Proper 21 Year B Mark 9:38-50

Sermon 

May my words be your Word and my heart rest in you as I speak, O Lord. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

         Sometimes Jesus can be really annoying. This is one of those times. Today’s Gospel seems to switch back and forth from one scene to another. Just what’s going on here?

First the disciples get upset because someone casts out demons in Jesus’ name but isn’t a follower of Jesus. Then Jesus starts talking about putting stumbling blocks, or roadblocks in front of someone. And then he tells us to cut off actual pieces of ourselves to keep from stumbling. Now I ask you, if you cut off your foot because it caused you to stumble, don’t you think you might stumble even more?

So annoying; but thank you Jesus for waking us up with your ridiculous and outlandish statements! Jesus is being annoyingly ridiculous to get us to think. And so, he winds up today by telling us we’re going to be salted with fire and to be salty ourselves.

         To talk about the first part of today’s Gospel, do you think the disciple John might be jealous? Might he have been upset that the person casting out demons was more successful than the disciples were? I think there was a little envy going on. “Look Jesus, what’s the deal here? Here we all are, faithful followers of you, and this guy who isn’t even one of us is more successful than we are. What’s up with that?”

         How does this manifest itself in the church today? One of the primary ways it shows up is how we respond to leadership. Most of us think we would never use that time-honored phrase, “We’ve always done it this way.” Nor would we be so rude as to say, “We’ve never done it that way.” We might not actually say it, but it’s often our actions in response to a new member, a younger member, a newly-on-the-scene clergy person, or someone we view as an outsider. How we respond can mean the difference between the recognition and honoring of new ideas and a new spirit or, the deafening silence and inaction that follows, “We’ve always done it this way.” Or, “We’ve never done it that way before.” Talk about losing the saltiness of salt! That’s the simplest way to go about it. You’re not one of us so you have no business having ideas here. In the words of that old military and law enforcement expression, “You haven’t earned your stripes yet.”

         There is also a way to refrain from disturbing the settled way of a church by simply not supporting or encouraging a new idea or action by what we do once it has been proposed. We may not openly discourage it with our words, but we fail to actively support it with our actions. Ideas, programs, new classes, ways of tackling administrative bottlenecks, all rise up. But often they sink back into the daily mud by how people support them, or not, with their actions rather than their words.

It makes me think of the times in scripture when Jesus asks someone before healing them, “Do you really want to be healed?” or “What do you want me to do for you?” Wise of Jesus to ask, isn’t it? What a pity we often support and encourage someone with a new idea or way of doing something and then gradually withdraw our support through our lack of presence, our inability to decide we really want to be healed from the old unsuccessful way. No wonder new people with new ideas and new energy often drift away.

But we would never do that, would we? We would never be a stumbling block to one of these little ones who want to believe in Jesus. We would offer them that cup of water, wouldn’t we? We would offer them that cup that overflows and blesses and listen to their prophesying in our midst. We would support, encourage, and take action to keep their new ideas alive and thriving. Wouldn’t we?

Jesus was all about empowering rather than controlling. If we want to follow Jesus, that’s what we need to do. Never mind control. Empower! Do we want to control what’s happening by saying with words or actions, “No, you can’t do that”? Or, do we want instead to ask, “What do you need to get that done?” And then, help the person gather the resources they need to accomplish that new thing.

That’s how we get salty, my new friends in Christ. We let go of control and empower instead. We preserve ourselves by being salty, by honoring the flavor and goodness of all the meals we’ve had in the past. And, we renew ourselves by tasting and seeing the new meals offered among us by supporting, encouraging, and acting to move into a salty, well-flavored future. 

I'm going to ask you to do something this morning to remind us all we're called to be salt. Jesus tells us we're to be salt and light to the world. So here is a basket full of salt. I'd like you to pass it from one person to another. And as you hand them the basket, take a pinch of salt between your fingers. Ask the other person to open their hand, and as you place the pinch of salt into their hand, look at them and say, "Be salted!"

(I did this to the person nearest me and then waited patiently while the entire congregation passed the basket from person to person, placed a pinch of salt in the other person's palm, and told them, "Be salted." I noticed some people said, "Be salty," and there was good laughter throughout the congregation. People didn't know what to do with their salt and I told them it was okay to put it back in the basket before they passed the basket along. I finished by asking them to seal the deal by being very un-Episcopalian and to say a nice loud "A-men" to end the sermon, and they responded with great gusto.)    

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2015