Discerning God’s Action in the World.
A Sermon by the Rev. Peter De Franco
September 26, 2021
Mark 9:38-50
38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39But 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. 40Whoever is not against us is for us. 41For 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. 42“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. 43If 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. 45And 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. 47And 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, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. 49“For everyone will be salted with fire. 50Salt 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.”
Walk into any of the major cathedrals of Europe or the United States of America and you may see them in their places of honor. Behind the altar you may see carvings of paintings of the twelve apostles. Across the centuries from St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue to the baroque cathedrals of Spain, the twelve apostles occupy a place of honor in the churches.
When we come to the Gospel according to Mark, the apostles are depicted not as these great success stories but as abject failures. Just look at the opening words of John in today’s reading.
John calls Jesus “Teacher.” John, however, never learns anything Jesus is teaching him. John, like all the apostles, resists Jesus’ teaching. John and his brother James were among the first called apostles. Yet John, along with the other apostles, stands at the end of the line among those who have faith in Jesus, who understand his message, and follow Jesus on the difficult path he lays out.
John is trying to establish who is in and who is out when it comes to ministry. “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” Establishing boundaries in ministry involves dangerous patterns and seems strange to us who live in an ecumenical environment. Just think about the service groups in our community.
LINCS, the Linden Food Pantry, was organized as an ecumenical outreach to help the hungry. The people who run the organization come from different houses of worship and collaborate in feeding God’s hungry children. We know of other organizations like the Lions’ Club who identify a need in the community and organize volunteers to help others.
Most of these organizations arise as secular groups not affiliated with a church or mosque or synagogue or temple. Yet, as people of faith, we know that something deeper is happening. God is endlessly at work in the world, identifying problems, matching some people’s gifts with other people’s needs, creating opportunities where nothing existed. God sees the need for healing in our world and as we heard from the letter of James, God invites us to collaborate with God in healing the wounds of the world.
John failed to discern this action of God in the world. John limited God to the narrow sphere of Jesus and his immediate band. Jesus saw the broader scope of work which needed to be done and the people setting their hand to accomplish that work.
God continues to get God’s hands dirty in our world. God prowls the community searching out places where people are in need, seeking people with talents to address those circumstances, and drawing people into God’s circle of healing. We all know that God is the energy behind the feeding ministries in our city. Many of us collaborate with God by bringing food to church for the food pantry or donating money to support their work. But I wonder in what other places God may be at work among us.
It seems to me that God not only identifies needs but God also gives gifts and talents to address those needs. Have you asked yourself what gifts has God given to you which you could use to help others in need? Many of us have been involved in education.
I wonder how God may use those gifts to help others. I wonder how those gifts could be used to help our neighbors at McManus Middle School?
Some of us have talents in sewing. I wonder how God would use those gifts to bring together people of similar interests to create communities which cultivate those gifts, teach those gifts to others, draw people together as a community sharing that gift. Some of us are musicians, actors and painters. Some of us are gardeners. Some of us have talents you have not shared with others. I wonder how God may be inviting us to work with God in our community?
I would like to present you with a challenge. I would invite you to find at least one person in the church who has a talent like yours. I would then invite you to identify a need in the community which you could address. Perhaps the gardeners among us might organize that community garden about which we have talked but never started. Perhaps the sowers might organize a community of people who like to sew and bring them together for sewing events, perhaps displays, perhaps contests. You have more creative imaginations than me and you can transform possibilities into realities.
God invites us to collaborate with God in creating a better world, in healing the pain of this world, in cultivating the talents of the young people in our world. What will you do with that invitation?