The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time; September 27, 2009
Park Avenue Presbyterian Church; Des Moines, Iowa
Texts: Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Psalm 124
James 5: 13-20
Mark 9: 38-50 *
“With a child in your arms…”
--} I’ve been thinking a lot about “the children” these past few weeks. My time of “preparation” as a father—for the third time—is coming to an end. As Desiree’ is quick to remind me, even the “un-comfortableness” of pregnancy at its worst, is better than facing some of the realities of the child being born—and the needs becoming more immediate and external that WE must take care of. Our “preparation” journey as parents, this time, ends in a week.
So last Sunday, my imagining Jesus putting a child (to my mind, even an infant) amongst the disciples, came with some very real and vivid images. Holding that child for the first time in your arms… knowing, of course, that you hold all of that child’s precious life in your hands, is an awesome human experience.
So I began this week with a question for the text of Mark’s gospel lesson. John’s exhortation that the disciples had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and that they had tried to stop him, seemed to me as an “interruption” in the flow of Mark’s story. So often, we consider that a “new paragraph” indicates a new or different setting—that the parcels of the story don’t flow together as one whole unit. But my question was, when Jesus begins to explain in verse 42, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,” is Jesus still talking about that child he took up in his arms and put among them? Is Jesus pointing to that child as our object lesson? Was Jesus still cuddling the “little one,” pronouncing, “it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea—for the sake of the child! This morning, I’m still not certain I know that answer. But Mark’s gospel offers me the opportunity to think about it, and here’s what I think is important for us to remember:
Today’s passage begins with what has to be a difficult admission for the disciples. Jesus is telling them that the Christ-following “club” is not exclusive. Though these where the individuals who seemed to be especially chosen for a Jesus-kind-of-life, they are clearly not the only ones who get to live it. Suddenly, even those who “do not believe IN Jesus” were able to “do” deeds of power in his name. [Shocking for believers who fancy themselves as being ‘special in the eyes of God’—“special” over and above other human beings!] Sometimes, that seems like a frightening or at least a threatening reality; so most of the time, I think John’s reaction to “stop it” seems natural to us. We think Jesus’ power ought to be reserved for those especially chosen, thus preserving the “chain of apostolic power” and insuring against abusive use, right? We don’t like the reality of Jesus giving his power away to people who won’t follow our rules; we prefer a clearer separation between believers and non-believers—as if it helps to remind us there are dire consequences. So that “believing” can indicate how we EARN our way to heaven; and people who don’t “believe” just don’t “get it” and can’t “get in.”
But it’s ironic, isn’t it, that the people who DON’T believe, are the people immediately invested with Jesus’ power; and the disciples not only can’t replicate Jesus power very consistently at this point, but also try to make sure that others can’t either. And as John speaks up for the other disciples, it’s interesting to watch as he seem to try and keep the use of Jesus’ power “limited”—acting as if he’s protecting his own turf, his own ministry, or his own self. How typical for human beings! But Jesus responds as if he had that child in his hands—firstly, declaring that the one doing the deeds of power “will not lose his reward”—someone who doesn’t even believe! And then, secondarily, Jesus would seemingly teach disciples, [pointing to the child in his arms…] “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.” Jesus has something to protect—it’s just not what we think it is.
While John clearly seems to have eyes for his own self interest, his own ministry, perhaps; Jesus has eyes for what matters most—protecting the “littlest one” among them. The contrast is staggering, isn’t it? We worry about OURSELVES, and Jesus worries about the one who is “the least of these.”
Those of us who’ve ever held a child or an infant in our arms know how unnerving it is to suddenly have “the whole person”—in our hands. The “innocent one” who knows nothing of having to protect herself, who is completely and utterly reliant on “us” to protect him and provide for her needs. For me, I “see” Jesus, infant in hand, pulling away from the disciples or pushing them back, “protecting” the one cradled in his arms, holding on to him for dear life!
And as strange as it sounds, it appears Jesus would put us on notice. Don’t bother protecting yourselves; your job is protecting “the weakest ones.” Your task is keeping save the weakest ones; and your only hope, is your ability to accommodate yourselves to sticking up for the one who can’t stick up for herself. Which is why I say that “sticking up only for ourselves” in this great health-care wrestling match is wrong. Or looking out just for our personal interests in life, causing others to suffer, is wrong. Trying to protect what we have earned, or holding on to what we believe is “ours” by right or inheritance, or keeping things always the same for our sake, demanding that what’s good enough for us is good enough for others, too—is wrong. Jesus, with a child in his arms, again offers us an object lesson, pointing to the weakest among us, and directing us to protect HER.
Just an observation: It’s hard to protect someone else’s interests when we’re busy protecting our own. If we’re enmeshed in “self-interest,” we will always fail at doing what Jesus did—no matter how noble our intentions. We will not be “Christ-followers;” we might even risk being “Christ-failures.”
I believe Jesus tells us—in order that we can fight the constant urging to look out for ourselves and what we have or may have “earned” for our enjoyment—that the pathway of suffering is safer for eternal life than the pathway of personal merit. “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell; …if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell; …if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell.”
What Jesus says to us, when we imagine that child in his arms, has to do stumbling. The Greek word is [Skandalidzo]—which sounds a lot like “scandalize,” and actually that isn’t a bad translation. We should not “scandalize” them, as if “to scandalize” has to do with causing another to sin or to “fall away from faith.” The true sense of this verb suggests that “one becomes so horrified that one simply cannot remain or go forward along the path;” it’s an act or an event that serves to divert one away from one’s faith or discipleship. So think in terms of our human greed that would teach us the life of discipleship “costs” too much and gives back too little; one “scandal” being that worldly living teaches us to pursue “comfortableness” and not “sacrifice;” or another “scandal” being our perpetual “unhappiness” when life doesn’t serve us fully in the ways we think we’d life—where we teach human gain rather than pursuing loving neighbor at our own cost.
In the mean time, Jesus tells us—ironically—that this “little one” in his arms, BELIEVES. No attachment to Jesus is necessary, no personal profession of “accepting Jesus into his or her heart;” it’s as if “ belief” or “faith” comes already installed. [What a gift for us all, by the way!] Yet Jesus would make us not only the protector of these “little ones,” but also to lead by example in “holding him or her.” The way we live our lives, in fact, has the ability to “scandalize.” And I believe most poignantly, Jesus would point to our ever-present desire to PROTECT OURSELVES and what we have, rather than our acting to PROTECT OTHERS.
To put ourselves ahead of our neighbor is to deny the second great commandment. It may be why the rich man who comes to Jesus asking about eternal life actually leaves brokenhearted—the truth may be, following the basic commands of God’s law—loving God and our neighbor as ourselves truly does run counter to our ‘instinct’ to protect ourselves and our own interests! And if that’s what we “teach by example” to our children, or to the “little ones,” it is “scandalous!”
If we teach bad examples, of course, we deserve to be cut off. If we protect only ourselves and our own selfish interests; if we “scandalously” take faith away, by living in a way that is not a following of Christ—we deserve the millstone. If we seek our own way and think not about the consequences, we become “Christ-failures.” Because whether we believe or not, we’re called to act like we have a “child” in our hands.
--+ AMEN.
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