Sermon on Mark 9:38-50

 September 26, 2021 | The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost | The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills |  

³⁸John 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.” 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.” (Mark 9:38-50, NRSV).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

This past Wednesday was officially the first day of fall, but an even more reliable barometer of the seasons is not the cool we can feel in the mornings now, but the giant pile of salt that gets unloaded from ships in New Haven harbor every year.  Over the years with Seafarers International House I have visited the crews of the salt ships, usually coming from South America, bringing thousands of tons of their pink-hued sodium chloride to keep our streets ice-free this winter.  And my abiding memory of every visit to the salt ships is that no matter how careful they are, or you are when walking, the salt gets everywhere, overflowing off the ships, flowing out of cracks in the dump trucks, piled up all over the docks, all over the roads and sidewalks, getting all over anyone, even into your shoes and socks—it’s a winter-wonderland of salt, salt, everywhere.

As Jesus speaks of salt today, our Scripture readings today all try and tell us of the similar overflowing, uncontrollable nature of God’s grace—Grace, which means God’s favor and undeserved kindness to us in Jesus Christ. G.R.A.C.E. is a useful acronym for “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense,” or “Gifts we Receive And Cannot Earn”—and the Scriptures today tell us that God’s grace for us in Christ is like an overflowing massive pile of salt, his Grace slops over the top, his grace and lovingkindness finds a way to pour out in ways that can’t be controlled, his grace flows out all over where we think it shouldn’t.

In our first lesson for today we’re told that, surprise, surprise, the people of God are complaining.  They want to go back to Egypt where the food was better and they’re tired of being the desert on the way to the promised land.  And poor Moses can’t take it any more, so he says to God, “Put me out of my suffering, I’m ready to die,” and so God says, “All right, gather some other leaders, gather 70 leaders and bring them before me.”  And God takes some of the spirit that rested upon Moses and gave it to these 70, to help lead and guide God’s people, grace multiplies here 70-fold, from just one person leading alone, to a whole community leading each other, but all of a sudden some of God’s spirit overflows onto two people who weren’t supposed to be there, Eldad and Medad, and they began prophesying, we’re told, which means they began speaking the truth about God, giving witness to the living God, but they were numbers 71 and 72!  So Joshua, Moses’ assistant, steps in to sort things out.  “Moses, stop them” he says!  Joshua, like us, wants order.  He wants control.  Joshua knows that’s there’s limits, there’s procedures, things can only go so far, there’s a committee now with a president and vice president and secretary-treasurer of Israel, all 70 of them, and Joshua thinks a little grace is fine, but not too much, not overflowing, not messy, not spilling over the top.  But grace means God is in charge, that God is God and we’re not, and we don’t like that!

But how does Moses respond to our complaint, to our discomfort?  “Are you jealous?  I wish all God’s people were prophets, and that he would put his Spirit upon everybody.”  Grace pours over, grace spills over, for in baptism all of us have been given God’s Holy Spirit, all of you have been given an overflowing of grace. It is not us in control anymore, for now we have a living Lord, who died for us on the Cross, and who now lives and reigns over us, keeping us as his own forever.

In our second lesson today James tells us what living in overflowing grace looks like.  He begins by telling us that when we’re suffering, we should all pray.  Suffering by its nature separates us off from one another, we can feel totally alone in suffering, but James tells us today that our faith calls us to actively stay as connected as possible: “If any among you is sick, they should call together the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord, the prayer of faith will save the sick.” When my father-in-law was dying last month, his priest was able to visit him in hospice and anoint him, and she shared that even though he no longer knew his wife, his family, or himself, that as soon as she anointed him and began praying the Lord’s Prayer, he began praying along with her word-for-word.  We all know from experience that God does not always cure in the way we want, but he is with us, and he does send his angels to go and assist us, and in Christ God knows our hurts from the inside out, and is at work in every broken human body and starving soul to heal and to make whole.  That’s why we pray for so many people each week, why we take it seriously, that’s why we pray for each other and practice anointing with oil here.  Because of God’s grace we are bold to pray for healing, even if that healing is a final and ultimate healing in heaven, and I know there are people in this congregation right now who have their own testimonies about what God can do with prayer from this Church.  We pray for healing and blessing because, God’s grace overflows.

Finally, in our gospel lesson today Jesus’ disciples come up to tattle on a man who was performing healings in the Name of Christ, but was not following along with the disciples. The disciples want Jesus to stop him, to send out a cease and desist letter.  But we know, because of Christ, because of what he has done for us, that grace overflows, that his grace spills over, and is messy.  Jesus says, “If they’re not against us they’re for us, and even somebody who gives a glass of water because you bear the name of Christ won’t lose their reward.”  Grace pours out and spills over, so that even the littlest thing becomes great in God’s sight.  The tiniest thing can make the biggest difference, and is worthy of the biggest reward. Think about a hug from a grandchild, an encouraging message from a friend, a thoughtful gesture from a neighbor.  We can all change the world just with that. So every little thing you do this week, even when you don’t know you’re doing it for God, your listening to someone else’s pain with empathy, your doing the everyday chores and little things you do for your family, the humdrum details at work or on campus, every little humble task here at church, every hidden kindness that we do because of Christ, well grace flows in and overflows makes those little things great!

And if indeed we want to live rightly in his amazing grace, then we are called, Jesus says, to be salt, and to be at peace with one another.  “Have salt in yourselves,” Jesus says, like salt piled on our streets that can melt even the most frozen heart, like salt which stings like crazy because it heals our sins and griefs, like salt which cleanses and disinfects our wounds, like salt that preserves food and so preserves life, like salt that gives zest and life and flavor to everything–the salt of faith in him and fervent love for one another that melts, heals, seasons, and preserves us as his children, so that we will indeed be at peace with one another, living at all in times, and in all places, in his overflowing, overwhelming grace.

And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills

New Haven, Connecticut

Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org