Year B, Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 29, 2024
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9-22, Psalm 124, James 5:13-20, Mark 9:38-50
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“Serving in the Power of Love”
The Very Rev. Kathleen Murray, Rector
Historic Beckford Parish, Mt. Jackson & Woodstock
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C (Proper 21)
September 29, 2024
Today’s gospel lesson continues from last week’s gospel. And it’s not just the next scene—it’s part of the same message. Last week, we heard about how the disciples argued about who was the greatest. Jesus teaches them that being the greatest doesn’t matter at all, and he shows them a powerless and neglected child who is a real example of how to welcome God. It’s not about winning; it’s about serving and welcoming.
I like taking detours from established, main routes. Sometimes, it’s a beautiful drive, and sometimes, I drive in circles or take far longer to get to my destination than I should. If they had let me drive the bus on our trip out west, I can only imagine where we might have ended up. I assure you I would have at least gotten to tick Idaho off the list of states I have visited.
But I’d probably still be better off than the disciples.
When the disciples tattle to Jesus about those other folks who are healing in Jesus’ name, they are in danger of taking an unnecessary detour off the main route, just like I do. In my mind, they sound like the genius in my 4th-grade class, and he was a genius who would purposely raise his and to the wrong answer to see who else would follow suit.
Can you hear the disciples? Jesus turns to them impatiently, and they intone with that know-it-all edge: “Jesus! Those people over there, the ones we don‘t know? They are healing and casting out demons, but not how we do it. Make them stop before they ruin everything.
Jesus says, “No.” Nope.
Jesus tells the disciples and us that not only is it NOT the most powerful and prestigious person who is first in the Kingdom of God, but that some winning team does not bring the Kingdom.
This man in the Gospel reading was unknown to the disciples, a stranger, and they didn’t trust him—how could he be casting out demons in the name of Jesus? The disciples knew how special Jesus was, and they felt pretty special being his followers. John, one of the inner circle, took it upon himself to put this guy in his place. After all, it was Peter, Andrew, James, and John who were called by Jesus, not this unknown. John saw his special relationship with Jesus as a reason to forbid the man from healing.
We live in a world that needs healing. If God is to heal the conflict in our country and our world, it will take far more than our intelligence, teaching, effort, or opinions. The salvation of this world will come from more than one community. Prayer is powerful; it changes things, and it heals.
But it is not just the prayers of one person that God uses, but of all creation.
Let’s go back and remember the part of this reading that we heard last week; it’s right before this week’s reading in the Gospel of Mark: “Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'”[1] It is the care and healing of those who are powerless, neglected, and ignored that Jesus cares about. He’s still holding the child when he says to the disciples, “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.”[2]
Being a Christian is not about being on the winning team; it is about being humble enough to serve. Christian humility is having the confidence to stand for the gospel of service and honest generosity in welcoming Christ, who came for us and gave his life on the cross.
Jesus tells them to worry about themselves, not what others are doing—especially when those other folks do nothing against Jesus. If they continue on their detour, they, as individuals and as a community, might end up anchored to a millstone.
As I read this passage in light of the stark polarization of our times, I’m not sure how much has changed. It only takes the briefest of glances to notice that the church has not escaped this polarization but instead has allowed itself to be defined almost entirely by the terms of the current political climate. Christian leaders on the left and right – try to set the standards of what constitutes genuine faith: “You cannot be a Christian if you….” You can fill in the blank. It doesn’t take long to realize that both sides are fighting over who has the power to bear the name of Christ.
How often do we create obstacles for one another? How often do we create barriers to the Good News of Jesus Christ? It’s important to check our own behaviors. Today’s reading from the Letter of James offers guidance in that realm: “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”[3]
Sometimes, our lack of humility leads us to think we get to decide whose faith is stronger than another’s. As many others have suggested, I suspect the disciples weren’t upset about demons being cast out. The disciples were upset because they were being cast out by someone who wasn’t them. They thought they had a corner on the Jesus movement, and these other people weren’t part of it. Maybe it even goes back to who gets the credit, who is the greatest, who is first among the disciples.
Too often, we try to control who is empowered to do God’s work, as the disciples did. Remember that those who serve in Jesus’ name will be drawn into deeper friendship with him. The standards are clear in Mark’s gospel: those who give the cup of water find their reward. Those who are not against Jesus are for him.
A lot of time and space separates us from Jesus’ disciples and even more from Esther, and yet, we share, I believe, I hope, the longing to be faithful people of God despite the pressures that surround us constantly. So, how do we learn to live as Jesus would have us live? How do we cultivate and nurture a strong sense of who we are and what we believe, and then literally step out in faith, outside our comfort zones, in this world? How do we remain faithful to God, who has created and given us life?
We can look to Esther and James to give up our fears, pride, arrogance, and prejudice. All these are stumbling blocks. Jesus’s exaggerated hyperbole about removing stumbling blocks is meant to get his disciples’ attention and make us realize that following Christ and carrying the cross is important business.
No, we don’t need to cut off hands and feet and cut out eyes, but we do have to cast off whatever is keeping us from a deeper relationship with God. We do need to cut out what keeps us from being the complete and whole person God has created us to be.
A strong community enhances the lives of its members. As a church community, we are bound together, not by convictions, but by the fundamental issues of human existence: what we believe most deeply, what gives value and meaning to our existence.
Here’s what I know. We are called to follow Christ. Jesus is not interested in who is in control—he is interested in the healing of this world. “No one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
When you find yourself in a trying place, trust in a higher power.
Let us leave here today in the love and faith of Jesus Christ, remembering in the words of Jenny Worth, the young nurse who, in real life, went to the East Poplar community in London in the 1950s and who wrote the book the BBC series, “Call the Midwife,” is based upon. “Love and faith is to be given and received, not judged or measured, but embraced and celebrated.” Love is to be given and received, not judged or measured, but embraced and celebrated. And let us leave today and do a deed of power in Jesus’ name. Amen.
[1] Mark 9:37, New Revised Standard Version (“NRSV”)
[2] Mark 9:42, NRSV
[3] James 5:16, NRSV