At the prospect of speaking on a passage like the one we just heard from Mark’s Gospel, I have to
admit that I’m tempted first to throw my hands up and say, “Jesus said it, not me!” His words are
pretty provocative, especially by today’s standards. Here Jesus, true to his character, doesn’t mince
words in presenting us with the stakes of His, and our, mission on this earth. They’re jarring words,
but I think it’s important from time to time to honestly confront the reality that, in one way or another,
life continues on after this one.
We walk a line in some ways between rays of sweet hope and a shadow of unspoken fear. C. S.
Lewis writes, “All your life unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your
consciousness.” And then he adds, “The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope,
that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.”
Lewis put it another way when walking with a friend through a graveyard in England. They came
upon a gravestone carved with the epitaph “Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.”
Without hesitation Lewis quipped, “I bet he wishes that were true.”
I think that our Gospel passage is best understood in light of some ideas we’ve been kicking around
for several weeks. I think it’s very reasonable to see the spreading of the gospel as a sweeping
rescue mission to save humanity from the fatal effects of human rebellion. Now some have
characterized Christianity as an exclusive and self-promoting religion. Because we believe that
Jesus provides the way, the way to reconciliation with God, some tend to suspect that we have some
ulterior motive of power or “religious imperialism.”
But I think it’s all of our responsibility to correct this misunderstanding and emphasize what
Christianity really is about. What our faith is about is not about power or influence, but Jesus himself,
and what He’s done for all of us on this earth. We proclaim Christ crucified. It’s about His being the
One who opens a doorway back into the Father’s loving and longing presence, and away from the
greed, violence, immorality, and injustice of a world infected by sin. Jesus came to rescue us, and
now we, too, are part of the rescue mission. The question is: Are we then willing, faithful and united
as we work together with the others who are on this rescue team?
You see, this rescue operation, as exciting and wonderful as it is, carries with it a great deal of
urgency. The stakes are very high. And today Jesus himself uses striking and even frightening
language to emphasize just how life-and-death this struggle is. But he begins by saying something
to his disciples that I think many of us might find a little surprising. As Jesus and the disciples are
conversing in a house in Capernaum, John says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in
your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t one of us.”
And Jesus replies, “Hey, great job, John, you stopped that huckster from encroaching on our
ministry! Well done!” Is that what He says? No, he says, “John, don’t 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.” Wow. Kind of an attention-getter. But here I think it’s important to take a broad view of
Jesus’ words and the words of the New Testament writers to help us to understand this teaching.
Does Jesus mean that anyone who uses His name in any way is automatically on the team? I have to
think that that’s not what He’s saying. Remember that Jesus warned people about lightly using the
Lord’s name and expecting unconditional blessing. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says, "Not everyone
who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly,
`I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”
So I think Jesus is driving at something other than unconditionally embracing any and all who invoke
His name in any way. Rather, I think that Jesus understands the human heart well enough to know
that our desire to serve Him can be infected by pride and elitism. I mean, think back to last week’s
Gospel passage. On their walk to Capernaum the disciples had just finished squabbling over which
one of them is the greatest. Another one of those “oy, vey” moments for Jesus in which maybe he
questioned his choice of protégés.
But it’s not just the disciples. Think about what we do. In Protestantism we’ve splintered into
hundreds of separate denominations because we can’t abide worshipping in the same room as
people who differ on some arguable detail of doctrine. “What?! You believe that the bread and wine
become efficacious only after the epiclesis and not after the words of institution? We’re outta here,
you heretics!”
Garrison Keillor writes tongue-in-cheek about the sect he grew up in, which he thinly disguises
under the name “Sanctified Brethren.” This group of several hundred people see themselves as the
last authentic remnant of the One True Church. It’s pretty hilarious until we realize how accurately
this describes many denominations. I’m thankful that, for the most part, in Anglicanism we haven’t
historically majored in the minors. There hasn’t been a lot of insistent nitpicking on genuinely
debatable matters.
Or sometimes politics is the source of our pride and divisiveness. We have trouble imagining that
someone with red, or blue, leanings could possibly be a true Christian—“one of us.” Right? Jesus
sees this contentious and prideful streak in us, and says, “Don’t judge others who genuinely share
your belief that I am Lord. Don’t let your personal and often irrelevant agenda get in the way of the
unity of those who constitute my rescue team. Forget about party names; we’re in this together.”
OK? “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
And to cement this notion of solidarity Jesus says, “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink
because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” This, of course, doesn’t
mean we should all rush out and chase after the nearest Christian with a bottle of Crystal Geyser so
we won’t lose our reward. I think it’s just Jesus’ way of saying that support and team
membership sometimes appear in unexpected forms. But now we come to the hard stuff. One of
those new, popular language Bibles might cheerily title this section something like: “Millstones and
maiming.”
This is where Jesus uses some of His strongest language to stress that our rescue operation is not
a parlor game, but the final phase of a genuine war against evil. Jesus has already won the war by
defeating sin through his death and defeating death through his resurrection. But the rescue
operation continues until Jesus returns. And Jesus is saying that we must never, ever do anything to
obstruct it.
First we must never obstruct the rescue of others. This involves making certain that we never
interfere with another’s saving faith in Jesus. Jesus says, “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.”
Again, a few words of explanation are in order. When he uses the phrase “little ones”, Jesus isn’t
just talking about kids. He’s also talking about the humble in spirit—those whose faith has the
childlike simplicity that he values so much. If we interfere with their faith, there’s no way around the
reality that we’re in trouble. What are some of the ways we can interfere with the faith of one of
these little ones? Well, we can do so by using human arguments to convince them that their faith is
false, or primitive, or naïve. This happens a lot in academic settings, and unfortunately, even
happens in many seminaries. It’s noteworthy that, even in Jesus’ time it was often the great and
learned, like the scribes and Pharisees, who rejected him. It’s still happening.
Or we can interfere more subtly by ignoring or revising those parts of the Christian faith that are
hard for us to understand. By using often questionable human reasoning to change God’s
unchangeable word. To echo the words of the serpent in the Garden of Eden by saying, “Surely
God couldn’t have meant that.” And we can interfere with others’ faith by not living into our own faith.
By living a life in stark contrast to the things we recite on Sundays. By carrying the banner of Christ,
yet exploiting or harming others in our selfishness or greed. James has been warning us over the
past several weeks about putting our faith into the right kind of action.`You see, Jesus’ words here
are a wake up call that we need to be aware`of how our thoughts, words, and deeds affect others,
and can even compromise the rescue operation in which he wants us to engage.
So do we have to walk the knife-edge of perfection to be accepted by the Lord? Of course not. All of
the New Testament writers are acutely aware of how fallible we are, and the Lord’s willingness to
forgive far exceeds our capacity to sin. But this doesn’t excuse us from being careless, or even
malicious, causing the innocent and trusting to stumble.
The last warning Jesus has for us has to do with obstructing the rescue operation as it applies to
ourselves. You see, just because we’re on the rescue team doesn’t mean we don’t need to be
rescued as well! Again, a little safety tip. Please do not take these last six verses literally. Jesus is
using the technique of hyperbole, using very colorful and strong imagery to make a point. He doesn’
t want us hacking off our limbs or popping out our eyes. Don’t try this at home! One of the Church
Fathers was rumored to have taken Jesus’ words a bit too literally with respect to his own problem of
lust. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Jesus loves us dearly and doesn’t want us to come to
harm. Enough said.
Yet the deepest and most enduring harm we face is spiritual harm. That’s why Jesus says that we
must ruthlessly sacrifice anything that stands in the way of our enjoying the fruits of the kingdom of
God. We must never rationalize sin, but instead confess and repent, and in God’s power direct
ourselves in a straighter and straighter path to the target. Is your job pressuring you to be
dishonest? Then maybe it’s time to look for a new job. Cut off the old one, so to speak. Are you
tempted to lust by images available on the Internet? Then maybe it’s time to upgrade the filters on
your computer or find an accountability group. Do you struggle with mind-altering substances and
hang around with people who use them? Then maybe it’s time to make some hard decisions about
your friends. Make no mistake, these are significant sacrifices.
But the stakes are high. Jesus says it’s better to make a big sacrifice now than to be dragged back
into the slavery of life choices that may result in us walking away from Him, and thus walking away
from life. It’s been said that “no soul is lost until God has thrown His arms about it in eternity and
looked long into its eyes.” God’s grace is unimaginably great. Yet the frightening possibility remains
that this grace may ultimately be rejected. Jesus is encouraging us to do everything in our power,
and in His power, not to flirt with that possibility.
So whether it’s our own rescue at risk or that of others, let us never do anything to obstruct the
rescue operation. Instead, let us embrace our fellow team members in a bond of mutual support,
and faithfully discharge the urgent task that our Lord has given us, this day and always. Please pray
with me.
Dear Father, your Son Jesus before His passion prayed that we might be one. Unite us we pray, in
love and obedience to you, that we may bring the Good News of your saving love to our community
and to the world. Protect us from temptation, so that neither we, nor those around us, will be caused
to fall. Keep us and all the faithful within the safety of your embrace until that day when we are
joined together in the radiance of your eternal kingdom. All this we ask through your Son, our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever. Amen.
admit that I’m tempted first to throw my hands up and say, “Jesus said it, not me!” His words are
pretty provocative, especially by today’s standards. Here Jesus, true to his character, doesn’t mince
words in presenting us with the stakes of His, and our, mission on this earth. They’re jarring words,
but I think it’s important from time to time to honestly confront the reality that, in one way or another,
life continues on after this one.
We walk a line in some ways between rays of sweet hope and a shadow of unspoken fear. C. S.
Lewis writes, “All your life unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your
consciousness.” And then he adds, “The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope,
that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.”
Lewis put it another way when walking with a friend through a graveyard in England. They came
upon a gravestone carved with the epitaph “Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.”
Without hesitation Lewis quipped, “I bet he wishes that were true.”
I think that our Gospel passage is best understood in light of some ideas we’ve been kicking around
for several weeks. I think it’s very reasonable to see the spreading of the gospel as a sweeping
rescue mission to save humanity from the fatal effects of human rebellion. Now some have
characterized Christianity as an exclusive and self-promoting religion. Because we believe that
Jesus provides the way, the way to reconciliation with God, some tend to suspect that we have some
ulterior motive of power or “religious imperialism.”
But I think it’s all of our responsibility to correct this misunderstanding and emphasize what
Christianity really is about. What our faith is about is not about power or influence, but Jesus himself,
and what He’s done for all of us on this earth. We proclaim Christ crucified. It’s about His being the
One who opens a doorway back into the Father’s loving and longing presence, and away from the
greed, violence, immorality, and injustice of a world infected by sin. Jesus came to rescue us, and
now we, too, are part of the rescue mission. The question is: Are we then willing, faithful and united
as we work together with the others who are on this rescue team?
You see, this rescue operation, as exciting and wonderful as it is, carries with it a great deal of
urgency. The stakes are very high. And today Jesus himself uses striking and even frightening
language to emphasize just how life-and-death this struggle is. But he begins by saying something
to his disciples that I think many of us might find a little surprising. As Jesus and the disciples are
conversing in a house in Capernaum, John says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in
your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t one of us.”
And Jesus replies, “Hey, great job, John, you stopped that huckster from encroaching on our
ministry! Well done!” Is that what He says? No, he says, “John, don’t 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.” Wow. Kind of an attention-getter. But here I think it’s important to take a broad view of
Jesus’ words and the words of the New Testament writers to help us to understand this teaching.
Does Jesus mean that anyone who uses His name in any way is automatically on the team? I have to
think that that’s not what He’s saying. Remember that Jesus warned people about lightly using the
Lord’s name and expecting unconditional blessing. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says, "Not everyone
who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly,
`I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”
So I think Jesus is driving at something other than unconditionally embracing any and all who invoke
His name in any way. Rather, I think that Jesus understands the human heart well enough to know
that our desire to serve Him can be infected by pride and elitism. I mean, think back to last week’s
Gospel passage. On their walk to Capernaum the disciples had just finished squabbling over which
one of them is the greatest. Another one of those “oy, vey” moments for Jesus in which maybe he
questioned his choice of protégés.
But it’s not just the disciples. Think about what we do. In Protestantism we’ve splintered into
hundreds of separate denominations because we can’t abide worshipping in the same room as
people who differ on some arguable detail of doctrine. “What?! You believe that the bread and wine
become efficacious only after the epiclesis and not after the words of institution? We’re outta here,
you heretics!”
Garrison Keillor writes tongue-in-cheek about the sect he grew up in, which he thinly disguises
under the name “Sanctified Brethren.” This group of several hundred people see themselves as the
last authentic remnant of the One True Church. It’s pretty hilarious until we realize how accurately
this describes many denominations. I’m thankful that, for the most part, in Anglicanism we haven’t
historically majored in the minors. There hasn’t been a lot of insistent nitpicking on genuinely
debatable matters.
Or sometimes politics is the source of our pride and divisiveness. We have trouble imagining that
someone with red, or blue, leanings could possibly be a true Christian—“one of us.” Right? Jesus
sees this contentious and prideful streak in us, and says, “Don’t judge others who genuinely share
your belief that I am Lord. Don’t let your personal and often irrelevant agenda get in the way of the
unity of those who constitute my rescue team. Forget about party names; we’re in this together.”
OK? “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
And to cement this notion of solidarity Jesus says, “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink
because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” This, of course, doesn’t
mean we should all rush out and chase after the nearest Christian with a bottle of Crystal Geyser so
we won’t lose our reward. I think it’s just Jesus’ way of saying that support and team
membership sometimes appear in unexpected forms. But now we come to the hard stuff. One of
those new, popular language Bibles might cheerily title this section something like: “Millstones and
maiming.”
This is where Jesus uses some of His strongest language to stress that our rescue operation is not
a parlor game, but the final phase of a genuine war against evil. Jesus has already won the war by
defeating sin through his death and defeating death through his resurrection. But the rescue
operation continues until Jesus returns. And Jesus is saying that we must never, ever do anything to
obstruct it.
First we must never obstruct the rescue of others. This involves making certain that we never
interfere with another’s saving faith in Jesus. Jesus says, “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.”
Again, a few words of explanation are in order. When he uses the phrase “little ones”, Jesus isn’t
just talking about kids. He’s also talking about the humble in spirit—those whose faith has the
childlike simplicity that he values so much. If we interfere with their faith, there’s no way around the
reality that we’re in trouble. What are some of the ways we can interfere with the faith of one of
these little ones? Well, we can do so by using human arguments to convince them that their faith is
false, or primitive, or naïve. This happens a lot in academic settings, and unfortunately, even
happens in many seminaries. It’s noteworthy that, even in Jesus’ time it was often the great and
learned, like the scribes and Pharisees, who rejected him. It’s still happening.
Or we can interfere more subtly by ignoring or revising those parts of the Christian faith that are
hard for us to understand. By using often questionable human reasoning to change God’s
unchangeable word. To echo the words of the serpent in the Garden of Eden by saying, “Surely
God couldn’t have meant that.” And we can interfere with others’ faith by not living into our own faith.
By living a life in stark contrast to the things we recite on Sundays. By carrying the banner of Christ,
yet exploiting or harming others in our selfishness or greed. James has been warning us over the
past several weeks about putting our faith into the right kind of action.`You see, Jesus’ words here
are a wake up call that we need to be aware`of how our thoughts, words, and deeds affect others,
and can even compromise the rescue operation in which he wants us to engage.
So do we have to walk the knife-edge of perfection to be accepted by the Lord? Of course not. All of
the New Testament writers are acutely aware of how fallible we are, and the Lord’s willingness to
forgive far exceeds our capacity to sin. But this doesn’t excuse us from being careless, or even
malicious, causing the innocent and trusting to stumble.
The last warning Jesus has for us has to do with obstructing the rescue operation as it applies to
ourselves. You see, just because we’re on the rescue team doesn’t mean we don’t need to be
rescued as well! Again, a little safety tip. Please do not take these last six verses literally. Jesus is
using the technique of hyperbole, using very colorful and strong imagery to make a point. He doesn’
t want us hacking off our limbs or popping out our eyes. Don’t try this at home! One of the Church
Fathers was rumored to have taken Jesus’ words a bit too literally with respect to his own problem of
lust. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Jesus loves us dearly and doesn’t want us to come to
harm. Enough said.
Yet the deepest and most enduring harm we face is spiritual harm. That’s why Jesus says that we
must ruthlessly sacrifice anything that stands in the way of our enjoying the fruits of the kingdom of
God. We must never rationalize sin, but instead confess and repent, and in God’s power direct
ourselves in a straighter and straighter path to the target. Is your job pressuring you to be
dishonest? Then maybe it’s time to look for a new job. Cut off the old one, so to speak. Are you
tempted to lust by images available on the Internet? Then maybe it’s time to upgrade the filters on
your computer or find an accountability group. Do you struggle with mind-altering substances and
hang around with people who use them? Then maybe it’s time to make some hard decisions about
your friends. Make no mistake, these are significant sacrifices.
But the stakes are high. Jesus says it’s better to make a big sacrifice now than to be dragged back
into the slavery of life choices that may result in us walking away from Him, and thus walking away
from life. It’s been said that “no soul is lost until God has thrown His arms about it in eternity and
looked long into its eyes.” God’s grace is unimaginably great. Yet the frightening possibility remains
that this grace may ultimately be rejected. Jesus is encouraging us to do everything in our power,
and in His power, not to flirt with that possibility.
So whether it’s our own rescue at risk or that of others, let us never do anything to obstruct the
rescue operation. Instead, let us embrace our fellow team members in a bond of mutual support,
and faithfully discharge the urgent task that our Lord has given us, this day and always. Please pray
with me.
Dear Father, your Son Jesus before His passion prayed that we might be one. Unite us we pray, in
love and obedience to you, that we may bring the Good News of your saving love to our community
and to the world. Protect us from temptation, so that neither we, nor those around us, will be caused
to fall. Keep us and all the faithful within the safety of your embrace until that day when we are
joined together in the radiance of your eternal kingdom. All this we ask through your Son, our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever. Amen.
Rescue Mission
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 27, 2009
The Rev. Daniel Tuton
The Rev. Daniel Tuton
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