"PARTS IS PARTS"
October 1, 2000
Mark 9:38-50
Rev. Sue Yarber
I remember high school. It
seems like a lifetime ago yet some memories stay with us. High school was made
up of small groups of people that thought they had the secret to life. Each
group centered on itself. In high school my friends mattered. I paid very
little attention to those not in my inner circle. It was tough because there
were few depressed substance-abusing lesbian nerds at my high school. Today I
wear the "lesbian nerd" label proudly because I am no longer
depressed or substance-abusing but that's another sermon.
When the
disciples encountered one who was not a follower of Jesus casting out demons in
his name they tried to stop him. I imagine the scene something like this.
"Hey, your not one of us. Who gives you the authority to call on the name
of
Jesus.
Stop that, you impostor."
Jesus responds to
them calmly. I'm sure at this point he is ready to throw his hands up in the
air. After all, just a little earlier in Mark, the disciples could not heal the
boy possessed with demons and now they stop a successful healing because the
healer did not belong to their group. The disciples have argued about purity
codes and how to judge who is the greatest among them. Jesus sees that the
disciples want a monopoly on God's healing power. Thank God that there
aren't any churches today that think they are the ones with the secret answers
to how God works.
Jesus simply says, "Do not
stop him for whoever heals another in my name cannot turn against me. Whoever
is not against me is for me. Anyone who gives another a cup of water in my name
will not lose his reward."
Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter - THE SPIRIT THAT MOTIVATES
US TO ACT IN THE WORLD IS WHAT MAKES US A FOLLOWER. WHEN WE ARE ATTUNED TO GOD
AND FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS IN OUR LIVES WE ARE THE INNER CIRCLE, NO MATTER
WHO MAY TRY TO TELL US OTHERWISE.
Jesus points to a simple act of kindness. Each disciple knows that
without water he would die. Jesus challenges the notion that some are worthy to
provide life-giving sustenance to another and that others are not worthy. The great paradox that I struggle with is,
that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can do to be worthy of God's love
and at the same time there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that we can do to be
unworthy of God's love. Any power we have to become instruments of healing
in the lives of others comes from God alone. It doesn't come because we hang
out with the right people. It doesn't come to us because we were raised as
Christians or have been involved in this church for X numbers of years. It
comes to us because we are connected to God.
I am reading a book, The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri
Nouwen, 20th century theologian and writer.
He describes a similar emotional landscape to what I think the disciples
might have been feeling when they saw the stranger healing someone. He asks the
question, "What does it mean when
one who hasn't followed is granted the same healing as one who has followed
faithfully?"
IT MEANS THAT GOD'S LOVE FOR US SURPASSES ANY LOVE THAT
WE WILL KNOW HERE ON THIS EARTH.
The disciples struggled with this central truth just as we
struggle with it today. When Jesus talks about giving a cup to another this is
a powerful image. Not only do we all understand that without water we die but
"cup" is also a metaphor for God's will in the New Testament. Jesus
says in Mark 14, "Take the cup away from me," and to Peter in John
18, "Am I not supposed to drink from the cup that the Parent has for
me?" The Samaritan woman at the
well gives Jesus a cup of water. The cup is a central image in the Bible
imbued with layers of meaning. If I really wanted to be a Bible nerd we could
examine the 67 times that the word "cup" is used in the Bible and look
at all of its nuances. I will spare you because I love you all. The cup symbolizes God's life giving power
in our lives.
Jesus further shakes up
the disciples and their understanding of who and what is holy by going into a
litany of body parts that should be cut off if they tempt them to sin. The
language is harsh and shocking. The images are brutal and disturbing. I
struggled with this part of today's reading for a variety of reasons:
It is not the
warm, fuzzy Jesus that I like to talk about.
I am not big
on Hell. Eternal fires of damnation make me mighty uncomfortable.
I picture myself disfigured and it
disturbs me.
All that being
said, I will tell you what I make of Jesus' unusual remarks to the disciples.
All of the early disciples were Jewish, just like Jesus, and in Hebrew thought
physical integrity was considered a sign of holiness. Anyone who was lame, or
deaf or blind or crippled or demon possessed was not allowed in the inner
circle of the Temple. They were seen as unclean and the bearers of sin. Their
disabilities were caused by sin according to Hebrew thought. This is why Jesus’
ministry to those with disabilities was so controversial to the religious
authorities of his time.
Jesus challenges these notions strongly. We know that in another place
he tells the crowds that the man born blind was not blind due to sin but so
that by gaining his sight he might glorify God. Jesus challenges traditional
Hebrew notions of wholeness and purity. He argues it is better to be cut off physically
than to be cut off spiritually. God is our source of wholeness not our outer
appearance, not our physical being, not our material reality.
Jesus shocks me when he talks about hell. He actually makes very
few references to hell. I struggled and struggled with this part of the
scripture. When I was in seminary in a philosophy of religion class we had to
break up into small groups and answer the question, "What is hell?"
I was the only one who ventured an answer. I confidently
said, " I am locked in a basement with large rodents and a karaoke singer
in a maroon leisure suit with a combover doo for all eternity."
Not a single soul laughed...thank God for course
withdrawal slips. Do you see how uncomfortable hell makes me? I can't stop
joking it is helping me cope. Seriously, I struggle with this question,
"What is hell?"
I can tell you
that I believe we experience hell here on earth when we are separated from God
by addiction, affliction, and sin. So that begs the question, "What is
sin?"
There are those
obvious sins that are violations of the ten commandments. Sin, for me, is
not just about doing wrong but about leaving the path of wholeness that God
puts before us in the gospels.
I think of sin in two basic
ways. The first way I understand sin is falling
for the temptation to believe a lie. We live in a culture that teaches us
many twisted things. For instance, I somehow have a false belief that I am more
lovable when I weigh about 25 pounds less than I do. Fortunately for me I have
not become obsessed with that thought but some people do and their lives become
a living hell. Every year thousands of people, mostly females, become anorexic.
They are literally starving themselves because they have fallen for the
temptation to believe a lie that they are fat and being fat is being
unloveable. Am I saying that the anorexic is a sinner? No, our society that
gives the twisted message is sinful. The anorexic needs healing.
Addiction is falling for
the temptation to believe a lie. When I was an active alcoholic I believed that
drinking made me able to say and do things that I otherwise did not have the
courage to do. Drinking actually blocked me from being the person God called me
to be. I have plenty of courage now because I know God does for me what I cannot do for myself.
The other way I think about sin is turning our backs on God. When I fail to take the time to be with
God and get myself attuned to God's will for me I go off in directions that
make me miserable. I have had to work on my temper. I am much better at
identifying the source of my anger and taking action to deal with it than I
used to be. Sometimes, I know what God wants me to do in a situation, yet, I
choose to lose my temper and be snappy with my honey or bark at someone who
loves me. It always makes me feel like a failure who is unlovable. I have to do
the upright thing and apologize and take responsibility. I don't think that
following God's will means I won't ever get angry but it does mean that I
handle it better. When I remember God in the midst of anger I can act as Jesus
would act.
When I heard this scripture today I thought of those people I
love in this congregation who have lost arms and eyes, and breasts and ears. .
. They did not lose them because of sin but disease and accident. These folks
have taught me about the true source of wholeness. Randy knows that you do not
reach with your arms. Jackie knows that you do not see with your eyes. I know
that you do not hear with your ears. Wholeness
is a matter of the heart. Only a real heart, not a physical heart but
a spiritual one - one that is open and ever reaching out to God knows
wholeness. Wholeness is the prize, the gift that God wants all of us to be able
to unwrap right here on earth. Through God's awesome power that which is broken
can be made whole.
Go forth and
know that you are the salt of the earth - the source of life to those around
you. God chose to be in human form through the life of Jesus and for some
people YOU will be the ONLY JESUS they ever see. Amen!
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