That Scandalizing Exorcist!*

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 30, 2018

Mark 9:38-50
That Scandalizing Exorcist!

There is a lot of trouble in this text from the Gospel of Mark

Let’s go backwards

And start with what is…well…the most important line

“The call to be at peace with one another”

But before that beautiful line things get mighty colorful 

Salt

And Fire

And worms that never die

And before that blood and guts and amputations 

And before that threats of death---mafia style

All of that 

Because the disciple named John

…no doubt giving voice to what all the disciples were thinking… 

Said something…stupid

He said something that revealed that they…the lot of them…

have missed the point Jesus has been trying so hard to make 

We best remember last week…because this week’s text

Is still in that same scene… 

the disciples were caught arguing about who was the greatest?

And Jesus picked up the child and said

If you want to be first…be like this…this little child

Because…guess what?

This little child is a sacrament of me…and I am a sacrament of God! 

Actually he said

“whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; 

And whoever receives me, receives the One who sent me.”

And to me that means

YES, this little child

…Who is, by the way, still on Jesus’ lap…

This Child has something to teach us about being the greatest

This Child… 

is a Sacrament of God’s presence.

So all that gruesome and threatening language

Is because the disciples did not get it

Mark is crafting this telling because all would-be disciples…

From back then up to us…

We just have a hard time with this teaching

The gruesome and threatening stuff 

Catches our attention and says

IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT TO GET THIS!

Inattention to God’s ‘little ones’ 

has eternal consequences!

-----

Why is it such a hard lesson?

-----

I found a hint in a word that is threaded through this reading

The word is

Skandalizo

It is translated ‘stumbling block’

But it is the verb form of the word…so to scandalize

(the translators don’t use it because it has taken on a note of sexual immorality which is not the case here…but it is a better translation)

The disciples are ‘scandalized’ by this ‘OTHER’ exorcist!

He is casting out demons

And even claiming to do it in Jesus’ name

We can’t have that!

We can’t just stand around with our heads in the sand 

And let people just change the world for the better 

without our consent!

The audacity!

Notice the line: We tried to stop him because he‘s not following US…

I think that US was a Freudian slip on John’s part…

The one to be followed is… JESUS…

Surely he meant to say YOU…he’s not following YOU

The disciples are clearly still very much in training

Just like the young man and Joshua in our first reading

Getting all scandalized by Eldad and Medad prophesying

“Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”
now that would be helpful!

The disciples stumbled over their own thinking
They fell into something…

Rivalry?

Jealously?

They allowed themselves to be scandalized…
to get all worked up

The OTHER exorcist is NOT the point…we get no details about him

The focus is on the disciples…the focus is on us!

-----

When my kids were little I learned this great line from a mentor-friend

Who had a few more parenting years under her belt

When her daughter would come to her with that whiney voice

You know it

“Mommy Mommy I just saw -----

My friend would say…before her daughter could even finish

“Sorry dear, as you remember, I don’t speak Whineze”

I stole the line and used it often

But the truth is that I DO speak Whineze…

And it sounds a lot like the disciples in this text

We all have examples…

When jealousy and envy take hold…when they grab our heart

And we end up uttering sentences that begin

‘Can you believe how…

‘OMG I just saw…

It is just so so human!

Did you hear Jesus’ reasons?

He gave 3 reasons why the disciples got this wrong:

1) He says…Listen…anyone who goes about
using my name as they do good…well…
my name will catch up with them
and grab hold of them and they won’t be able to say anything against me.
Don’t worry its my name…I got this

2) And he says…Listen…all who aren’t against us are for us…there’s no downside …so try leading with generosity

3) And then he says…Listen…anyone who does something as simple as offering a cup of water because of my name…they /definitely won’t lose their reward…so why bother trying to take it away from them…Lead with being more curious than right

Remember:  Whoever is not against us is for us

Lead with generosity…

And then…see what happens

This is NOT wishy-washy

If what ends up happening

Involves vulnerable people getting hurt

Well 

Stand your ground…

Be salty!!!!

Argue and testify…but don’t do damage in the process

And never sacrifice being at peace

Because being at peace is the very opposite of being scandalized

-----

I’ve always cringed at that weird saying

“Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face”

Think about it 

It is really gruesome

Kinda like today’s litany of amputations

But I think it points to the same truth

Pursuing revenge…acting out of envy or anger… 

Damages oneself more than the object of one’s envy or anger.

Allowing ourselves to fall into the fire of being scandalized

Diminishes us…individually and as a community

Because rather than enlarging the heart through generosity of spirit

The heart simply hardens and contracts

And those stony hearts 

They end up making good stumbling blocks for others.

So this my friends is why I need Christian community

Why I need you…Why I need my Evansville community

This is why I need a place to come and remember who I am and who I claim to be

We need each other to call us away from being scandalized 

by this or that person

Or this or that group of persons

Or this or that way of thinking

-or by whatever I find at the end of my pointing finger

We need each other

Because we need help to see INSTEAD

Sacraments of God’s presence…all around

At the end of my pointing finger are...Sacraments

The very Good News

Is that as we do this 

We too, both individually and as a community
become just such sacraments of God’s Presence

Leading with openness and generosity

Holding fast to our confession

Always being at peace

This is the way to becoming just such sacraments

And Sacraments…

always grounded in the name of CHRIST…

Can change the world!

Jesus. Caught.*

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 18

Mark 7:24-37 (RCL)

Our home sits next door to the parsonage 

Belonging to the Methodist Church 

just across Kansas Road

After years of it being a rental property 

the Church decided to do some major, and well needed, 

renovations once the last tenants moved out.

The work is being done by some handy and generous parishioners

…which means…slowly

Now I’ve been spending a lot of time with my hose hand watering the tiny trees and bushes Rob and I have planted along the parsonage side of our lot…counting 45-60 seconds on each bush and tree…because they will look a lot better once they grow a couple feet!

And a couple weeks ago the, the gentleman that seemed ‘in charge’ came over for a neighborly chat.

I asked him if the church was still affiliated with the United Methodist Church

The signage changed a few years back and I had been curious

He said 

“Yes…but maybe not for very much longer…

…THEY are getting sooooo liberal “

NOW…don’t get me wrong…

he could have said ‘…soooo conservative’ 

and I would have found myself equally caught…

Something about this little exchange left me uneasy

…and maybe even saddened

Then this week along comes this Syrophoenician woman to help me think it through.

This is a very unique story in the whole of the New Testament

‘DISTURBING’ might be a better word

So disturbing that Matthew cleans it up a bit

And then Luke just drops it all together

But I want to take Mark’s first version of the story at face value

Jesus is caught with his compassion down.

And that can be uncomfortable 

Because…I think, most of us anyway,

When it comes to the whole Fully Human/Fully Divine thing

We like a Jesus who falls closer to the Fully Divine side of that mystery!

Why is that?

I think it is because

It is easier to ADORE than to IMITATE 

We ADORE the Divine

we are never going to be the Divine

But the Human…that is different

It is the human Jesus we are called to IMITATE

That is a lot more demanding

If we are going to engage this story at face value we need to do some context work

1.   the Markan Jesus has up until now (chapter 7) been hanging pretty close to home…so JEWISH TERRITORY

2.   Even though he keeps telling everyone not to tell anyone…the word is getting out

3.   Jesus has been expressing a desire to getaway for some rest…he has been seeking a ‘secluded place’…he needs a vacation or maybe a ‘silent retreat’ to reflect on his ministry thus far

4.   The disciples have been close by benefitting from side-bar teaching as Jesus goes about healing and teaching…though their hard-heartedness…or maybe hard-headedness has been clearly on display

5.   Now the disciples are nowhere in sight…Jesus went solo 100 miles to foreign gentile territory…a territory and people noted for their relatively recent history of brutality and mercilessness toward its Jewish minority.  This is the only solo miracle reported in the Gospels (Matthew adds the disciples back in)

6.   And after this episode Jesus is deliberate to open up his mission to the Gentiles…this is a turning point.

Last week Jesus called into question

The external observance of food laws

Remember…it’s not what goes in but what comes out which defiles

Such customs serve as identifiers…visible signs

A kind of boundary marker defining who is in
and who is out

Who is one of us

And who isn’t

This week we have a double outsider

She is a woman (alone with a man and speaking to him)

AND

A non-Jew…of a particularly revolting variety 

And here is the thing

She teaches Jesus about the implications 

Of last week’s teaching!!!

She turns the teaching back on the teacher!!!

She is VERY CHEEKY!!!

The scholars tell us that in its original context 

given the brutality the Jewish people had repeatedly suffered 

at the hands of the Syrophoenician powers that be

they tell us that Jesus’ reply (his ethnic slur) would have been…well...

not particularly eyebrow-raising

But…WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOCKING are both 

The courageous reply of the woman

AND

Jesus’ ultimate turn-about

It was because of her LOGOS…her WORD…her argument

This story is only 5 verses

Jesus is a quick learner

And the woman--- a witty and adept teacher

·      She poses a question

·      Jesus reflects

·      And something new happens

The message of God’s love and mercy is for Israel and BEYOND!

This Jesus

grounded in his own cultural experience

With all the blindness that might entail

Is open

And with lightning speed

Let’s himself be changed by another

This reminds me of that story in Luke’s Gospel

When Jesus is 12 and he gets separated from the caravanning crowd

After three days his panicky parents find him

returning him home where he remains obedient

And the last line:

And Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace.

Because that is what human beings do…at least we hope we do

We hope we grow in wisdom, age and grace

Until the day we die!

So back to my little non-conversation with my neighbor:

I think sometimes we miss the mark in the way we offer hospitality

I know I do…without even being conscious of it

I am gracious and welcoming

But what I am really waiting for is for that newcomer to grow into…

Well…someone that walks and talks like ME!

But what Jesus offers 

is a far more radical kind of hospitality to imitate

What Jesus does in those 5 verses

Is open himself to the gift of another

It is a hospitality that says:

Come

Join us

Add yourself and your story to ours

And

Let us both be blessed!

What my neighbor said caught my attention 

And caused me to reflect 

Can true Christian hospitality be fenced by barriers or 

Conditioned by pre-requisites?

When we profess to believe in ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC church

That ‘c’ in catholic is not capitalized

catholic = Kata Holos which means

‘Here comes everybody!’

catholicity = universality

Today’s gospel opens up Jesus’ mission to the whole world

‘Here comes everybody!”

And

Our openness continues that very same move.

You are all familiar with that bumper sticker that says

THINK GLOBALLY ACT LOCALLY

…I like to think in terms of the GRAND and the NEAR

The GRAND challenge hears the story and asks:

IF THIS JESUS AND THIS WOMAN CAN COME TOGETHER 

FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT

IF THEY CAN COME TOGETHER AND SEE BEYOND 

THE VIOLENT OPPRESSION THAT MARKED THEIR HISTORIES

IS THERE SOMETHING HERE THAT MIGHT HELP 

BETWEEN WARRING AND BITTER NATIONS 

MOVE FORWARD TOWARD RECONCILIATION?

And the NEAR challenge…because that is where we live, in the NEAR…and the GRAND is nothing more than a bunch of NEARs gaining momentum

The NEAR challenge hears the story and asks:

LOOKING AT JESUS’ HUMANITY

AT HIS OPENNESS TO BEING CHANGED BY THE HUMANITY OF ANOTHER

LOOKING AT HOW THE OTHER PARTICIPATED IN HIS GROWING 

IN WISDOM AGE AND GRACE

LOOKING AT THAT JESUS…

CAN I LEARN TO IMITATE HIM???