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Sermon - October 1th, 2006
Shock Therapy From Jesus
Rev. Gwen Drake
Scripture: Mark 9:38 - 50
Prayer: Touch us, O God, with truth that burns like fire, with beauty that moves us like the wind; and set us free to see and listen and wonder at the gracious mysteries of life. Amen.
This passage from Mark is "nightmare material." Nowhere in all the Gospels is Jesus so graphic about the wages of sin. Better that you should hang a rock around your neck and jump into the sea, he says, better you should maim or blind yourself than walk around like nothing is wrong until the siren sounds and you find yourself assigned to hell, where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. That's what Jesus says, and this is not the only Gospel that has these words, Matthew and Luke say almost the same thing.
This passage does not show up on people's lists of favorite Bible verses--at least not anyone I know personally. It is primitive, grotesque, and it seems to promote self mutilation. That does not sound like Jesus at all. Not the Jesus I know!
However, there is something I do like about this passage. This is one of those Bible verse that defines the limits of taking the Bible literally. I like that. Next time you are discussing the authority of the Bible with someone who is telling you that the Bible says this and the Bible says that, well, ask them how they read this particular group of verses. In fact no matter what church you walk into in Hillsboro, even the most rigid, I suspect you wouldn't find many people with eye patches or amputated hands. That is because even the most literal Christians balk at this passage. It goes against their reason, not to mention their sense of self-preservation. This passage inspires everyone to become biblical critics just like the biblical scholars in those liberal seminaries. Because being a Bible critic doesn't mean we criticize the Bible. It means we ask questions, important questions. Like, just who is Jesus talking to in this passage and what is his purpose? Is he speaking literally or figuratively? Did the author of Mark take certain editorial liberties in writing down what Jesus said?
Let's see if we can figure this out. Chronologically speaking, these particular words were the last words Jesus spoke in his homeland, Galilee. When he was finished, he traveled south into Judea, where death awaited him in Jerusalem. This was part of his "how to be a disciple" speech. It was part two of his leadership seminar, continuing on from the example he gave them with a little child sitting on his lap after the disciples were caught arguing about who was the greatest, who was the best disciple. Jesus was telling them what was good for them. "It would be better for you to...." He said this phrase four times, followed by four awful things that would be better for them--that is, better than causing a little one to stumble, better than stumbling themselves. Better they should use a crutch for the rest of their life, than be the cause of someone messing up. Better they should limp and stumble around in the dark IN the Kingdom of God than to be thrown whole and healthy into hell.
So one thing Jesus was trying to do was impress upon them the importance of their actions. Jesus was reminding the disciples that following him was not a casual thing. It was especially not to be an impulsive, thoughtless decision. Following him to Jerusalem was a life-and-death decision that was going to get very dangerous for everyone involved--not only because of what other people might do to them, but because of what they may do to themselves by failing to take their actions and decisions seriously enough. As disciples, they would have no time off. They could not take a break and go tell the latest off-color joke they heard at the morning coffee clutch. They could not let off a little steam. Everything they did had consequences. Everything they said counted. They were either part of the good news or they were simply bad news. They were neither invisible nor insignificant. THEIR LIVES MATTERED. Their words mattered. They had power that they did not even know about, and if they used it inappropriately or casually and caused someone to stumble--to lose faith, to question God, to pull away from the light--then the disciples would be better off at the bottom of the lake.
Sounds more like a threat, doesn't it? It is; but, that's not all it is. It is also a promise. The disciples were full of God's unrealized power, and Jesus was begging them to wake up to it and use it wisely. He was also reminding them that there was a spiritual reality much more solid than the physical reality they were so careful about.
One of the reasons we find this scripture repulsive, is because it attacks our physical reality. Cut off our precious hands and feet? Gouge our beautiful eyes? Our repulsion shows how much we value our own physical wholeness, our ability to see and touch and walk on our own two feet. Fine, Jesus says. Do not take me literally, but take me seriously: You not only have feet, hands, and eyes, you have a soul that is just as precious and lovely as your body, and its wholeness comes first. Because if it is sick, you are sick all over. One part affects the whole.
So, why doesn't that worry us or make us flinch? Why aren't we as careful with our souls as we are with our bodies? At the very least, these scary words of Jesus are shock therapy, designed to get our attention and keep it. What we do matters. What we say counts. We have power we do not even know about, and it is absolutely crucial that we use it to build up and not tear down. That's the definition of love according to the late Scott Peck. In his book The Road Less Traveled, love is what allows and helps others grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Evil is what keeps others from growing spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
We need to think about this a lot more than we do: about stumbling--about how we do it and how we cause others to do it. Like by talking one way and acting another. Like talking about how we are all God's children, but then treating some of those children like orphans, putting them away somewhere and then not going to visit. Like talking about God's good gifts to us and then hoarding those gifts like misers, refusing to share ourselves, refusing to share what we have with others. Like talking about God's amazing grace and then saving up our own grudges in a catalog of grievances that collect bitterness like dust.
People who know us notice these things. In fact, they trip over them. We trip over them. Other people will even tell us that is why they aren't interested in the church, in organized religion. They cannot see any difference between the people inside the church and the people outside the church, except that the people outside the church do NOT pretend to be any better than they are. On the one hand, Of course, the church is for sinners and hypocrites, not one of us here is perfect, that's for sure, thank God. But on the other hand, "That's no excuse!"
If there is anyone in the world equipped to care for people, body AND soul, we are. We are God's baptized, who have been given the gift of second sight. We can see the spirit as well as flesh. We know there is more going on than meets the eye. When we look at people, we see them whole, the way God meant them to be. When they are not whole, it hurts us, as if we are missing something we need for ourselves. Because of this, disciples of Christ, cannot take part in anything that diminishes the soul of another human being. Disciples are not to stand by while someone is called names, or talk down to, or cast out, because these things wound the soul, perhaps even contribute to the killing of one's spirit, and it would be better for us to cut out pieces of our lives than to let that happen to us or to anyone else.
Today is world communion Sunday. Christians all over the world are having communion today. We are all sharing the body of Christ. What a powerful, power filled image, knowing that when one part of us is diminished in spirit in anyway, we all are. And we are diminished. Because there are many places in the God's creation where the human spirit is being destroyed, sometimes, even in our own back yards.
I truly believe with all my heart that God's will for us is abundant life. I also believe that we can fail to live up to the love that God has given us. And a wasted existence is hell--no two ways about it. Fortunately, we have a choice, we have an alternative. If we want to be whole, we can use our two good eyes to see the world the way God sees it. We can use our two good feet to carry us into life as deeply as we dare. We can stretch out our still attached arms to someone who in danger of stumbling, so that God can steady us and save US ALL! This is the good news that Jesus is shocking us to think about and believe and do. Thanks be to God!
Amen.