Terrible Pun Fully Intended

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.”

In a previous episode of the Gospel of Mark, a father brought his son to Jesus and his disciples.  The son had a demon that threw him on the ground, caused him to grind his teeth and foam at the mouth, and sometimes this would cause him to fall into the fire, or into the water!  The disciples gave it a shot first, but they couldn't get it done.  Shaking his head, Jesus said, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you?”  So, THAT stung the disciples… A LOT!

Now, in this week’s episode of the Gospel of Mark we see the disciples come upon a person casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  Unlike the disciples, this guy had been SUCCESSFUL in the exorcism business.   So, THAT stung… A LOT… AGAIN.  So what did the disciples do?  They told him to stop!  Of course they did!  Because having fewer people walking around this world with seizure-causing demons isn’t AT ALL what Jesus and the disciples are about!  Jesus and the disciples are all about protecting the brand!  Right?  NO!  The goal Jesus had and the goal Jesus was trying to get through the thick disciples’ noggins… disciples then and disciples now… is supposed to be… as Bishop Curry says, “changing the world from the nightmare it is for so many, into the dream that God has for it.”  

Here, in this gospel lesson, Jesus outlines the two ways we can move the world closer to God’s dream.  BOTH are very legitimate and Biblically sound ways of getting to the same goal, and BOTH come with difficult and sometimes nearly impossible demands on those disciples who want to move in the direction of God’s dream for the world.  

The first method is to follow the Law completely.  Follow it like you were driving your car straight down the center line.  Do NOTHING to waver from that center line.  No changing stations on the radio, no sip of coffee, no trying to read that Berkstock sign.  Another car is coming at you?  NO wavering.  A deer?  No wavering!  Not even an inch!  Perfect… and I mean ONLY PERFECT following of the law will change the world, so if something causes you to waver, do whatever it takes… I mean WHATEVER it takes to stay on that center line up to and including chopping off or gouging out body parts.  Hard core, right?  But it is Biblically sound.  You are fully in charge.  It’s completely up to you.  Follow the Law and the world changes.  

The OTHER way to change the world… that is, if you are interested in another way?  You are?  Okay, just wanted to check… the other way to change the world is to be “for” Jesus or I think Jesus would say, to at least not be AGAINST those who walk the Jesus Way of living in the world.  And what is living the Jesus Way in the world?  It is the way of love… doing what is in the other’s best interest.  It is the way of compassion… caring for the least, the lost, and the last.  It is the way of generosity… giving what you have, even if all you have is a cup of water to drink.  Brother Curtis from the Society of St. John the Evangelist, an Episcopal monastic group here in Massachusetts put it this way “There is something about participating in life as a gift, not clinging to it, not hoarding it, but cherishing it, then sharing it with a kind of reckless abandon that is the real deal, because that’s like God. We are invited to be generous with the things in life to which we’ve been entrusted, as well as with our kind­ness, attentiveness, gratitude, gentleness, and interest for others.” 

Nice, right?  A better way than the choppy/gougey way?  I think so too, but it isn’t less difficult… in fact this way might actually be MORE difficult because it isn’t as “clear cut” as the other (terrible pun fully intended!)  This way of changing the world asks for our egos to step fully aside and allow the power of God to do its thing without us worrying about who gets the credit.  This way of changing the world asks us to give a cup of water to someone who is thirsty and then it asks us to keep working on ourselves so we continue to grow into a place where we can give more and more and more of who we are and what we have.  This way of changing the world asks us to live our lives each day living so generously that we approach the point where, as Paul says, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  

The disciples, fresh from their own failures and stinging from seeing someone from the other party being successful, wanted Jesus to bring down hellfire on this other guy who was working outside the LAW.  Jesus reminded them that while the LAW is an option, it literally cuts both ways (again, terrible pun fully intended) and there is no one who can follow that path and remain unscathed. 

Instead, Jesus tells the disciples… the disciples there and us disciples here… that he recommends the Way that, as Brother Curtis says, treats life as a gift, not clinging to it, not hoarding it, but cherishing it, then sharing it with a kind of reckless abandon, because that too will change the world into the dream God has for it… not with any less difficulty on our parts for certain, but with a lot less gore.  Amen.