Sermon For Pentecost 17 - Pass the Grace and Pepper, Please

"Glory be to God on high
Who mixed his salt in our minds
His leaven in our soul
His body became bread
To quicken our deadness"

- Ephrem the Syrian (4th C.)

Where is the work of God to be found? Where can we, with little doubt, recognize it, and call it by the Name in which it is done? And by extension... Who is a disciple? Who among us, or not among us, can truly be said to be a follower and servant of Christ? What does Jesus mean, exactly, and how far does it extend, when he says, "Whoever is not against us is for us." (9:40)

While some might broadly interpret the "whoever is not against us" idea to include just about anything and anyone under the sun that seems to be working in the same general arena as Christianity, I would caution us to pay attention to the story before us today in Mark's gospel, and to the attributes he mentions about the "unauthorized exorcist" in question.

The apostle John says to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." (9:38) Therefore we know two simple, yet revealing details.

1. The man is performing a public service (exorcising demons) and doing so in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. He did not have a permit from the apostles.

Let's start with the "permit" issue first. The way to get such permission in the early days of Christianity, during which Mark wrote his gospel, was to become a follower of Christ, which meant of course, in addition to being baptized and made a member of the Church, a commitment to following the teachings and instructions of the apostles. When John says, "...he was not following us...", the "US" he's referring to is the apostles. The man is obviously following Jesus. (He is, after all, casting out demons in Jesus' name!) He also obviously represents a common occurrence in the life of early Christianity, one that the gospel writer, Mark, is here addressing, namely, followers of Christ who operate "solo", so to speak, without the "advice and consent" of the apostles, the church.

So, the issue is NOT that the man was doing something wrong. For that matter, the issue isn't really whether the man was one attempting to be faithful to Christ and his teachings. The issue was that he did not have the blessing of the apostles to do what he was doing. He had not obtained permission to do what he was doing, no matter how good the good was!

Jesus, of course, is having nothing to do with such short-sided, narrow minded interpretations of what constitutes "following" him. For Jesus, to follow was about... well, following of course and the proof of one's following was and is always, in the pudding as it were. For Jesus it was, and is still, simple. Casting out demons - GOOD THING. Worrying about who's in and who's out - NOT SUCH A GOOD THING.

While not many of us may consider ourselves to be acquainted, formally or informally, with all that many demon caster-outers, we do all (or at least we should all) consider ourselves, as Christians, to be acquainted with the church's ministry to make whole that which the world has broken, to set free those whom the world has enslaved, to bring sight to the blind, comfort to the afflicted, hope to the imprisoned, peace to the wounded, and food to the hungry. (Matthew 5:1-13, Matthew 25:31-46 - for starters)

As Jesus went on to tell John the Beloved Disciple that day, "For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward." (9:41)

Indeed, even those in the early Church who bore the name of Christ would, as well as those who do still, sometimes find themselves on the receiving end of that "cup of water to drink." Such life-giving and healing ministry is of course, first and foremost, the apostles to proclaim. It is up to the church, if she is faithful to her calling, to be the leaders of compassion, peace, and healing in the world. Yet when we not, either because we are unable or at times unwilling, let us not think that God is unable or unwilling. "For all things are possible with God." Furthermore, far be it from our Lord to suggest that only his church, or more to the point, the formally recognized expressions of his church, are the sole arbiters of healing grace in a world crying out to be exorcised of its demons.

Do we really think that true Christ followers are ONLY to be found among the modern day broken and disconnected denominations that make up the body of Christ?

Do we really think that true Christ followers are ONLY to be found among those who think...and act...and look...and vote...and speak...and sing, as we do?

Oh, my Lord, tell me it isn't so!

What Jesus says next, adds the exclamation point to his point. To get hung up on such secondary issues is to position oneself, or worse to position the church, as a "stumbling block" (9:42), an obstacle, a deterrent to one of the "little ones", one of those whose "childlike" faith was the very kind of faith that Christ called for in those who wanted and want still today to be his followers.

For Jesus, stumbling blocks make for good concrete boots, Cowboy. Stumblin block hands, cut em off... Stumblin block feet, yep, them too...Stumblin block eyes, get to pluckin, Stranger!

I don't think anyone sets out to be a stumbling block. I don't think anyone tries to divide the body of Christ into a limited reality defined like some sort of "in-group" of insiders and outsiders. Yet, we do so with great regularity, and to our immortal peril, when we take it upon ourselves to be the keepers of the membership list for the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps, we would be wise to head our Lord's final advice to us today, in which we are encouraged towards a way of being that he calls, salty. (9:49,50) In other words, let us be about the business of preservation of life not destruction of it, about adding flavor and seasoning of all that is, not leaving it bland and lifeless.

In short, let us be about GRACE, my friends, and let us be FRIENDS with one another and all who are about the work of building up the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Peace.

As we say in the Cursillo movement, "Make a friend. Be a friend. Bring a friend to Christ."

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon For the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

As the people of the parish I serve have heard me say from the pulpit on more than a few occasions. I find something rather comforting in the knowledge that the patron saint of our little community, Matthew, had a background, a history if you will, that got him lumped into a category of sinner that stood out from the garden variety sinner. "Tax collectors and sinners", a phrase you find mentioned over and over again in the gospels, reminds us just how low Matthew had sunk in the eyes of his contemporaries. "I may be a sinner, but at least I'm not some dirty rotten TAX COLLECTOR!"

Such attitudes towards the more obviously righteousness impaired die hard. While in 2009 a tax collector, or prostitute, another notorious category of sinners found in the gospels, can make a fairly honest living by contemporary standards and not draw the condemnation of the public, this does not mean that religious attitudes about people caught up in obviously sinful lifestyles have somehow softened. As I've also said before in many a sermon, the Pharisees are alive and well, a little Pharisee lurking in each of us. Not only that, but the Pharisee loves to question the motives of anyone who associates with such obvious sinners, because afterall, as any good Pharisee knows, once a sinner, always a sinner. So why bother ?

Why indeed.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

A footnote in the Oxford Annotated Bible (third edition), referencing the ancient historian Philo says this about tax collectors:

"...The Roman system know as "tax farming," leased out the right to collect taxes ... in a given area for a flat fee. The entrepreneur, usually a local aristocrat, who obtained this right would then try to collect more than the fee in order to profit by the arrangement, with obvious potential for abuse. Actual collections were carried out by underlings, who would be under pressure to bring in as much as possible, and were despised by the populace..."

Well, there you go. Who wouldn't loathe such a person and look upon them with contempt? To not only participate in the unjust oppression of one's own people through the Roman system of taxation, but to benefit and profit from it personally as well was to make it obvious to all who cared that you had thrown your lot in with the lowest rung, a sinner of sinners, the worst of the worst.

Yet Jesus seems to think that such persons are not at odds with God's will for his people. In fact, from Jesus' perspective it is precisely to such "sick" people as Matthew that he, the great "physician," had come. "To call not the righteous, but sinners," as strange as it seemed, and to be honest, seems to us still, was in fact the whole point, and is the point still.

When Jesus said "Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy not sacrifice," he was quoting the prophet Hosea. Hosea 6:6 says,

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

Steadfast love (mercy) and knowledge of God (mercy) are, Jesus says, the issues that God is looking for in the human condition. Sacrifice and burnt offerings were ways of talking about the religious expectations the Jewish people placed upon the notoriously sinful to exact some kind of holy retribution, some way of atoning for their wrongs before the Lord. Yet while acts of repentance may have value for the individual sinner to help us focus on the change needed in our life, it is not such outward expression of repentance that ultimately matters before God. Rather it is God's grace, God's mercy, and the human being's ability to accept and live in the knowledge of such grace, grace freely given to all, that matters.

Or, as another notorious sinner once sang...

Down There By The Train
By Tom Waits, As Performed by Johnny Cash

There's a place I know where the train goes slow
Where the sinner can be washed in the blood of the lamb
There's a river by the trestle down by sinner's grove
Down where the willow and the dogwood grow

You can hear the whistle, you can hear the bell
From the halls of heaven to the gates of hell
And there's room for the forsaken if you're there on time
You'll be washed of all your sins and all of your crimes
If you're down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

There's a golden moon that shines up through the mist
And I know that your name can be on that list
There's no eye for an eye, there's no tooth for a tooth
I saw Judas Iscariot carrying John Wilkes Booth
He was down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
He was down there where the train goes slow

If you've lost all your hope, if you've lost all your faith
I know you can be cared for and I know you can be safe
And all the shamefuls and all of the whores
And even the soldier who pierced the side of the Lord Is down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

Well, I've never asked forgiveness and I've never said a prayer
Never given of myself, never truly cared
I've left the ones who loved me and I'm still raising
Cain I've taken the low road and if you've done the same
Meet me down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

Meet me down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

All aboard!

Amen.

15 Pentecost Sermon - The Great Invitation

"When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today's gospel text from Mark has often been called the "Great Invitation", along side the "Great Commandment" and the "Great Commission." This trio of greatness is what makes the Christian life... well, Christian. None greater, it can be argued, than today's words that flow from Jesus' lips on the heels of Peter's confession / proclamation that Jesus is the "Messiah", the Christ, and Jesus' own counter - proclamation that Peter is as good as "Satan" to him if he can't wrap his mind around the idea that God's Messiah must suffer rejection and death and rise again on the third day.

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Mark 8:34

• Deny Self

• Take Up One's Cross

• Follow Christ

While it has three components, what Jesus is pointing to is a condition, a reality, a way of life in which the first two terms of the condition define the third. Indeed, one cannot follow Jesus without self denial and suffering.

We often confuse "deny yourself" with denying oneself of things. Leading a simpler, more austere life does not deny self... in and of... itself. Indeed, the self can ride just as comfortably on a city bus as it can in a Cadillac. The self can look just as good in a hand me down suit from Goodwill, as it can in a designer suit from Georgio Armani.

It's still the self!

The point is not to deny self pleasures for the sake of denying yourself pleasures. Though, in an overindulgent culture such as ours this is certainly not a bad idea. Rather, the point is to deny self all together. It is, as St. Paul wrote to the Galatian church, "no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (Gal. 2:20)

Likewise, taking up one's cross is not simply accepting the burdens and hardships of life. Rather, it is, "painful, redemptive action voluntarily undertaken for others." (Lamar Williamson Jr. - Interpretation Commentary, Mark)

Only by denial of self and taking up the cross can we ever truly follow Jesus. Likewise, only by following Jesus can we ever hope to truly confess him, as did St. Peter, to be the Christ, the "Messiah" of God. So, by failing to follow in this way we are truly no better, no more use to the Lord than was Peter. By failing to follow we are as "Satan" to Jesus, and there is but one thing left for us to do -

"GET THEE BEHIND!" (8:33, KJV)

Indeed, there has never, and until the Lord returns, been a generation that was not in some way "adulterous and sinful." And mind you, the adultery of which Christ refers is not your garden variety sin of adultery between husband and wife. No, what Jesus speaks of as adulterous is the attitude and relationship of the people of God to their Creator. For these people are more concerned with saving themselves and their own rear ends for no other reason than it is theirs, rear ends that is, that are on the line.

Hence the Great Invitation to deny, take up, and follow. It rings true to this generation as much as to any that has preceded and any that will follow. Christ seeks people who will follow him for the sake of the Gospel Good News, not merely in name but in actuality.

Again, it is that idea mentioned earlier of voluntarily, freely undertaking painful redemptive action for others. What it looks like for one will be different for another. For one person it's physical pain, for another financial pain, and for another emotional pain. Yet, as they say, "No pain, no gain."

The Great Invitation, by inviting us to take up the cross, holds out the possibility of incarnational faith lived out by each follower of Christ. Redemptive love. Self sacrificing love. These are what being a Christian is all about.

"Love your neighbor as yourself."
"Love your enemies"
"Bless those who curse you."
"Feed the hungry"
"Clothe the naked"
"Visit the lonely and imprisoned"

On and on the list goes of those holy attributes, those embodied traits of Christ our Lord when we deny - take up - follow.

The Great Invitation is to embrace such a life as the only life worth living, the only life that ultimately can be described as "Christian."

Amen