the disciples: “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42 NRSV). It can be helpful to remember ‘little ones’ is a phrase that references children, as well as those most often living on the margins of society. Which is one reason why this statement seems directed at the disciples. While it may not have been their intention - the act of stopping the individual healing those living on the margins, could have caused any of those folks to lose hope, to lose faith in God. Their actions could have had devastating consequences for those living on the margins, and instead of helping God’s vision they may have caused harm. Better for them to be at the bottom of the sea than to cause such harm. Maybe this seems a bit harsh. And it certainly feels harsh when Jesus starts talking about cutting out body parts. Yet at the same time, we know that Jesus is trying, and not for the first, second, or third time, to help his disciples truly see and understand what is required of us if we are going to walk the Way of Love. We must continually set aside our sense of self importance, and stop imposing our desire for rules and order on God’s vision. This requires modifying our beliefs and cutting out harmful behaviors that interfere with bringing about God’s dream for this world. The good news is - the more frequently we recognize our self importance, when it arrives and starts to inflate, the easier it becomes to shift our beliefs and cut that behavior out, as we continue to grow and change. Most of us have had the blessing of knowing at least one person who really seems to get this. They are imperfect like the rest of us, but they navigate this life with a quiet confidence and humility. They seem to be routinely grounded in a divine peace. They know they are beloved by God, and that they have intrinsic worth and goodness to offer this world, while at the same time they are humble. While their ego might show up from time to time, it rarely seems to be driving them. These people are treasures on our journey. Not because they get it right all the time, but because they show us walking the Way of Love, however imperfectly, is possible. We’re going to make mistakes, and we are going to veer off course, but the more frequently we shift our focus back to God, the easier it gets to continually shift back to God. Our passage today ends with Jesus asking his followers to: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” We are the Church. At times our desire for rules and order will bubble up; we will get caught up in pecking orders and status symbols; and our self importance will drive our actions. And at our best, we are salty and peaceful; we move with a quiet confidence and humility; and we accept we will never fully grasp God’s dream. We are merely part of a much bigger story and we trust that the Holy Spirit is continuing to weave in ways we can scarcely imagine. As we prepare to head back out into the world today, I invite us to do some reflecting:
Amen. Lectionary Readings Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 Psalm 124 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50 Comments are closed.
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