October 4, 2015ON THE WAY – 4. A Theology of Relativity
Mark 9:38-50
A Statement About the UCC Shootings
At 10:30 on the morning of Oct 1, a 26 year old student opened fire on his English class at Umpqua Community College; killing nine, wounding nine others, and unleashing shock waves of terror and grief that reverberate through the campus community, the families of victims and wounded, the community at large, the nation, and the world. We gather for worship today, stunned and sorrowful and angry and incredulous.
How could something like this happen here? How can something like this happen anywhere? Why have these tragic stories become so commonplace in the United States? One of our conference campus ministers tells me there have been 45 mass shootings in our country this year alone.... 45!
We know the who, what, when and where of this awful episode. We don't fully know the why.
Why? …They continue to look for answers.
Why? …
- Our society’s growing inclinations to settle into extreme, bellicose, unyielding stances and to pursue violence as a valid way of resolving our differences…
- our valuing of individualism over against community…
- the cultivation of fear and mistrust and anger in our social media and public discourse...
- our isolation of the mentally ill…
- our cultural disconnect from a holiness that is both gracious and virtuous, as well as pure...
…these things settle about like a “gasoline,” and guns are the “match”! Please don't tell me that these inflamed killings of innocents have only to do with the “gasoline” or are only about the “match.” Both are required to combust in these horrible acts of carnage.
We live in a far from perfect world and it is true that someone hell-bent on killing others for whatever reason will look for the means to do so. Perhaps they are ultimately unpreventable. As a follower of Jesus, however, I am one who wonders why we should make such demented, malevolent schemes easier with easy access to firearms. We can do better. We must do better.
As a nation, we must find the political will and wisdom to address gun violence and the factors that fuel it. As the people of Jesus Christ, we must persistently and consistently proclaim and live a gospel that is powerful enough to transform hearts grown cold by neglect or ideology, or consumed with hatred and fear. Otherwise what do we have to offer this world other than the same old, same old?
It's human nature for us to focus on the evil that has struck our community. We can’t help but focus on it. It engulfs us. But we are also a people of faith, and I would draw our attention also to the work of God's amazing grace that embraces us and keeps us from being swept away.
We are not alone. Not only does the Risen Christ stand at our side, but we also have one another; a fellowship of suffering and hope, bound not by grief alone but by compassion and care. The worst of human nature is met by the best. We are hugged by words of sympathy, and concern, and support, and prayer from people all over the nation and world.
This morning we stand with our community, our community's college, and our community’s families who mourn their dead and hold vigil over wounded loved ones. We thank God for the first responders who placed themselves in harm's way, for the quick thinking students and faculty and staff who safeguarded numerous lives, for the medical teams and the counselors who work tirelessly to bring relief, healing and comfort to those who suffer such intense pain physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And as representatives of the Great Physician, we will look for ways to do our part to bring hope, consolation and grace to our community.
We take some moments now to lift up our silent prayers to our good and gracious God, and I will close with a prayer from The United Methodist Service of Death and Resurrection.
Let us pray...
O God, who gave us birth and gifts us with rebirth,
you are ever more ready to hear
than we are to pray.
You know our needs before we ask,
and our ignorance in asking.
Give to us now you grace,
that as we shrink before the mystery of death,
we may see the light of eternity.
Speak to us once more
your solemn message of life and death.
Help us to live as those who are prepared to die.
And when our days here are accomplished,
enable us to die as those who go forth to live,
so that living or dying, our life may be in you,
and that nothing in life or death
will be able to separate us
from your great love in Christ Jesus.
God of us all, your love never ends.
When all else fails us, you still are God.
We pray to you for one another in our need,
and for all, anywhere, who mourn with us this day.
To those who doubt, give light;
to those who are weak, strength;
to all who sorrow, your peace.
Keep true in us
your love with which we hold one another.
In all of our ways we trust you.
Amen
Preface to the Word
[YouTube video of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” UNICEF World Version.]
Words to the song…
Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try
No hell below us, above us only sky
Imagine all the people, living for today...
Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too
Imagine all the people, living life in peace...
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you will join us, and the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people, sharing all the world...
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you will join us, and the world will live as one
Persons of my generation who grew up with the music of the Beatles, recognize this song immediately as John Lennon’s classic: “Imagine.”It was releasedon October 11, 1971 and quickly climbed to the top of the charts. Its message, which asks us to imagine a place where things that divide people (such as religion, nationalism, possessions, etc.) did not exist, has captured hearts and minds of dreamers over the last few decades, becoming something of a theme song for world peace. Some argue with the particular sentiments expressed in the poetry. Some dismiss it as too simplistic or naïve. But “Imagine” still inspires those who dare to imagine a different world, a better world…
Today is called World Communion Sunday and the people of Christ gather around the one table of our Lord,set in a world fractured by strained relationships. We need to be able to imagine a different world, a better world. We need to hear again an ancient song,a God-breathed song, our Lord’s song; a song echoedin the poetry of “Imagine.” Can we, as the people of Christ, imagine a community of grace in which relationships are so utterly different than they tend to be inthe world around us?Can we imagine that the first are not first and the last are not last? Can we imagine no thrones of oppression, no forces trained in the art of conquest? Can we imagine that the dividing lines between us are not so carved in stone? Can we imagine a kingdom of God that is not so much about doors and walls and gates and hall passes, but rather is built upon the foundations of grace?
What if the Realm of God is organized by altogether different principles than those we have grown so accustomed to: Whoever isn’t against us is in; whoever gives us a cup of water is in, whoever tries to keep a little one out might as well be drowned in the sea?
Imagine!
Scripture Reading: Mark 9:38-50
Sermon:I.
- The themes of the verses we just heard from Markmay seem disconnected and disjointed, as if Mark took some separate sayings of Jesus and patched them together, but there is a common thread that runs through them all…that common thread being relationships, or more specifically, the nature of relationships in God’s kingdom.
- I’ll just cut to the quick and tell you what I see as the primary truths in today’s scripture lesson. First of all, Jesus confronts his disciples because of their overzealous gatekeeping. Last week, when we studied the verses just before this passage, Jesus tried to teach his followers, who had been arguing with each other about which was a better disciple than the others, about elitism. Now he is trying to teach them about exclusivity. Who is in and who is out is not something to obsess over… but obsess we do!
- “Whoever isn’t against us is for us,” Jesus said in Mark 9:40. For those who care about the boundaries between being a Christian and a non-Christian or between being a true Christian and a confused Christian, this teaching of Jesus sounds like theological oatmeal. Doesn’t it matter that this unknown healer using Jesus’ name to cast out demons wasn’t even associated with Jesus or his followers?
- You know, one thing we can always do when we run into a Bible passage we don’t particularly like is to rummage around the Bible until we find another verse that seems to make an opposite point. It looks as though Matthew 12:30 does that with this verse in Mark. In Matthew Jesus says something very different: “Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters.”
Mark’s Jesus seems to plead for openness. Matthew’s Jesus seems to exclude.
But maybe there isn’t really a big contradiction here, after all. In Mark, Jesus says, “Whoever isn’t against us is for us.” He says “us,” and the “us” refers to his disciples. In Matthew, Jesus says, “Whoever isn’t with me is against me. The “me” refers to Jesus himself. Each comment is saying something different, but the overriding message is that it’s okay for those who are not a part of your group to do the work of Jesus, but it is not okay to work against Jesus himself or against what he represents!So lighten up on those who are not a part of your religious tribe, and be careful that youyourself are actually standing with Jesus in your actions and thoughts.
- The important question becomes, “Are you sure you’re on Jesus’ side?”Maybe what Jesus is saying here is that what ultimately mattersin the kingdom of God is not that our head is straight on “correct” doctrine or “right” theology, or that we pledgeour allegiance to the one true church or the one pure group.
The main thing is that we are actually with Jesus.
- But how do we do that? How do we know we are with Jesus and not against him? That’s the issue. I suggest that Jesus’ own life sets the standard for our discipleship. Can we find anywhere in the Gospels that Jesus accepts his disciples on the basis of having correct doctrine, or Jesus insists that they recite a creed as his followers? No. “Follow me,” is his simple invitation. In this story from Mark, Jesus urges his disciples not to worry about outsiders accomplishing his deeds of power and ministry, but to get on his side; namely, the side of those who match words of faith with deeds of grace and mercy, who are ready to be amazed and to rejoice whenever kingdom work is done regardless who is doing the good work.
Knowing that Jesus’ kingdom of God is much larger than our church’s limited definitions, we should expect Christ’sliving presence expressed in a rich variety of ways inside and outside our church (and perhaps even by those who would not claim a religious affiliation at all).
“Whoever is not against us is for us.”
II.
- Then there are these confounding words about cutting off hands and feet and plucking out eyes. Is Jesus serious? Friends, this is not the place to interpret Jesus’ literally! Jesus is addressing the disciples’ own stumbling, their tripping over their own feet and tongues. Their spiritual slowness(represented by the foot), their spiritual clumsiness (represented by the hand), their spiritual blindness (represented by the eye) are potential hazards not only to others, but to themselves. Remove these spiritual infirmities!
I wonder. Could Jesus be saying to his people as they gather around his table today that anydistrust, accusations, and maligning of the other – in the pointing fingers, the kicking feet, the glaring eyes – is an extreme danger to our own spiritual life?
- And there’s this saying about salt and fire. This is also about the nature of relationships in God’s kingdom. Both salt and fire were forms of purification in the ancient world. As a way of reinforcing his comments about amputating those parts of our character that make us spiritually slow, clumsy and blind, Jesus says that his followers are to take whatever extreme measures are necessary to purify themselves in a way that makes for peace. Whatever it takes!
- How we can manage to be at peace with each other in a combative, violent, dog-eat-dog world is, of course, the perennial question.
Back in the sixth century, a teacher by the name of Dorotheos of Gaza took up this question in a sermon. The monks in his monastery, like the followers of Jesus before and since, were just a little too focused on comparative, competitive holiness and were having a hard time tolerating each other. So here’s what Dorotheos said:
“Imagine the world as a great circle and at the center is God. Around the perimeter of the circle, imagine individual human lives.
“Now, imagine that there are straight lines connecting from the outside of the circle all human lives to God at the center,”Dorotheos preached. “Can’t you see that there is no way to move closer to God without drawing closer to the other people, and no way to approach people without coming near to God?”
- Friends, that’s the way it is for those who follow Jesus into the kingdom of God.
With what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
- The kingdom of God is more like red rover, red rover than musical chairs!
- The kingdom of God is more like a conga line than a scrimmage line.
- Perhaps, the better metaphor to use today on this World Communion Sunday is that the kingdom of God is more like a huge family dinner table than a cafeteria line.
Imagine!