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WHO’s In charge?" Readings: Psalm 124, Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22, James
5:13-20, Mark 9:38-50, Preached at Baldwin
Presbyterian Church, NY, September 27th 2009 Who’s in charge around here? If you want to get something done, who do
you need to speak to? Who decides what can and can’t be done here in this
church? Is it the Presbytery? Is it the Session? Is it the pastor? Is it the
denomination? Is it the Scriptures? Is it the spirit of the moment? Our existence as a Church is to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel to
all the world, to tell everybody that in Jesus name, they are loved and
respected and valuable and precious. But who ultimately has the
responsibility and the authority to determine how that should be done? That kind of questioning “Who’s in charge when it comes to what goes on
in Jesus name?” is the kind of questioning that our bible reading from Mark
places before us. Here’s the situation. The disciples have their heads full
of questions. Questions about what sort of Messiah Jesus would turn out to
be. Questions about what true greatness looked like. John’s got all these question marks swirling around in his head, so he
goes off for a walk on his own, to try and get focused. He turns a corner and
encounters a group of people doing an exorcism for some poor tormented soul.
John’s thinking, ‘I know about this stuff. Seen Jesus do it a few times.”
He’s ready to offer his expert advice. As he approaches he hears them praying. “Help this person, In Jesus name…
help him…Lord, in the name of Jesus.” And the person is responding. They are
looking calmer. Something good is happening here! This makes Johns’ blood boil. Who do these people think they are? He
didn’t recognize any of them and they didn’t seem to realize just how
important he was! ‘I’m a disciple of Jesus don’t you know!” So John gives
them a mouthful of bad advice and then heads off to find Jesus. Jesus would
put them right. How dare they! The reply John receives from Jesus totally confounds him. "Do
not forbid them; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able
soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us.” Do you see what’s going on here? It’s a control issue. John thinks he
should be in control. He’s not, so he calls on Jesus to control the
situation. Jesus, in effect tells him that there was nothing to control…
because God was already in control of the whole situation. In fact Jesus sees
possibilities where John could only problems! Jesus suggests that wherever
loving service is being expressed then people are opening up for themselves a
real possibility of encountering God’s love. This wasn’t something to get mad about but something to be glad about.
‘John, don’t you get it?’ “He that is not against us is for us”. Anything other than
outright opposition to the Kingdom was something that favored the growth of
the Kingdom. Such did nothing for John’s personal rewards account or enhance his
reputation as being the greatest disciple whoever walked on the planet, but
‘John, do you see… it’s not about you…’ it’s not even about Jesus… it’s about
God’s will being done, about God’s love not just being spoken about but acted
upon. “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to
drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.” Who is in charge? You know that very statement is all about issues of
control. That’s what this passage is about.
And I got to tell you there are days when I wish I could be in
control. If I could get all those folk in those other churches and all those
folk who never go near a church to turn up here on a Sunday… then wow… that’d
look good on my resume. I’d meet Saint Peter at the gates of glory and he’d smile and say “C’mon
on in Saint Adrian of Baldwin, here’s the keys to your mansion. We are so
pleased to have you grace heaven with your presence.” You see I suspect that’s what John was expecting from Jesus. That as he
had rebuked those ignorant disciples for using Jesus name, Jesus was going to
slap him on the back and say, “Good job. You can sit with me at supper
tonight. I’ll reserve a special table just for us!” Instead Jesus turns the whole thing around and calls us to examine our
own personal control issues. First off he chastises John for the potential
damage he had done to those who were taking their first steps in discovering
the power of His name. To discourage those who were just starting out on the
road of discipleship was a terrible thing. Verse 42: "Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better
for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into
the sea. It’s a harsh picture, but a necessary one. It is important that we
realize how damaging our proud and unfaithful actions can be to those who are
just starting out to find faith. I’ve heard too many stories of folk who
started to go to churches and then, when they tried to suggest something or
sought to understand something, some “know it all” church member or pastor
cut them down and belittled them so completely that they never came through
the door again. We can be so proud. So insensitive. So judgmental. So controlling of
others and not in control of ourselves. Jesus turns the spotlight on our
darkness with a glaring intensity. “If your hand causes you to
sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two
hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to
sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to
be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is
better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to
be thrown into hell,” When people look at this verse they invariably pick on the wrong things.
Cutting off hands and feet, gouging out eyes, what kind of talk is that?
Please, come at it from a different angle. It’s a verse about sin and the
avenues through which sin comes into our lives. Remember what has just
happened? John is standing there before Jesus feeling as tiny as an ant at
the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He thought he was doing right thing and he
was shown to have been doing everything wrong because of his misplaced pride. Here’s Jesus saying, ‘John, if you want to control something, then work
on controlling yourself” Sin, in these verses, is attached to hands, feet and
eyes. Hands, feet and eyes have to do with what we touch, where we travel and
what we see. Remember as a kid going shopping and your mum or dad would say, “You can
look but don’t touch”. ‘But mum I want too’… crash… ‘I thought I told you!”
Remember somebody said “Listen, you don’t want to go there. If you do
there’ll be trouble” and you went there and you got into trouble! You know
how temptation gets at us. We look. We desire. We want it. We can’t live
without it. Next minute we’re in deeper than we can handle. Another way of phrasing “Cut it Off” is to say “Cut it Out”. It is as
though we are complaining to God that we have a problem with this or that sin
and God tells us loud and clear “So don’t touch it, so don’t go there, so
don’t look at that! Cut it out!” Cut it out. Change the way you are doing
things and you won’t be in the situation that causes you to fall. Refocus.
Redirect your path. Get some hands on experience of something that causes you
to be a positive influence rather than something that causes you to sin. Better that than to be thrown into hell ‘Where their worm does
not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
Did
you notice the worm in that verse? Or rather to whom the worm belongs? Listen
again, verse 47, ‘their worm does not die’. Whose worm? The person who insists
on carrying with their destructive habits and fails to deal with the sin
that’s eating them alive. Nasty illustration. Sin is like a tape worm. It clings inside us. The
more we feed it the more it grows. It ruins our appetite. It saps our
vitality. It takes away our taste. It makes us sick and unable to function in
the way we were created to. Tape worms are personal. They don’t eat some body
else. If you want to get rid of them, you take care of it. You get it removed
and you are careful to watch what you consume. Jesus concludes His talk with a word of encouragement. “Salt
is good; but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you season it? Have
salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." In the context
of His conversation with John He is saying, “John you messed up, learn from
your mistake. You are like salt in the world. You are, by your actions
bringing my Kingdom to others. Don’t lose that. But let me burn away what’s
bad, and let’s all move on… together… in peace… being who we are meant to be.
Every Sunday we have a chance to acknowledge our own misplaced pride. We
have an opportunity to reflect on the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers.
His love corrects us, so we can get our lives back on the right course. He
promises us peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our calling as individuals, as the First Presbyterian Church of Baldwin,
as part of the community of churches here in Baldwin, and as part of the
worldwide church, is to lay our lives before Jesus Christ as a response to
the tremendous love He has shown by laying down His life on the Cross. To
seek daily to live as disciples of the Kingdom and seek to be a means of
resurrection life to others, In Jesus name. Amen. Adrian J Pratt |