Real Life Lives Beyond Our Tribes

Mark 9:38-50

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

“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. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 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.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

John said to Jesus, ‘teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t following us. He wasn’t one of us. He wasn’t doing it the same as us. He wasn’t part of our tribe.’ We live as tribal people. I am of the tribe of Karas... the American, Swedish, Czech and Scotch-Irish tribes too. I am of the Black Bear and Wolfpack tribes. I am of the Lutheran and the Episcopalian tribes. I belong to the scientist tribe and the clergy tribe. I am of the white, straight, male tribe and Jesus… Jesus called his disciples, calls me, calls you and calls EVERYONE to leave our tribal lives and walk into a new life in Christ… a life which has the power to unite all that has ever been torn apart by the destructive tribalism of race, gender, country, position, wealth, power and all the rest because real life… REAL life… lives beyond our tribes. 

“But Jesus”, we say, “We love our tribes!” I know I do! My N.C. State Wolfpack… My Maine Black Bears… the college of my heart always! We love our tribes because they help us know where we fit. At the retreat I just went to before vacation all the priests introduced themselves by describing their tribes! I told them I’m of the Lutheran tribe, came from the Maine Diocese tribe and the New England Synod tribe, was educated by the Southern Seminary tribe. Our tribes help us feel comfortable, familiar and safe… help us feel at home… help define where we fit. I go here. You fit there. This goes before that. That goes right here and the other thing goes over there. So why, if our tribes help us describe who we are, is Jesus calling us out of our tribal lives?  

Because, REAL life lives beyond our tribes. Jesus calls us out of tribalism because tribalism, even with all it’s comforting aspects, ultimately holds us back from walking into the full, REAL, life we were created to live. Tribalism, the openly sinister kinds like white nationalism, but even the more comfortable kinds like patriotism, ultimately divide us rather than unite us. So, Jesus tells us, staying stuck in our tribes inevitably feels like hell because our tribes are simply not where we were made to belong… because we belong together!  

Now, in this lesson Jesus acknowledges leaving our tribes is no easy thing. Leaving our tribes will likely feel as wonderful as cutting off our hand. It will probably feel as pleasant as gouging out our eye or cutting off our foot. Which is one of the reasons being challenged to give up old hierarchies and patterns and tribes makes us writhe and squirm and troll and fight in ugly and illogical ways… we fight to maintain our position within our tribes because the tribal life is at least a KNOWN life, whereas this new life Jesus calls us into is in that nebulous region called “faith.” We’re afraid that giving up our place… our position… our tribe… will be the end of life as we know it… and you know why it feels that way? Because giving all that up IS the end of life as we know it AND yet… REAL life lives beyond our tribes.

In this Gospel, Jesus tells us that as painful and fearful and agonizing as it is to leave our tribal lives, that pain is really NOTHING compared to staying stuck where we are. Because down there at the bottom of that dug-in tribal trench… that’s where distrust, hate, anger and venom for those outside our tribe festers… that’s where all the bile and rage for those who challenge our tribe’s place burns. Down in that trench it burns like a fire from the outside and it eats at us like a worm from the inside. 

Our REAL life… the life God created us to live, is not down in that dug-in, festering trench. Our REAL life is experienced out of the trenches of tribalism, walking with Jesus, hand in hand, arm in arm with the rest of creation as equals. This doesn’t demand we give up our individuality or the things that give spice to our lives… things like our families or our traditions or our favorite dishes. It doesn’t mean giving up our cherished customs or even our favorite sports-ball teams… they all have a place. These things can and do add a wonderful and beautiful SPICE to this meal of life Jesus is calling us to share, but they simply can’t be our main meal. Our REAL life lives beyond our tribes. There, around THAT table, where as equals, we eat the bread and share the wine. THAT’S the main meal! In different times and different places and with different friends, that meal is spiced in different ways and that’s a beautiful and wonderful thing! Here we use a little Lutherpalian-fusion seasoning, across the street they like a UCC dry rub, and down the other way they use a Roman Catholic marinade! All those different spices are fantastic! After all, as Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us!”

We’re all painfully aware of what it looks like as people try to rabidly hold on to the old hierarchies of their tribalism, the hierarchies that pit one group of people over another. It looks like hell!  The white tribe over the brown and male over female, straight over gay and rich over poor… That’s the tribalism that burns from the outside and the worm of fear that eats at us from the inside. Jesus calls us out of that burning, worm festered trench… Jesus calls us to leave that way of “so-called living” fully behind and walk into a new life… an abundant life… in Christ. 

This is Christ Trinity’s calling for this time and place. To not just TELL our neighbors about it but to SHOW our neighbors what living a REAL life looks like when we live beyond our tribes. I actually think we do that pretty well already, but maybe we don’t take enough time to really see what we’re doing! Because when we serve free hotdogs on the lawn for the whole town, when we share a patch of shade with a traveler on their way, when we stop in to check on someone or cook a meal to say “see you next spring,” we’ll often will just wave our hand and say “Oh, that’s nothing, really.” But it’s not just us being “nice” you know and it really is something… something incredibly powerful.  It’s modeling for each other and for our neighbors and for the world what life looks like beyond the trenches of tribalism. It’s not just talking about the life God created us to live, but LIVING the life God created us to live and SHOWING one another the joy of that new life in Christ! When we do those little things we’re doing nothing less than joining with Jesus in a ministry of calling the world out of those festering trenches and into a beautiful life… a REAL life lived beyond our tribes. Amen.