Tell Me Again, Lord
A Sermon Presented at
San Leandro Community Church
by tammy nelson
9/27/09
Lectionary Text: Mark 9:38-50
Will you pray with me? Bring your sacred story to life in our hearing and in our hearts, O Lord. Amen.
The story is told that:
Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and gathered them around Him. And He taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are you who thirst for justice, Blessed are you who are persecuted, Blessed are the peacemakers . . .
And Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this stuff down?"
And Phillip said, "Will this be on the test?"
And John said, "I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating that?"
And Andrew said, "John the Baptist's disciples don't have to learn this stuff!"
And Matthew said, "Huh?"
And Judas said, "What does this have to do with real life?"
Then, one of the Pharisees, and expert in the law said, "I don't see any of this in your syllabus. Do you have a lesson plan? Is there a summary? Where is the student guide? Will there be any follow-up assignments? How will this affect the bell curve?"
And Thomas, who had missed the sermon, came to Jesus privately and said, "Did we do anything important yesterday?"
And Jesus wept.
Okay, so maybe there’s no documented evidence to suggest that this exact scene ever occurred between the disciples and Jesus, but today’s lectionary text suggests that Jesus certainly had his moments of frustration with disciples who just don’t get it, people who are so caught up with the unimportant details that they are missing the bigger picture.
But, what do we do with verses like we have at the end of today’s reading? How does this image fit in with our ideas of what Jesus taught? (pause for answers if any are forthcoming if not proceed as if you intended it that way.)
Like we humans tend to do, we like to categorize, and so we have put Jesus in a box. We have domesticated him, if you will. Here’s Jesus, in his early thirties, loves kids, is a good shepherd, great story teller, loves everybody. But we forget that he was seen as a revolutionary, he angered the religious leaders, and he kept turning ideas of power and authority on their head, so much so that even his Disciples only really understood his meaning after he rose from the dead. And even then, through the years they needed to be reminded. Even still, we need to be reminded.
For us to get an understanding of what exactly the bigger picture in today’s lectionary text is, we should really be looking at it in context with the passage immediately before. So if you don’t mind, I will catch you up on the Days of Our Lord’s Disciples before we get up to our eyeballs in today’s text.
Previously in the Days of Our Lord’s Disciples...
Jesus had cast out a demon in a child for whom the Disciples were unable to offer aid. Immediately after this, Jesus decided it was time to take his Disciples away for a little student-teacher alone time. He had very important things to share with them about his upcoming death and resurrection. Unfortunately, the disciples, having seen Jesus recent displays of power and healing were more interested in arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest and who would sit next to Jesus in the coming kingdom.
When Jesus asked them if they understood what he was telling them, the Disciples were too embarrassed to speak up and admit that they did not understand what he had told them. Jesus, knowing their hearts (and probably the Disciples were not being as subtle as they thought) confronted them about their discussion when they arrived at the house where they were staying. He was met with a rather sheepish silence, but instead of yelling at his disciples or throwing his hands up and rolling his eyes heavenward, he sees a teaching opportunity.
He sits down, and the Disciples know something is about the happen because that’s how rabbis are supposed to teach. But then he has to go and turn things on their head again by taking a child and pulling her into his arms and talking about welcoming this little one being the same as welcoming him and not just him but God as well! Welcome with no thought of repayment; finding our place by being God’s welcome.
And now on with our story...
Today’s reading actually picks up right where we just left off. Jesus is still cradling the child in his arms, he’s just told the disciples about the topsy turvey new hierarchy in the kingdom of God. And suddenly the silence is broken by John who blurts out, “We ran into some guy casting out demons in your name, but we put a stop to that. He wasn’t one of US.”
I can almost imagine Jesus slapping his forehead and shaking he head in disbelief. He had just been telling them about the radical ideal of welcome in his kingdom and somehow they missed the bigger picture once again. Before, they had missed it because they were jockeying for position and trying to find their place in the kingdom. This time, they were so concerned with who was “in” and who was “out” of their group that they missed the amazing work being done for the Kingdom of God. This time they had actually hindered the work of God by stopping someone from using their God given gifts.
Since obviously his gentle teaching had been falling on deaf ears, Jesus chose to use a more vivid and evocative image to impress upon his disciples, his closest followers, the importance of radical hospitality, incarnational welcome, or loving your neighbor as yourself. His disciples were so distracted by the idea of power to be grasped that they missed an important lesson. His closest followers were so caught up in their perception of who belonged to their group that they not only messed up, but they caused someone else to stumble too. So Jesus gave them a wake up call.
If you embody the ideals of radical hospitality, incarnational welcome or loving your neighbor as yourself, then you won’t be a stumbling block for others. You will take time to look at one another through God’s eyes, treat all persons with respect and always be open to the idea that God has a few surprises still in store. Respond in love at all times because the world is watching. And they will know we are Christians by our love. May it be so. Amen
The story is told that:
Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and gathered them around Him. And He taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are you who thirst for justice, Blessed are you who are persecuted, Blessed are the peacemakers . . .
And Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this stuff down?"
And Phillip said, "Will this be on the test?"
And John said, "I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating that?"
And Andrew said, "John the Baptist's disciples don't have to learn this stuff!"
And Matthew said, "Huh?"
And Judas said, "What does this have to do with real life?"
Then, one of the Pharisees, and expert in the law said, "I don't see any of this in your syllabus. Do you have a lesson plan? Is there a summary? Where is the student guide? Will there be any follow-up assignments? How will this affect the bell curve?"
And Thomas, who had missed the sermon, came to Jesus privately and said, "Did we do anything important yesterday?"
And Jesus wept.
Okay, so maybe there’s no documented evidence to suggest that this exact scene ever occurred between the disciples and Jesus, but today’s lectionary text suggests that Jesus certainly had his moments of frustration with disciples who just don’t get it, people who are so caught up with the unimportant details that they are missing the bigger picture.
But, what do we do with verses like we have at the end of today’s reading? How does this image fit in with our ideas of what Jesus taught? (pause for answers if any are forthcoming if not proceed as if you intended it that way.)
Like we humans tend to do, we like to categorize, and so we have put Jesus in a box. We have domesticated him, if you will. Here’s Jesus, in his early thirties, loves kids, is a good shepherd, great story teller, loves everybody. But we forget that he was seen as a revolutionary, he angered the religious leaders, and he kept turning ideas of power and authority on their head, so much so that even his Disciples only really understood his meaning after he rose from the dead. And even then, through the years they needed to be reminded. Even still, we need to be reminded.
For us to get an understanding of what exactly the bigger picture in today’s lectionary text is, we should really be looking at it in context with the passage immediately before. So if you don’t mind, I will catch you up on the Days of Our Lord’s Disciples before we get up to our eyeballs in today’s text.
Previously in the Days of Our Lord’s Disciples...
Jesus had cast out a demon in a child for whom the Disciples were unable to offer aid. Immediately after this, Jesus decided it was time to take his Disciples away for a little student-teacher alone time. He had very important things to share with them about his upcoming death and resurrection. Unfortunately, the disciples, having seen Jesus recent displays of power and healing were more interested in arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest and who would sit next to Jesus in the coming kingdom.
When Jesus asked them if they understood what he was telling them, the Disciples were too embarrassed to speak up and admit that they did not understand what he had told them. Jesus, knowing their hearts (and probably the Disciples were not being as subtle as they thought) confronted them about their discussion when they arrived at the house where they were staying. He was met with a rather sheepish silence, but instead of yelling at his disciples or throwing his hands up and rolling his eyes heavenward, he sees a teaching opportunity.
He sits down, and the Disciples know something is about the happen because that’s how rabbis are supposed to teach. But then he has to go and turn things on their head again by taking a child and pulling her into his arms and talking about welcoming this little one being the same as welcoming him and not just him but God as well! Welcome with no thought of repayment; finding our place by being God’s welcome.
And now on with our story...
Today’s reading actually picks up right where we just left off. Jesus is still cradling the child in his arms, he’s just told the disciples about the topsy turvey new hierarchy in the kingdom of God. And suddenly the silence is broken by John who blurts out, “We ran into some guy casting out demons in your name, but we put a stop to that. He wasn’t one of US.”
I can almost imagine Jesus slapping his forehead and shaking he head in disbelief. He had just been telling them about the radical ideal of welcome in his kingdom and somehow they missed the bigger picture once again. Before, they had missed it because they were jockeying for position and trying to find their place in the kingdom. This time, they were so concerned with who was “in” and who was “out” of their group that they missed the amazing work being done for the Kingdom of God. This time they had actually hindered the work of God by stopping someone from using their God given gifts.
Since obviously his gentle teaching had been falling on deaf ears, Jesus chose to use a more vivid and evocative image to impress upon his disciples, his closest followers, the importance of radical hospitality, incarnational welcome, or loving your neighbor as yourself. His disciples were so distracted by the idea of power to be grasped that they missed an important lesson. His closest followers were so caught up in their perception of who belonged to their group that they not only messed up, but they caused someone else to stumble too. So Jesus gave them a wake up call.
If you embody the ideals of radical hospitality, incarnational welcome or loving your neighbor as yourself, then you won’t be a stumbling block for others. You will take time to look at one another through God’s eyes, treat all persons with respect and always be open to the idea that God has a few surprises still in store. Respond in love at all times because the world is watching. And they will know we are Christians by our love. May it be so. Amen