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."