Geneva Presbyterian Church

Weekly Sermon

October 1, 2000 - "There Is More Than Enough Work to Go Around "

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Geneva Presbyterian Church; October 1, 2000

Romans 8:31-39; Mark 9:38-41

Mark 9:38-41 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. 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." Prayer: Lord God, As we take in your words, may the Spirit open us and create in us fruitful hearts, responsive minds, and faithful souls. Amen. This seems like such an odd little passage. The first part sounds like children tattling on a child outside their group. It is the story of the disciples running back to Jesus to tell on a stranger who is using his name. It makes me uncomfortable. And I have found through difficult experience that the things that make me uncomfortable are the things from which I can learn. This story has a lot to teach me and maybe you, too. To learn from this story, we need to understand the context. Today we continue with Jesus as he travels to Jerusalem and the cross. During this early part of the trip, Jesus is still avoiding the crowds because every moment of instruction time with his disciples is precious. They must know and understand his work so that they can carry the good news forward after he is killed and resurrected. So far, the disciples do not understand. They are still operating on the beliefs of the world. They jealously guard their self importance, arguing about who will be first, and they don't want a stranger out there successfully using Jesus' name for healing. The irony of this little story is that the disciples are trying to stop a maverick healer, who is using Jesus' name, from doing what they themselves were unable to do. Earlier in Chapter 9, verses 18 and forward, the disciples had been unable to bring healing to a boy with a spirit. Eventually, Jesus himself healed the boy. When the disciples asked him why they weren't able to heal the boy, Jesus said to them, "This kind [of spirit] can come out only through prayer" (9:29). How frustrating for the disciples that this stranger was able to heal people using Jesus' name and they were not. Of course, they wanted to put an end to unauthorized use of Jesus' name. We, too, can want to control how Jesus' name is used. I know I do. I want to have veto rights on other people's ministries. Embarrassing as that is to admit, I have to fight the sense that I know best exactly how Jesus wants us to work in this world. Fortunately, in my saner, calmer moments, I realize that I shouldn't try to tell God how to work in the world. God has a little more information on the world than I do! Jesus goes on in the story to say, "Whoever is not against us is for us." In contrast to the disciples, scribes and Pharisees, Jesus draws a big circle to include just about everyone. Jesus wants to bring us all into his circle. He doesn't want us to belong to an exclusive club. In Bird by Bird, author Annie LaMott wrote, "My priest friend Tom said you can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." [Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Like (Doubleday: New York, 1994) p. 22] Her words make me stop and think. Who are the people I think God hates? Are they the people that I don't like? The fact is that I don't think God hates anyone. I think God wants everyone to come to the kingdom. God has got plenty of work to go around! A few years ago, the church where I was working was preparing a dinner for the homeless at a shelter. Somehow there was a mix up and two churches were signed up to bring dinner on the same night. The folks from my church arrived first and began setting up. A few minutes later, the folks from the other church arrived. Both churches had letters confirming the date. An argument ensued and from what I heard a fist fight almost broke out. The homeless people arrived and no one was ready to feed them. The church people had been so busy fighting about who was supposed to provide the dinner that they forgot to put any dinner out. We can be so silly sometimes when we want to claim that we have exclusive rights to Jesus' work, but the Lord has plenty of work for us all to do. Over time we can see a pattern for the work of Jesus. He came to reconcile the world to God, to bring us together. Jesus does just what the disciples didn't want to do: He invites everyone to use his name. His name breaks down the barriers. Wherever there is suffering, he is there. Wherever there is fear, he is there. Wherever there is hope, he is there. In recent years there has been incredible suffering in Africa with incomprehensible numbers of people being killed. We as the American people, are more familiar with the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of Hitler. One rabbi, Harold Schulweis wondered how he and other Jews could tell their children about the Holocaust without destroying their capacity to believe in human goodness.. Then he began hearing about 'rescuers,' people who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II. After studying them for decades, Rabbi Schulweis now believes there were at least half a million rescuers and that we must hold on to their memory. [Matthew Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Dennis Linn, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing (Paulist Press: New York, 1998) p. 8] I believe that Jesus meant for us to draw the circle wide enough to rescue those who suffer persecution. Wherever there is suffering, Jesus is there, caring. And wherever there is fear, Jesus is there. Do you remember the Cuban missile crisis? I think I was about eight years old. I remember it vividly. During those few days, people poured into churches of every description to pray. I remember noticing that people turned on their car lights during the day. I asked my parents about it and they explained that the lights were to remind everyone to pray that we as a nation would come through the crisis without going to war. I think that one of the most difficult problems we now have as a nation is that so many people seem to think they alone know what to pray for and how to pray. No one has exclusive rights to prayer. Wherever there is fear, Jesus is there and ready to hear the prayer. And wherever there is hope, Jesus is there. I mentioned Anne Lamott a little while ago. She is one of my favorite authors, perhaps because she forces me to laugh at myself. The first book of hers that I read was called Operating Instructions . It was a diary of her son's first year. At first I had a lot of trouble with her language. After a while I noticed it less and found myself hooked. In her book Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, she tells about how she came to the church, having been raised by parents who seldom took her to church. Early on in the book, she writes: "Most Christians seemed almost hostile in their belief that they were saved and you weren't." [Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith (Patheon Books: New York, 1999) p.43] Since she was a person who struggled with alcoholism and other addictive behaviors, it isn't too surprising that many Christians looked upon her with condescension. She finally landed in a church by way of a nearby flea market that she found comforting the morning after a night of drinking. She loved the ethnic food at the market. She writes: "If I happened to be there between eleven and one on Sundays, I could hear gospel music coming from a church right across the street. It was called St. Andrew Presbyterian, and it looked homely and impoverished…But the music wafting out was so pretty that I would stop and listen…Finally, I began stopping in St. Andrew from time to time, standing in the doorway to listen to the songs…During the time when people hugged and greeted each other, various people would come back to where I stood to shake my hand or try to hug me; I was…frozen and stiff…" [Ibid., p. 46] Eventually, Anne Lamott joined that Presbyterian church and she says that when she was at the end of her rope, they tied a knot in it for her and helped her hang on. [Ibid., p. 100] Anne Lamott was not a promising prospect for a new members class, but the Lord made sure the St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin County, California, made a circle big enough to include her. After all they knew that there was plenty of God's work to go around. Anne Lamott is now a best selling author and her most successful book is Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. I remember when John came home and told me that her book was prominently on display in Barnes and Noble as a best seller. Although I probably should have been happy, my first reaction was jealousy. I felt like suddenly everyone else had met my best friend and now I would have to share her. But instead of losing her, I've now seen her on television and heard her interviewed on the radio. The Lord knew that she could do his work, and I wouldn't lose her. There is plenty of work to go around. Wherever there is suffering, Jesus is there caring. Wherever there is fear, Jesus is there praying. Wherever there is hope, Jesus is there encouraging. The question is, will we work along side him? Amen. Mark 9:38-50 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. 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. "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. 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, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumbled, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And 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, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Prayer: Lord God, You have given us words to live by. Help us to hear your words and understand them as the way to life worth living. Amen. The Reverend Anne Benefield Geneva Presbyterian Church, October 1, 2000 Mark 9:38-50 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us. But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. 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. "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. 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, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumbled, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And 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, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Prayer: Lord God, You have given us words to live by. Help us to hear your words and understand them as the way to life worth living. Amen.