Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
- Sep 27, 2015
- 6 min read
Mark 9: 38-50
I’ve noticed that there is often tension in communities—
especially church communities—
between trying to hold on to what makes them distinctive on the one hand,
and on the other hand,
trying to be welcoming of outsiders,
of people who aren’t from their community.
It’s a tension between trying to hold on to what makes them unique as a community,
and also, at the same time, trying to be open to others,
people who might not be exactly like “them.”
In this morning’s Gospel story,
Jesus’ own disciples find themselves in this place of tension.
Struggling with trying to hold on to what makes them distinctive as followers of Jesus,
and how open to be toward other people,
people who aren’t part of the “inner” circle.
As followers of Jesus, and especially as his disciples,
part of what made them distinctive
was that Jesus had called them each by name to follow him,
and also that he had empowered them to act in his name.
To cast out demons in his name.
And to heal people in his name.
This is what set the disciples apart from other people
and from other communities.
It’s part of what gave them their identity,
and made them unique.
Then one day, they’re walking around,
and suddenly they see someone else claiming to act in Jesus’ name.
Someone else casting out demons in his name.
Someone who is not one of the officially sanctioned disciples.
And that’s where today’s Gospel begins.
With the disciples coming to Jesus, and saying,
“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name.”
And their response to this is to try and stop him,
because, as they say, “he was not following us.”
He was not following us.
In other words, the response of the disciples to this person
is to draw a line in the sand,
and to create insiders and outsiders.
Of course, they are the insiders in this equation,
and this other person, who has never been part of their group,
is the outsider.
Frankly, it seems like a pretty natural response.
I confess, I sometimes catch myself
sorting people into such groups:
insiders and outsiders
But Jesus’ has a different response.
He says,
“Don’t stop this person acting in my name,
for no one who does a deed of power
in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”
This is probably not the response the disciples were expecting.
Maybe they’re expecting Jesus to confirm that indeed,
they’re the real insiders and this guy is an outlier.
To draw a line in the sand.
But of course, as is so often the case,
Jesus points to another way.
He offers a wider, more generous,
more loving, more truthful perspective on things.
For Jesus, there is no line to be drawn in the sand.
Instead, he says,
“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 lost the reward.”
Jesus is not interested in creating two classes of people,
insiders and outsiders.
Preserving the power of the group isn’t the top priority for him either.
His top priority was people coming to believe in him.
People giving their hearts to him
and trusting in him.
People living their lives in service to the Kingdom of God.
These were the things that mattered most of all to Jesus.
And this is why Jesus says to his disciples next
that if they become a stumbling block
for anyone wanting to believe in him,
then it would be better for them if a great millstone were hung around their neck
and they were thrown into the sea.
And this is why he goes on to say,
in pretty harsh words,
that if anything causes you to stumble in this work of helping people
to believe in him,
then get rid of it.
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut if off.
If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out.
Our distinctiveness, our uniqueness as a community,
these are important.
Jesus later tells his disciples to “have salt in yourselves.”
In other words, it’s important to know who you are.
It’s important to know what your flavor is.
What makes you you.
But knowing who you are
must always serve the bigger goal,
which is bringing people closer to Jesus.
I’ve been reflecting on our community, St. Peters, this week
in light of some of the questions raised by our Gospel story today.
I’ve been wondering how we in this community
can both hold onto our identity as St. Peter’s,
while at the same time, being open to others on the outside?
How can we hold on to what makes us distinctive and unique as St. Peter’s,
while at the same time, welcoming people who aren’t like “us.”
How can we keep the integrity of our community
without isolating ourselves from others?
How can who we are at St. Peter’s serve the bigger goal to which Jesus calls us:
bringing people closer to him?
We’re going to be thinking about these questions
in some very intentional ways during this season at St. Peter’s.
First, on the theme of identity, and knowing who we are,
we’re going to be telling our story this year.
As some of you may know, one of our parish goals this year is just this,
to tell our story.
This community has an amazing story.
A bittersweet story.
A story of perseverance and hope in good times and difficult times.
A story of resilience.
Your story is one of the things about you that drew me to you.
I’d never come across a church community with a story quite like yours,
and something deep inside this story called to me.
In the coming months, every member of the congregation,
old and new,
will be invited to think about on the impact St. Peter’s
has had in your lives.
You’ll also be invited to ask yourselves:
What is unique about this community?
What makes it distinctive?
Next, you’ll be invited to tell some of your stories
in an interview that’ll be taped so that these stories can be shared,
both with one another,
as well as with outsiders to our community.
Our hope is that this process of storytelling will allow us to know in a renewed way
what makes us distinctive as St. Peter’s
and also to welcome others to be part of the story.
At the same time,
we’re also going to be thinking about how we welcome people
at St. Peter’s, especially outsiders—
the people who aren’t like “us.”
Another one of our goals this year is to develop a plan for inviting,
welcoming, and incorporating people at St. Peter’s.
As part of this work, we’ve pulled together a Welcome Team
composed of people from all walks of life at St. Peter’s.
One of things they’re going to be doing in the coming months is studying our welcome practices.
In the spirit of today’s Gospel story, they’re going to be asking some important questions,
questions like:
Who are the “insiders” and “outsiders’ in our city, neighborhood and at St. Peter’s?
How do we do a good job of welcoming people at St. Peter’s?
Where are there gaps in the ways we welcome people?
What are the stumbling blocks that we might place in the way of people
who might be searching for community and a life of faith?
Of course, these are not just questions for our Welcome Team to think about,
but questions for all of us who cherish this community,
and want it to be open to others.
I hope you’ll reflect on them too, and join us in this effort.
Many of you have been taking part in Adult Sunday school
the past couple weeks, where we’ve been having a lively conversation about hospitality.
And specifically about what it looks like to practice hospitality as followers of Jesus.
We’ve spent some time looking at different stories about hospitality,
especially stories from scripture about God coming among people
in the form of a stranger,
and depending on the hospitality of everyday people.
In the Old Testament, God mysteriously comes to Abraham and Sara as a stranger.
In the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples that whenever they offer a cup of water to the least of these, they offer it to him,
and later appears as a stranger to his disciples near Emmaus,
where they share a meal with him.
Will we too be ready to welcome him when he comes to St. Peter’s?
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