What Part Of The Gospel Do You Avoid?

Sermon-year b-Proper 21, Sept. 27, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
They had a poll on the news the other night. A fellow who was mentally ill killed someone with a shovel nine years ago. Did anyone see this story? The fellow had recently been released because the authorities felt that his mental illness was now under control. The poll that the tv station was running was in answer to this question, “how many people would be uncomfortable having an mentally ill murderer move into your neighborhood?” I thought the question was pretty insane, but 18% of the people called in saying that it wouldn’t bother them. 18%. Hmm. The thing was, I can’t remember any other news from that night because that image was so powerful-an insane shovel murderer moving next door, and tv stations asking if that would bother you. Sometimes the drama gets in the way of the real message.
We didn’t hear it in church this year, but in the 9th chapter of Mark, a man brought his son to the disciples for an exorcism-and none of their prayers worked. Ok, it’s a chapter later, and John comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."
Do you think these two stories are connected? Ok, it’s handraising time, “how many of you hear today’s gospel and only hear the part about cutting off a hand or a foot, or pulling out an eye? It’s hard to get past that isn’t it? It’s like hearing that there’s a shovel murderer living next door. It’s hard to get past that and hear anything else.
The disciples traveling with Jesus went from being called to follow, to being the inner clique. It didn’t take long. Notice John the disciple doesn’t say following Jesus, he says, “following us.” Jesus picks up on this right away. He’s been trying to teach them about serving, and losing one’s life for the good news. And here is John trying to keep people out because they “aren’t one of us.” Believe it or not, everything that follows in this morning’s story is Jesus response to someone NOT being “one of us". Have you ever done that? Told someone that even though what they were doing was right, that they didn’t “qualify” that they didn’t have any right because they weren’t “one of us”? Thank God I haven’t.
A fellow came to me last week and said that he might be ordained to the priesthood. He hadn’t been to seminary like me, hadn’t waited 11 years-like me, hadn’t done all the things that I had done to be ordained like me, he was taking a different route and he asked, “Could you support me for ordination to the priesthood?” And I thought to myself, “My God, you sent him here because of this gospel, didn’t you!”
Today’s gospel continues Jesus teaching on service and inclusion. But nobody hears that. What does everyone hear in today’s gospel? That’s right hands and feet and eyes. Shovel murderers.
Let me tell you a long story, but you’ll enjoy it. It’s from The Rev. Dr. David Galloway an Episcopal priest in Atlanta, Georgia: “I had just finished playing a round of golf with my three best friends in Tyler, Texas. We had stopped into the 19th Hole, for some refreshment following our round. The room was full of people telling lies about their great round of golf, of spectacular shots made and of long putts sunk.
Into that room entered a man I shall call Hugh. Hugh was from central casting as to what a Texas oil man might look like-red-faced, large, and loud. Hugh always wanted you to know that he was in the house. He was a back-slapping, heehawing fellow both on the golf course and in the town. Funny thing was that nobody wanted to play with him because he was so overbearing, so obnoxious. I'll never forgive my friend Dan, who is a much better Christian than I am. He actually felt sorry for Hugh one day and invited him to join our group. For 18 holes, I had to put up with his loud-mouthed antics. It was the most horrible round of golf in my life…the round from hell.
But on this day, Hugh walked into the 19th Hole and was living large, a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. He came up to my table and started talking loud, the only volume level he had, so loud that the attention of the room naturally turned to him. He bellowed at me, "You Episcopalians don't believe in the Bible, do you?!" Rather than take the bait, I just looked at him and smiled weakly, hoping he would pass on by.
He was referring to a recent decision by the church on some topic that was not to his liking. He went on, "David, I want to go to a church that is Bible-believing. Do you understand me? A place where the preacher is not trying to tippy-toe around the hard lessons of Jesus, a preacher who will lay it on the line, not try to water down the Gospel. I want a preacher who will be bold and put it out there, the full measure of the Bible, not hold back a lick. I want a preacher who will not let sinners slide and will call them out by name. I want the full Gospel. I don't want a preacher to pussy-foot around the message of Jesus."
I do not know where my response came from, but I heard it issuing forth from my lips after taking a long sip from my glass. "You want the full Gospel, Hugh? You mean the part about selling all you have and giving it to the poor?"
A pregnant silence fell over the room, after which Hugh responded, "Well, not that part!"
The room broke up in laughter. Hugh slunk out of the room as quietly as possible. Everyone was high-fiving me for having put Hugh in his place. "Way to go's" from Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews. David had slain Goliath once again, and all was right with the world.
I went home that night particularly proud of myself and proceeded to tell the story to my wife. Mary, again a better Christian than I am, laughed at the story with that laugh that I had grown to love over the past 25 years. But then my partner asked the evident but avoided question: "David, what part of the Gospel do you avoid?"
What part of the gospel do I avoid? You see, Jesus tells his “inner circle” starting with John, that “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”
Then Jesus goes on to say that anything we do that causes someone else to stumble, to lose the gospel, to lose their faith, it would be better if we cut it off, cut it out. Usually, as Jesus does not point out-it’s not the hand or the foot or the eye-usually the most dangerous part of our body is our tongue. Jesus is so emphatic about how easy it is to offend someone, to drive them away, to distract someone from their faith.
We will do many things in our lives that will drive someone away from the Kingdom of God. Brennan Mannings who wrote the prelude to dc talk's "Jesus Freak" CD, in which he says, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who profess Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lives.”
Jesus doesn’t want people to cut off their hand. Or their foot. Or pluck out their eye. He wants us to stop chasing people away because they aren’t “one of us”. Because they haven’t gone through what we have. Maybe they don’t share the same creeds as us. Maybe they don’t look or act like us. Jesus asks us to be kind and gracious-especially to the most fragile, most vulnerable, the weakest. One last story, this from an anonymous preacher: “I once had a parishioner who complained that I didn't preach about hell enough. I had the presence of mind to ask him why he thought he was going to hell. He looked confused for a moment and then said, "No preacher, those other folks are the ones who need to hear about it!" Those other folks.Jesus says this morning’s teaching this way, “Whoever is not against us is for us.." “What part of the gospel do I avoid?”


Mark 9:38-50
John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 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 lose the reward. "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. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Humble Tasks As Though They Were Great And Noble

Sermon-year b-Proper 20, Sept. 20, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I knew when I was 19 that I would be a priest some day. It was just so obvious, so clear to me. But I also knew that I wasn’t ready yet. So when I graduated from college, I decided that I needed to do some things to help me prepare, or as I look back on it now, to grow up. I thought I would find humble work and learn about ministry. So I decided to become a hospital orderly. I cleaned up after people, fed people, helped them put their clothes on, brushed their teeth, changed catheters-you name it. I worked20with people who were paralyzed, many from the neck down, and they were totally dependent on me for everything. I figured that I was learning about being a servant. One day, after doing this for 5 years I was talking to one of the patients who was a quadriplegic, explaining why I was doing what I was doing. I told him that I wanted to learn about servanthood and being humble. He told me that If I really wanted to learn about humility, I should become a patient.
If this morning’s gospel sounds familiar it should. We heard a variation on it last week. We will hear it again in a different form in about a month. I told you that Mark, the gospel writer, has Jesus starting a new direction after chapter 8. He continues to heal, to cast out demons, but his real teaching, about who he is and what he is about, has begun. Three times Jesus will tell the disciples that he, the messiah, will have to suffer and die. If they seem a little thick, it’s because Mark the writer does this on purpose. He was writing, 40 years after Jesus’ resurrection, and new Christians STILL weren’t getting it. So Mark wants everyone to see how difficult it is to understand. Jesus 3 times in 3 different chapters gets VERY SPECIFIC with his closest followers about what it means to be one of his. Last week’s gospel, Jesus told them that in order to save their life, they had to lose it. This week, he teaches
"Whoever wants to be first must be last of all " In a month Oct. 18, in chapter 10, Jesus will tell his followers that “whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
To save our lives we must lose them, the first must be last, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant…
Do you have any doubts about what all this means?
There is an old Sunday School story that has floated around for years. A teacher was trying to explain these gospel stories. So she organized a race, and explained that the winner of the race would win all sorts of prizes. Then she lined the kids up and had them run around the church. When the last child crossed the finish line, all the adults who were watching went wild. They put a blue ribbon on the last place finisher, gave her candy, and had her come up and stand on a platform. All the other children stared in amazement. So then the teacher lined the kids up a second time, told them the stories about the last being first, being servant of all, and told them that the winner would again be honored greatly. The kids all stood there for a long time, no one wanting to actually get ahead. Finally they all joined hands and walked around the church together in a line so everyone finished at exactly the same moment.
Jesus is trying to get through to his friends that to save their life, they must lose it, that the first must be last, and that they were called to be servants of all. Each time, after he teaches this, there is an example in the gospel of someone who is disabled, helpless, or powerless coming to Jesus. Today it’s a child. It’s not because children were more precious, in Jesus’ day. If anything they were much further down on the value scale. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples what an upside down kingdom was like-where those who were the greatest weren’t those with the most power or status or abilities.
Every once in a while you’ll see me serve as an acolyte. It always happens when the person scheduled that day doesn’t show up, and at the last second we can’t find a youth who is prepared, with vestments, and is willing. Let me tell you, lots of adults always come up to me and say, “why didn’t you ask me to serve.” And I always say the same thing, “you don’t know how to do it. The kids make it look easy, but it really does take some skill. And I didn’t want you to be embarrassed.” When we were in the UP 25 years ago we didn’t have any children in one of the churches, an a woman who was 65 came up to me and asked if she could be an acolyte. I said, “Lorraine, why?” And she said that when she was young girls weren’t allowed to carry the cross in church and she always wanted to.
We are a church, and that mea ns that in the world we witness to a different kind of power, the authority of servanthood. The disciples are fighting over who would be the greatest. Instead Jesus wants them to argue over who can be the servant of all. My experience has been, at least in this church, that most of the time, people will work very very hard to be the best servant. I have seen people here fight in order to be the one to do an unpleasant task (I have also seen people back away from unpleasant tasks, but that’s for another sermon). For the most part, I think most of you get it. It is not painless being a Christian. It is not easy being a servant. But I think we realize that that is what Jesus is asking us to do.
Helen Keller, who could not hear, speak, or see once wrote“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.”
Three times in 3 consecutive chapters, Jesus will tell his followers, If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.", the first must be last.
It’s a simple teaching-but it is not easy. Ronald Reagan used to keep a sign on his desk that read: "It's surprising what you can accomplish when no one is concerned about who gets the credit ".
We have two choices in life, to be great in the sight of others, or to be great in the sight of God. The world’s criteria is clear, but in the kingdom it is simple- Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
9:30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it;
9:31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again."
9:32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
9:33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"
9:34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
9:35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
9:36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Who Do You Think Jesus Is?

Sermon-year b-Proper 19, Sept. 13, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
When my father died, someone asked me if I was going to change my name. I am John Hagan, Jr. Supposedly it is the only time that a man ever changes his name. You can drop the junior. I don’t know if it’s true, but that is what I have heard. So I thought long and hard about that. Did I want to drop this last piece of my name, since senior was no longer alive. I could see the value in that. But then I thought, “that would somehow be disloyal to my dad-it would be like saying he didn’t exist.” So, I decided that I will be junior up to my grave. I was afraid that by changing my name, somehow, dropping the junior, I would be saying that my dad never existed. I know how silly that sounds. But these little things, what we call people, what names we use, can mean a lot. Last week I was in Georgia for a couple of days. Kyle, my stepson and I went to a lot of places together. He had to introduce me to a lot of people. Sometimes he would say , “this is my dad”, sometimes he would say, “this is my stepfather.” I have been in Kyle’s life since he was 9. His father is still very much alive and is also very much a part of Kyle’s life, so I know this has to make him pause about what to call me. His father and I for much of his life, have both acted as a parent. And I know he doesn’t want to be disloyal to his father, whom he loves very much. We ve never talked about it, it’s just understood. It’s hard sometimes knowing what name to use for people-we don’t want them to misunderstand.
Names are important. Titles are important. They define us. They say to us-and to the world, what we believe about life, about ourselves. It is not by accident that the first two weeks of our Adult Forum are devoted to the topic, “What Episcopalians Believe”. How we think of ourselves, how we describe ourselves, what we call ourselves, can mean everything.
In today’s gospel Jesus is in Caesarea Philippi-a Roman town named after the emperor in the region of Galilee. He turns to his followers and asks them,
"Who do people say that I am?". I don’t know if you remember, but 2 months ago, in chapter 6 of Mark, Herod the king was asked the same question. Hearing about Jesus Herod wanted to know who he was. 6:14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him."6:15 But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."6:16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."
So here is Jesus asking the disciples, “ And they answered him (much like the people around Herod), "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.". All these were great men in Israel’s life, and the disciples were guessing that maybe Jesus was one of these legendary heroes that they ha d heard about. Jesus doesn’t answer, or deny, he simply asks his follower’s leader, Peter, "But who do you say that I am?" And that is the question. Who do we think Jesus is? One commentator that I was reading said that our answer says a lot more about us, than it does about Jesus. So who do we think we are? Herod, out of guilt and fear at killing the prophet replied that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him, Peter-out of hope and excitement in this Roman occupied city, comes back with “you are the anointed one who will rescue Israel from its oppressors”. Our answers tend to say a lot more about us, than they do about Jesus.
So who do you say Jesus is? A comforter? A rescuer? Someone who makes us feel guilty about your life, or ashamed of your choices? Someone who constantly forgives you, or lifts you, or holds you? Who do you say Jesus is? What does your answer say20about you?
This chapter marks the turning point in the gospel of Mark, from here on out, Jesus will begin teaching about who he is. And about who a follower will be. Up till now, Jesus has been healing, chasing demons, helping folks in misery, “fixing” people and their lives. But beginning with this story, things will change. It’s as if he has been exceeding everyone’s expectations up til now. But from here on out-he disappoints and offends. Now he begins a new journey. The powerful, strong, commanding Jesus starts to disappear. A new Jesus emerges-and beginning with Peter-people don’t always approve. Peter, as always, is the first. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. A more accurate way to understand this verse is, And Peter took him aside and began to cast out the demon in Jesus.” Jesus tells Peter that he the true messiah must suffer and die. And this wasn’t what Peter wanted in a messiah. And on a lot of days, Jesus isn’t what I want, either. He doesn’t do what I want, he doesn’t always rescue and protect, he doesn’t give me all that I hope for. Have you ever disappointed your family, your friends? Have you ever been in a place where the people who are closest to you come up and told you that you let them down? Or maybe even failed them? It is a terrible place to be.
There is a story told about the great psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. After giving an address in Melbourne, Australia he was given a boomerang as a gift. He commented that the boomerang reminded him of our human existence. People assume that the function of the boomerang is to return to the thrower, he said. But the real function of the boomerang to hit the target and to return to the thrower only if it misses the target.
The boomerang, the toy we all grew up playing with, only comes back if it fails.
Who do people say you are? Ask someone today. Think about it. Think back in your life-what have people said about you. Who do people say you are?
Peter probably never met John the Baptist, certainly never knew Elijah, or had met any of the Old Testament prophets. He had only heard of them. But he knew Jesus. He had watched him, and listened to him, walked with him, and learned from him. Every title people tried to come up with about Jesus seemed to come up short, because they were based on what they thought great people were like. But Peter knew Jesus. And he realized that the only title that really fit-was savior, messiah. It is ironic that Peter gets the name right, but when the rubber hits the road, all Peter can say is, “you’re not doing it right.” That is what we will hear for the next several weeks-Jesus trying to help people understand what his name means, who he really is, what he is about. It’s all about names. No, it’s more than that, it’s all about understanding-and recognition. It’s about throwing the boomerang and seeing if we hit something-or if it comes back.
When we call someone a name, sometimes it says more about us, than it does about them. Perhaps the name we choose, tells us more about who we are than who the other person is.
A monk rode an ox into town and came to a group of people. The people asked him, “What are you looking for, monk?” He said, “I am looking for an ox.” They all laughed. He rode his ox to the next group of people. They asked him, “What are you looking for, monk?” He said, “I am looking for an ox.” They all laughed.&nb sp; He rode his ox to a third group of people. They asked him, “What are you looking for, monk?” He said, “I am looking for an ox.” They said, “This is ridiculous. You are a man riding an ox looking for an ox.” The monk said, “So it is with you looking for God.” (John Shea, The Legend of the Bells and Other Tales: Stories of the Human Spirit [Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1996], 111-12).
We are at a turning point in the gospel of Mark. From here on out Jesus will frustrate people more and more because he tries to get people to see the ox that they are riding. Who do you say that Jesus is?