Mark 9:38-50
This, for me, anyway, has been a
fascinating week. An enormous amount of energy, focus and press has surrounded
the historic visit of Pope Francis I to the United States, so much so that it
has been hard not to be caught up in
or at least curious about the
travels, the speeches and the activities of the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
If your week found you having to travel in
the direction of Washington, D.C., New York or Philadelphia, or anywhere else along
the Northeast corridor, you may have found yourself in “deep doo-doo” as my
mother used to say. It simply isn’t easy
to move millions of extra people into and out of our cities.
While I wasn’t able to be personally
present or even to observe firsthand the broadcasts
of Francis’ speeches and activities, I have read reports and some transcripts
of what the pope said, followed, of course, by the endless commentary about
everything he did – commentary which heavily
weighed in the positive, I must say.
Since he was elected to the papacy on
March 13, 2013, the appeal and the fan base of this pope has grown far beyond
the reaches of the Roman Catholic Church. I was not alone this week as an
“outsider” who was listening, watching, and weighing the words of the pontiff.
Leaders and members of many other world religions
and Christian denominations have watched his movements as have political leaders from across the globe.
Along with the masses who have thronged his appearances, I have watched with
growing respect and appreciation the consistent message the pope delivers
regardless of his audience.
Francis has built up quite a fan base, to
the extent that without the careful planning, added security detail, and
massive crowd control employed this week, we might have faced a disaster similar
to that which faced pilgrims to Mecca this week, where people were trampled and
hundreds were killed.
Instead, millions of people crowded the
cities and millions more gathered around television sets around the world to
watch history being made. Yet, as poet John Lyndgate once said, in words later
adapted by President Lincoln, “You can please some of the people all of the
time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please
all of the people all of the time.” The pope has his detractors, too.
For as much good and positive press the
pope has garnered, there are also those who
don’t like him, who question his
decisions and teaching, who find him too
radical and too honest and too convicting
in his opinions. Yes, there are those who would like to give him the boot right
out of the Vatican and back to Argentina.
As we know from the gospels, Jesus
received the same kind of positive and
negative attention and response during his lifetime. As we have read from the
gospel of Mark over the past few months, Jesus has been traveling all around
Galilee. And as his ministry has grown, his reputation for shining a new light for
God’s people and new hope on those who truly walked in darkness, those who were
so long waiting and yearning for just such a word, the
crowds grew. So did the determination of his opponents.
People wanted to hear more from this
Nazarean. They brought their diseased and disabled for healing. The poor came
to be fed. Everyone was looking for a little something from him. People came
out of the woodwork and as other gospels testify, even out of the ceilings to
touch and be touched by him.
Watching the frenzy which surrounded
Francis this week, I could only imagine what it might have been like for Jesus
during his own travels around Galilee, followed by crowds from which there was
no escape.
Jesus’ ministry had grown to such a point
that like Moses in our first lesson this morning, disciples were chosen to help
and then himself Jesus sent them to teach and preach and heal in his name. He
appointed them to this ministry and made them part of the vast work of sharing
God’s love and mercy in the world. But then the inevitable happened. They began
to think of themselves in competitive and exclusive terms.
Like Joshua in the Old Testament text, the
disciples were afflicted with forgetting – yet again – that God’s call and
anointing comes in many forms to those whom God
chooses.
In the gospel just before today’s story, upon
hearing Jesus’ second passion prediction, some of the disciples distracted
themselves along the road by arguing which of them was the greatest. Jesus had
to remind them that to follow him means to take up one’s cross. Jesus he told
them those who are the “last” among us will be the “first” – in God’s eyes and
in God’s kingdom.
It’s part of the problem with humankind, with
all of us, isn’t it? Sooner or later, no matter how pure our motives and
intentions to follow in the way of Jesus, we set up walls – barriers which
separate us from one another.
We create lists of who is on the inside
and who is on the outside, who is in the right and who is in the wrong, who has
power and is deserving, and who is powerless and undeserving, who is the
greatest or most important and accomplished, and who just doesn’t matter quite
as much, who is “one of us” and who is “one of them”.
The disciples come to Jesus complaining
that someone who isn’t “one of us” is casting out demons in Jesus name.
But Jesus sets the record straight. “No
one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak
evil of me.” Or, as The Message translation puts it, “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to
do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not
an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my
name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.”
Even among
the Christian denominations we struggle with Jesus’ words here, because you
know, there are the Evangelicals and the Charismatics; There are the
Conservatives and the Moderates; There are those who read and understand the
Bible as the literal, historically factual and inerrant Word of God and those who believe that the Bible is the
authentic, living, and inspired Word which
must be read contextually. There are Reconciling in Christ congregations who
not only welcome but desire to help heal the hurts of the LGBT community and
individuals and there at congregations which adamantly shut them out. And we
fight one another and disregard the legitimacy of the faith of the other.
The thing is
that Jesus tells us that he welcomes
all who believe in him. Jesus calls many from different walks of life, from
different backgrounds, cultures, and social strata to serve him. The kingdom of
God is inclusive not only of whom it serves but in whom it calls to serve.
What is it that has people today talking
about and following and listening to the man who was at the center of the news
cycle this week? What is it about Francis that draws both crowds and praise but
also deep criticism? And let me set the record straight. Unlike Jesus, Pope
Francis is neither saint nor divine. So what is the draw?
Is it that he, through word and deed reflects the teachings of
Jesus and in so doing is giving people who hunger and thirst for good news the
hope which is for them both precious commodity and life-giving good news? Is it
the down-to-earth manner of a man whose every action is scrutinized, weighed
and judged by the world yet seems to be pretty consistent with the Jesus who
places love and mercy ahead of politics and agenda? Is it that the man who now
has our attention and is seen by so many as being radical somehow reflects the
humble walk Jesus commands of all his followers as they take up their cross to
follow, but which we find so challenging?
Is it the ways in which he is reaching out
and urging unity and acceptance of diversity in this kingdom life and kingdom
work as Jesus does in our gospel today?
In his address to Congress, Francis said,
“In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to
building and strengthening society. It is important that today, as in the past,
the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and
love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society.
Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global
forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through
new policies and new forms of social consensus.”
We confess that the kind of cooperation of
which Francis optimistically speaks is the kind of cooperation that the
disciples struggle with in the text today and is the kind of cooperation that
can be a struggle for us, each and every day.
Yet the grace of God, experienced through
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is God’s way of stripping away
barriers, and it encourages us to look at one another through the lens of this
gospel.
Through the incarnation of Jesus, the
enfleshment of God’s own spirit for the kingdom of God, the dividing lines, the
barriers that separate people and disadvantage those who are seeking,
struggling, and searching are removed, knocked to the ground, and obliterated.
What does it mean to really believe that
God works through all denominations?
What does it look like when cooperative
ministries unite in common cause for the sake of people in need?
I suppose it looks something like hundreds
of people having their homes rebuilt and life restored by a wide variety of
faith groups, working cooperatively following a disaster like Superstorm Sandy
as we saw happening just down the road almost three years ago, or a hurricane
like Katrina or so many disasters since which have found various faith groups
working cooperatively to restore lives and communities.
I suppose it might look like an Interfaith
Hunger Coalition providing food for scores of people right here in Easton; I
suppose it might look like a homeless shelter served by volunteers from the
Jewish temple alongside members of the Quaker Meeting house, in partnership
with members of Grace each and every month. These are but a few of the large
network of partnerships and ministries serving the needs of this kingdom of
God.
The good news of
God in Jesus Christ comes to us not through the group, denomination, class, race
or gender we belong to nor through the particular call that Christ has called
us to, but is made manifest in God’s creative, redeeming, inclusive love for
all, which draws us together, working and serving God’s kingdom.