Pentecost 16

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 16
PROPER: 21B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 28, 2003

TEXT: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 – “And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.”

ISSUE: This passage is talking about the absolute necessity of faith and loyalty to our Lord, leaving the garbage dump of life behind. It is about moving on with Christ in as full a way as we can. Grasp for the future. Run for the prize. Seek renewed vision. Accept new leadership.
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There have been essentially two sermons that have been difficult to plan and proclaim. I remember well my first Sunday at St. John’s on a Sunday in November of 1969. I couldn’t imagine, at the time, what I was going to say and what would be acceptable to a group of people that I did not know, except for a few vestry persons that I knew only through brief acquaintances and meeting where what we were all doing was to try and impress one another. The second most difficult has been what to say as we wind things up together. We all know that all good things do have to come to an end sometime, and that’s the way of life. Over the years, we have often worried about the parish when one of its active members dies. “St. John’s will never be the same,” some of us have said in our grief. But the fact of the matter is, things carry on by the very grace of God.
Well, when all else fails, I think, for this last time together, I’ll just talk with you about the Gospel and the Scripture readings, which have been my custom for many years. Life will go on, and we can’t miss the shear enjoyment and blessing of the Gospel of our Lord on this Sunday. And incidentally, this Gospel reading from Mark today is something of a challenge, but a profound way in which Jesus urges all of his disciples to learn to leave behind anything that separates them from him, and to continue their lives, their faith, and their ministries in constant faithful loyalty.
Last week there was concern among Jesus’ disciples over who was the greatest. Jesus’ response was to become identified as a vulnerable child and to serve all God’s children as brothers and sisters in the world. But you know the disciples often come across as dense. They just don’t always get the message, or they are quick to forget, like so many of us. Actually, the passage likely reflects some early factions within the very early church that were of concern as to their orthodoxy or legitimacy. That concern is reflected in this event where close disciples of Jesus challenge the right of others to speak in the name of Jesus.
The disciples in this passage come to Jesus concerned that another folk healer or exorcist is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It is as if they think that the message, teaching, healing ministry of Jesus is already copyrighted. Obviously here the disciples still see themselves as part of a very unique community of Jesus, even if he does not want them to take on governmental positions in the Kingdom of God. He taught them that who was the greatest didn’t matter at all. What mattered was to be in the service of God’s caring and love.
In the passage from the Book of Numbers, which Mark may well have had in mind, Moses becomes very distressed that as he has led the people of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage, the people begin to complain. They are tired of the manna that God has provided. It would be better to be back in Egypt with the leaks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and garlic were provided for free. There had been a good time when the Israelites first came to Egypt under the leadership of Joseph. But time passed, and Joseph died, and their life in Egypt turned sour. They forgot that the food was for free, because they were slaves and badly oppressed. Funny how people even today like to reminisce about the good old days. Remember the good old days? The good old days were the crash of 29, and the deep recession of 39. World War II, the Korean conflict, the creation, making, and using the Atomic Bomb, the civil rights turmoil and riots, Vietnam that turned out to be horrible a disaster, the old Prayer Book in Elizabethan English that contained few of the liturgies we have come to cherish today. They were the good old days? Moses with the help of God was made to realize that new leadership had to be developed, and the load had to be shared, so seventy prophets or disciples were appointed and the Spirit of God came upon them, and they carried on a ministry with Moses. Outside the camp were two others, Eldad and Medad, and they were not with the other seventy, but they too received the Spirit of God. The seventy prophets wanted Moses to stop them. But, Moses said, “Would that all of God’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them all.” You can’t turn back to the good old day, and truly they weren’t that good anyway.
Jesus says “no” to this very concept of thinking that only certain people have the Spirit, the gnosis, and some secret exclusive knowledge of all that God has to say. If Judaism can cast out demons, and liberate people and share the love of God, leave them alone. Rejoice in that. If Islam can proclaim a God of love, care, and compassion of God; then recognize that the Spirit of God may be working there in ways we do not understand. If some Christian Pentecostal group is serving human need rejoice in God’s all encompassing presence in the world. The issue seems to be that Jesus wants his disciples to stop worrying about others, and keep focused on their own mission and calling as the disciples of God to all that are vulnerable and live into their own calling that leads to and encompasses the Kingdom of God, the Realm of God, the Dominion of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ve often thought that when we start worrying about what’s going on in someone else’s household, and presume to place judgment, we’d better be looking at what’s going on in our own household, which may be why Jesus starts talking to his own disciples about dealing with their own issues.
Scholars are inclined to believe that the reference here of not giving a cup of cold water to these little ones may not only refer to other disciples but to the abuse of children and slaves. It’s better to have a millstone (a form of capital punishment) `hung around your neck than to abuse a child. If your hand, foot, or eye, causes you to stumble by using your power over a child or anyone else, it would be better that they be cut off. The hand, foot (penis), and eye were sexual euphemisms at the time this passage was written, but the passage can also be interpreted as allowing ourselves to be freed from anything that makes us less than human.
The impact of this part of the passage is that the disciples, and the membership of the church are not to live in the ‘garbage dump,’ translated hell, where the maggots (worms never die) are, and the fires outside the villages never go out. Like the bad son in the story of the Prodigal Son, he came to his senses and decided to get out of the pigpen. Don’t turn back to the ways of the past and become caught up in a culture that is unseemly, in human, and is in a desperate need for change. Abuse is essentially anyway in which a person in power or position uses that power or position to humiliate or fail to respect the dignity of another human being. You cannot abuse another person and see them as you equal, or serve them at the same time. The garbage dump is also a place where we get rid of the things of the past that are worn out and finished.
The Israelites had to learn to cut themselves off from Egypt and go forward to their promised land. They had to learn to look forward to their future. The leeks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and the garlic were remembered with affection, but they were actually living in a world of bondage. They realized that with Moses help that it was time to move ahead and develop new leadership whose aim was for the Promised Land. There has to be a breaking away from the old ways even for Jesus’ own that they too keep themselves detached from the stifling way of the world, its corrupted culture, and make the appropriate changes the would make them instruments of preparing for the Realm of God, where there is no abuse, power hungry people bullies. Again it is the realm of being in the service of God. Whatever it is that is making you cling and hold on to the past - hand, foot, or eye – cut it off and move on to the glory of God and to the welcoming of all into God’s Kingdom. If you are holding on too hard to the past, you have to let go. If your foot is caught in the door, you’ll have to take off the hinges. If your eyes are only focused on the past, and you have no vision for the future; you’d better get a new pair of glasses. It is only in the march and the parade with Christ that encompasses many servant leaders that we find a meaningful future.
Recently in the news there was told a very dramatic story of a young man that had gone hiking in some beautiful western canyons where he was also climbing. A rock dislodged and caught his arm. He struggled for hours to free himself. He was hopelessly trapped. Finally he realized that his only way out of this predicament was to cut off his arm with a not so sharp penknife he carried in his pocket. Once painfully released he walked for miles before being found by strangers who summoned saving help.
So it is when we seem to be trapped by certain things in our lives. We have to cut ourselves off from what holds us: addiction, bullying, manipulation, pride, or abusing others. Change, renewal, breaking free is sometimes very painful, very risky at the least. Yet the Spirit of God is out there to rescue, to reclaim us to be our future hope. It is painful for us to now cut ourselves off from one another. As imperfect as it was, we can cherish the past, so long as we know that what lies ahead is what is really important. I am so very grateful and honored by the love you all have given to me, and the esteem in which many of you have and do hold my ministry here at St. John’s. But it is time now to make the break, to cut off the relationship. It is time to focus on the future and what God is calling both you as a parish, and me as a retired priest to be in the future world. Know well that Medad and Eldad are out there somewhere full of the loving Spirit of God. There are other priests and prophets bearing the Spirit of God, which will bring to you as much and even more than I have been able to give. Like Moses, after 40 years in the wilderness, I’ve gotten tired. There are other prophets and priests greatly skilled and talented in a whole variety of ways that will be there for you.
And so my dear folks, friends, parishioners, remain faithful, deeply committed, and always loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ alone, his way, his truth, and his life teachings. Let nothing separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Keep washing one another’s feet. Keep drinking from the same cup.
Thursday, September 25, 2003Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)