Saint Mark 9:38-59
There is and old saying from the African American Church that goes: “We Americans came to America on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now.”2
You may not feel this way and after the events of last week you would be well within your rights.1
Who lives like this? Who talks like this? Who can be this angry all the time? Apparently some in Washington have made careers out the encouraging the belief that “we are split between hostile groups, each with its own TV networks, fast-food chains and sporting apparel - FOX News vs. MSNBC, Chick-fil-A vs. Chipotle, Under Armour vs. Nike.
But all of those great divides says Steve Chapman, editorial board member of the Chicago Tribune, is “an image from a fun-house mirror, composed of mis-leading distortions.”
Independents now make up a plurality of the public. Self-described moderates outnumber either liberals or conservatives. [And]most people don’t spend much time watching cable news.
Most people are not very conservative or very liberal. But “the middle has no home in either party.”3
Still politicians in their ads and by their actions try to divide. They tempt us to come to the conclusion: “A plague on both your houses.” No more of this he said/she said! No more of this “well I may be a crook or a kook but my opponent is a bigger one.” No more of this mud slinging. No more of this “I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts.” A plague on both of you.
And the reason why some of us give up is that their behavior is godless. “Washington is a place,” said Mark Shield of the PBS NewsHour, “where everybody is expected to belong to a church or synagogue but nobody is expected to go.”
So they probably have never heard of this encounter with Jesus and his disciples about who is “for us” and who is “against us.”
The disciples were more than put off by a man who was using Jesus’ name to cast out demons.
It could be that they had just tried to do the very same thing themselves only a few hours earlier by Mark’s time and failed. They had just tried to cure someone of the very same malady and came up empty. They also may have been upset about this or they may have been upset that the other guy may not have been following Jesus for as long or as closely as they had been. To them he is just one upstart doing what they couldn’t do so they stop him.
If it had been our day they might have said, “Call the legal department! File an injunction! Charge him with copyright violation or patent infringement – anything to stop him from poaching on our territory.”
As usual, Jesus does something that is completely unexpected, counter intuitive. He says: “Do not stop him. For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad against me.”4
Then he goes on to tell us what we should be doing. “Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of cold water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.”5
Bible commentator David Donovan told about his daughter “hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, a 2600 mile trek through desert and mountains. She has been blessed at numerous points by “Trail Angels” – people who provide water or other support. My wife and I thank God for the Trail Angels. Never once have we suggested to our daughter that she should check their doctrinal beliefs before accepting their aid.”5
There is always the temptation to ask a lot of question or at least wonder about their motives. Do they want something from me? Are they trying to get my vote or convert me to their church? And that’s only about a cup of water!
The nation and the church can become divided over deeper issues. Democrat/Republican, Liberal/Conservative, Red State/Blue State, you name it politicians can fight about it while the ship of state sinks.
The church isn’t much better. Mega-churches/Local churches; liturgical/contemporary, fundamentalist/mainline, those who do/those who don’t... You can fill in the blank for what ever those dos and don’t are.
My partner grew up in a really, really, really, conservative church in the very northwest corner of Iowa. His church was one of those “don’t churches”. They didn’t like the Presbyterians because they were a social club. They didn’t like the Episcopalians because they were a country club. And they didn’t like the Lutherans because all they did was drink beer. My first guess is that the people in those other churches didn’t have very nice things to say about them either. There were leaks in the ship of the church.
My second guess is that all of them were doing a good work - giving that cup of cold water, if you will, in Jesus name.
Yet they were all cut off from each other for reasons that Jesus describes as no less than being trashy.
Somehow a word got mistranslated in today’s gospel. The word “hell” in our text in the original Greek is Gehenna and comes from the Hebrew, ge Hinnon, the Valley of Hinnon, which was the place were all the rubbish from Jerusalem was taken to be burned. It was a stinking, steaming, garbage dump.
The church has always been referred to as the body of Christ and so what Jesus is saying in a very graphic way is that if there is anything in us that is hindering us or any of his little ones from following him it must be removed lest we wind up literally “down in the dump”. If there is anything that is causing the church to be divided we need to find out what it is and do anything we can to remove it so that the body of Christ might be united in witness to a world that desperately needs what we have to give.
I’ve come to believe that maybe God doesn’t see what we think are divisions in the same way we do. I think that while it is not my cup of tea God may like a little “smooth jazz” in worship on a Sunday morning. I’d like to think that while you and I like a formal, structured worship God may like the freedom of those non-liturgical churches or the blessed silence of a Quaker meeting. I think that God can like the “smells and bells” of what the Anglican or Episcopal church call, with tongue firmly planted in their cheeks, “a smoking service” while at the same time enjoying the red hot emotion of a charismatic revival.
The saying about America can also be said about the way we approach God. We may have come on different ships but we are all in the same boat now.
And we are to sail on by being salt and light to a world that seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into the bland, bland, darkness.
In one paraphrase of Scripture Jesus says, “Don’t lose your flavor! Live in peace with one another.” 7
How do we do that? By coming to the conclusion that people who are not against us are really on our side. That even if we disagree with them, about religion or politics, or what sports team to root for (Even the Packers or the Bears!) they can still be our sisters and brothers in Christ.
By admitting that, by and large, very few evil people have ever walked this earth. And concluding that we all need each other because we are all in the same boat.
Let the motto of Northwestern University, my Alma Mater, borrowed from Saint Paul, be our guide:
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. [Do this} and the God of peace will be with you.8
May the God of peace be with us as we salt of the earth people sail on trying to be a light for the world.
Thanks for listening.
____________
1. Sermon was preached during the confirmation hearings for an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
2. Clarence Page, "Even in Our Diverse Tribes, We're Still Americans," Chicago Tribune, September 26, 2018, Morning ed., sec. 1; p. 19.
3. Steve Chapman, "A Polarized America? Not Quite," Chicago Tribune, September 23, 2018, Sunday ed., sec. 1; p. 24.
4. St. Mark 9:38. (NIV) [NIV=The New International Version]
5. St. Mark 9: 41. (MSG) [MSG=The Message]
6. David Donovan, "Salt & Fire," Sermon Writer: Making Preaching More of a Joy, September 13, 2018, , accessed September 28, 2018, https://www.sermonwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-09-30-Proper21B.doc.
7. St. Mark 9:50. (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible]
8. Philippians 4:8-9. (NKJV) [NKJV=The New King James Version]
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