Word and Example [Proper 21B]
The Rev. Jeremiah
Williamson
Mark 9:38-50
Word and Example
As I stand here in
this pulpit, and look out over this crowd of people, one thing is clear to me:
no one in this room is a biblical literalist.
There are many reasons for which I am glad about that, not the least of which
is the disturbingly graphic Gospel passage we heard this very morning, with all
its lopped off limbs and plucked out eyes.
This is probably one of the few passages that really draws a hard line
in the sand for aspiring literalists, the other being the one about giving all
of one’s money to the poor.
I am an Episcopal
priest these days, living in a denominational land where biblical literalism is
scarcely found. But I grew up in the
Pentecostal tradition and so I know a thing or two about Biblical
literalism. This will give you an idea
of that landscape: I was once warned that if I did not take everything in the
Bible literally I was calling the entire Bible a lie. Literalism or bust. There were a number of self-proclaimed
literalists in my church. They were
constantly distressed about the many Christians, especially those in churches
like the Episcopal Church, who did not take the Word of God literally and
therefore found themselves in the clutches of moral decay, of spiritual moribundity. And yet still, even they, in all their earnestness,
did not take this Gospel passage literally.
No one in that Pentecostal church ever personally maimed their body to
save their soul. Even literalists
understand this Gospel to be metaphorical in nature. And for that I am exceedingly glad. I am glad that even literalists understand
that literalism has limits.
It should go without
saying that self-mutilation is not what Jesus is calling for here. The maimed are not more likely to enter into
the kingdom of God. Neither does half
the eyes make one twice the Christian.
The math does not add up.
Jesus is bringing out some
big hyperbole here. He is clearly trying
to get his audience’s attention – and I think he did. This is not quaint or polite language. Jesus is being a bit dramatic. He does not mean for us to take his words
literally but neither does he mean for us to blow them off or ignore them. Don’t take them literally, please, but do take
them seriously.
I had a little fun with
my Pentecostal upbringing at the beginning of this sermon, but one of the
things from that tradition for which I continue to be thankful is that I was
taught from a young age that my life was my witness. What I did as a follower of Jesus
mattered. We were expected to talk about
Jesus. But also we were taught that no
one will take your Jesus talk seriously if they do not see Jesus in your life,
in your actions.
And that is not only a
Pentecostal thing. It is a Christian
thing. We are called to proclaim the
Good News of God in Christ with our words and by our example. It’s right there in the Baptismal Covenant of
the Book of Common Prayer. It’s
both/and. And a rightfully skeptical
world is watching the Church closely to see if the words and deeds do in fact line
up.
Now I know many of you
follow the news. And so you see and hear
what Christians are doing out there in the world, what Christians are doing behind
closed doors. And so you also know that
unfortunately, they often don’t line up.
It has been said that, “The greatest single cause of atheism in
the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out
the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world
simply finds unbelievable.”[1] And maybe it’s not totally accurate to say “atheists”,
but unaffiliated is the fastest growing religious affiliation in our country
and Christianity is the one on the steepest decline.[2] So we might say the greatest single reason
people are leaving the Church is the Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with
their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle.
It
is the graphic nature of Jesus’ personal mutilation imagery grabs the reader’s
attention, but it is important that we notice that Jesus’ concern goes far
beyond the personal salvation of any one follower. This is not a passage about personal
salvation, but personal holiness for the salvation of the world. Jesus introduces the section, frames the
conversation by saying: “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.” That is a poetic way to say: “You’d be better
off dead.” Do you doubt that Jesus takes
this stuff pretty seriously? The journey
to Heaven is a group trip. No one has to
walk it alone. But no one gets to walk
it alone either.
Our
witness matters. We are the Body of
Christ in this world. The Church
represents Jesus to a world that needs to know and experience his impossible
love. That is our mission: to proclaim
by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, the Good News of God’s
impossible love. Jesus tells us that the
world will know we are Christians by our love, because we will be the vessels
that carry his perfect love around in this world. Do you think that is what the Church in this
country is known for?
I
would say right now the Church in the U.S. is best known for the child sexual
abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.
“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who
believe in me…” The number of young
lives and families violated by Church leaders, by people who said all the right
words, who dressed the part, who committed terrible acts in Jesus’ name, should
make us all sick. And if the terrible
things done were not bad enough, and they definitely were, the fact that the
Church hierarchy went to such great lengths to protect the reputation of the institution
instead of the people is rightfully devastating to our Christian witness.
We
might have this way of breaking into all of these denominations to shield
ourselves from the scandals and beliefs of other churches, but those
distinctions and divisions are artificial.
They matter little, if at all, to the growing population of the religiously
unaffiliated. And they seem to matter
little in the economy of God; our baptismal font does not make Episcopalians;
it makes Christians – and so does the one at First United Methodist, and so
does the one at First Baptist, and so does the one at First Pres, and so does the
one at St. Mary’s. We might not agree on
everything but we are all members of the same family, born into the same
household, sealed by the same Spirit, marked with the sign of the same cross. And in our culture, in our media, we are all often
painted with the same brush, the same broad strokes – whether we think that’s fair
or not.
The
people we hope to reach with the Gospel of Jesus, they see a Church in this country
that has traded our Christian witness to protect our religious institutions, our
political parties, our business interests, our social status. Of course that is not always the case; of
course the Church is also doing good in our country, is fighting for justice,
is showing mercy. Of course that is true
too. But the reality is: the good is
expected of us because we are followers of Jesus. We’re not going to get a lot of credit for
doing what we should be doing. It’s the
harmful, the hypocritical, the sinful things done by those who claim the name
of Christ that are dissonant and they catch the attention of a skeptical world. When the Church is in the business of putting
down stumbling blocks of course people get hurt.
We
are held to a high standard, a high standard of holiness – by the world and by
Jesus. And that is a challenge because
no one is perfect, not even those washed clean in holy waters, not even those sustained
by the body and blood of Christ. Every
week we admit before God and the gathered that we sin in thought, word, and
deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. In short, we admit that we sin in just about
every possible way, as individuals who are individual members of the Church. Holiness is hard.
And
yet Jesus chooses us to be his body in this world. He believes in us; Jesus is placing his trust
in us. That is, I think, a questionable
decision. But it is God’s choice even
though God knows we are not perfect. Maybe
that’s why God chooses us. Light shines
best through cracked vessels. We have experienced
Jesus’ amazing grace and his impossible love.
It is ours to share; we get to share that love. It is a priceless gift, a gift that Jesus
trusts us to give, to share with this world.
But no one will be interested unless our lives show that that love makes
a difference.
Being
a Christian is serious business. It
requires of us our very best. Our
primary ministry, the ministry shared by every Christian, lay and ordained,
according to the catechism is to represent Christ and his Church in the world. That is the most important thing that we do,
what God is calling us to do: we represent Jesus. When people look at us they should see
Jesus. When people hear our words, they
should hear the Good News of Jesus.
That
huge, but also amazing, responsibility should drive every decision we make,
every cause we support, every action we act, every word we speak. Jesus is trusting us to be his body in this
world. According to this Gospel he doesn’t
need us to have perfect bodies – even his body has a few scars – but, by the
grace of God, he does need us to be the cracked vessels of his perfect love.
[1] Brennan Manning at the
beginning of the dc Talk song, What if I
Stumble?
[2] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/
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