There once were a baker and a farmer who entered into a business agreement. The baker would purchase the farmer’s butter while the farmer purchased the baker’s bread. The agreement seemed like a match made in heaven. Day in and day out butter and bread would exchange hands. But all was not as it seemed. The baker began to suspect that the farmer was not being honest in his measurement of the butter. He believed that the farmer was short weighing the baker’s portion. So for an entire week the baker carefully weighed the butter, and sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed – each day the butter was exactly the same weight… and each day the butter was exactly 14 ounces - 2 ounces short of a pound. Two ounces didn’t sound like much, but over time the baker had been shorted pounds of butter! Irate, that he was being swindled by the farmer, the baker took his proof to the judge and had the farmer arrested.
A hearing was scheduled without delay. The judge reviewed the evidence presented by the baker, and turning to the farmer he said, “I assume you use the standard weights when measuring out your goods?”
To which the farmer replied, “Well, sir, as a matter of fact, I don’t.”
Intrigued the judge said, “Well then, exactly how do you do your measuring?”
“You see, your Honor,” said the farmer, “the baker and I had an agreement. I would buy a pound of bread from him and he would in return buy a pound of butter from me. So, having no reason not to trust him, I would place his pound of bread on the scale and measure the butter accordingly.”
The judge had quite a conundrum, didn’t he? The baker was cheating the farmer all along, but when the farmer gave the baker an equal portion to what he received, the baker was upset. So, who was really in the wrong? Well, they both were! The baker and the farmer both short weighed their goods and we all know that two wrongs don’t make a right! Moreover, the baker knowingly cheated the farmer and tried to keep it a secret until the farmer began to do the same thing in return. Then he got angry. It’s a classic case of do what I say, not what I do! A classic case of actions not mirroring the words spoken. Classic example of the way many Christians live their lives.
Classic case of hypocrisy and the notion that I can ignore my sins, but I’m going to point out your transgressions! Hypocrisy within the faith is an age-old problem. We faithful people are really good at wanting to be the gatekeepers of heaven. We love scrutinizing the lives of others, weighing their actions against their words, placing stumbling blocks in the path of righteousness all in the name of keeping the faith “pure.” Yet, when the tables are turned and someone looks at us, criticizing our living, calling out our inconsistencies, questioning our actions, suddenly they are being judgmental and withholding God’s grace.
John came running up to Jesus, “Teacher! Teacher!”” he tattled, “We just saw a man driving out demons in your name. But he wasn’t one of “us” so we told him to stop! Didn’t we do a great job? Aren’t you proud of us for keeping the faith pure? Come on, Jesus, pat us on the back and tell us how well we have done!”
Imagine John’s surprise when he did not receive praise for his actions. Imagine his surprise when instead Jesus turned to him and said, “What… have… you…done? Who told you to stop people who were ministering in my name simply because they were not part of our inner circle? Don’t you ever stop ANYONE from performing a miracle in my name! And further more… if YOUR actions cause anyone to sin, it would be better to be drowned than to face your judgment!”
Whoa! Stop! Where is happy, loving, gracious, joyful Jesus? Where is our Savior who preaches peace and forgiveness? Where has he gone and who is this person who is now preaching about damnation for those who cause others to sin? This is one of those times in scripture when I’d like to skip over what Jesus is saying to us. For this passage is not fuzzy lambs and eternal hugs. This passage is a call to examine our lives and to weigh our righteous living not against others, but against the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The truth is, we can always find someone in the world that is worse than we are – at least in our eyes! There will always be someone who commits a more grievous sin than you do. It’s especially easy in this day and age of instant information to look at those people and come running to Jesus saying, “Jesus we told them to stop!” Genocide in Africa makes our neglect of the poor and homeless seem like nothing. Terroristic suicide bombers make our occasional racial slur a mere drop of water in the ocean. Pedophiles and sex-slave bosses are off the chart sinful compared to our occasional exploitation of people for goods and services. Not stopping to pick up a piece of garbage that I dropped on the ground can’t really compare to companies like Doe Run that spew millions of gallons of pollution into the air and water in La Oroya, Peru. Right? My sins in comparison to sins of others seem like nothing!
But sin is sin. Neglecting the poor and homeless, racial slurs, exploitation of people and the earth… these are sins that we commit and that go against living a Christ centered life. But much like the baker in the story this morning, we overlook our sins while pointing out the sinfulness of others.
I am reminded of first grade teacher who used to say, “whenever you point a finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you.”
Jesus said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. For it is better to enter into heaven maimed, crippled and blind than to be thrown into the fire of hell. Did Jesus really mean for us to literally cut off our hands and feet? Well, if he did, there would be many of us around the world with no hands, no feet, no eyes, no tongue and wondering what do we remove next…
No, Jesus intent was not to have a world full of handless, footless, blind disciples! He gave us this teaching as a reminder that we are to examine our way of living. We are to look at what causes us to sin before we choose to look at others and make judgments against them! This teaching is to remind us that before we can condemn others to hell, we must first remember those transgressions that convict us of a similar fate.
None of us are worthy of salvation apart from Jesus Christ. None of us are blameless. None of us live lives that are pure. Like Jonathan Edwards described in his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” we are like spiders, held by a fine thread, dangling over the flames over our deserved punishment. But God is the one holding us. God is the one judging us. God knows what we all deserve but through Christ God has chosen to save us from it!
We are sinners! Each and every one of us! But we are sinners in the hands of a God who is grace and love, forgiveness and salvation. We are not worthy of God’s love and yet we are showered with blessings. How marvelous and beautiful is the truth of God’s love for us? And not just for us, but for all of creation?
But take a good look at Christ’s Church in the world. Divisions and factions prevail. Some denominations refuse to worship with other denominations. Some members of Christ’s family gate off the Lord’s Table keeping their brothers and sisters away from the family feast. We look with skepticism at those with different worship styles, different music, different expressions of the truth of the gospel. And I wonder how – amid the prevalent grace of God - did we get here? How did the Church Universal become so segmented?
And then I read this passage and I see that there has always been a movement toward the us and them in the circle of faith. John and the other disciples were upset that someone was preaching and teaching and healing in the name and power of Jesus Christ. Someone who was not part of their group. Someone they didn’t know and weren’t sure they could trust. And so, thinking they were doing right but much to the annoyance and chagrin of Jesus, they told this man to stop.
And I realized, since Christ walked this earth, there have been those who have tried to keep others at arms length. There have been those who believed that if you don’t do things exactly the way we do things, then you CAN’T be one of us. There are those who think it is their mission to keep the faith pure and out of the hands and mouths of those who are not worthy.
But that’s not the message of Christ. Jesus teaches us that anyone who ministers in His name is united in His minstry. We may not like what they do. We may not agree with how they do it. But if healing and praise and worship are done in the name of Jesus Christ, then we’re all playing on the same team. Jesus said, whoever is not against us is for us.
Think of the power that Christ’s Church could wield in the world if we’d stop pointing fingers at each other and unite our hands in ministry. Think of the positive model we Christians could set for the world if we stopped arguing among ourselves, agreeing to disagree on certain issues and then moving forward in unity and with grace. Think of the good that could be done for all God’s creation if we pulled our physical and spiritual blessings and resources.
Just last night I finished reading Dan Brown’s latest novel,“The Lost Symbol,” and while the book was not overtly Christian in nature there are certain ideas and concepts within its pages that I as a Christian reading the book could not overlook as a message of the gospel and of the need for religious unity and tolerance. Katherine, one of the main characters, is a scientist doing research in the field of noetics which studies the mysteries of our consciousness. Basically she is researching the power that is in each of us to transform not just our lives, but to transform the world around us. At one point near the end, and I’m trying to tread lightly here as to not give away too much of the story for those of you reading (or hoping to read) this bestseller, anyway, Katherine the noetic scientist talks to Robert Langdon who is a religious skeptic about the power of combined consciousness. She says that where one mind is powerful in transforming and healing, two minds are exponentially more powerful. And the more minds you have focused on the same outcome, the more powerful the power of transformation. Then she goes on to explain that this is why “faith healing” works. This is why prayer works. It’s because there is a power that lies within us to change the world around us…
Now, whether you agree with the science presented or not is debatable. But the character speaks a Biblical truth… when we as the body of Christ unite in focused ministry and prayer, there is a power that is present and unleashed. A power that can change the people and the world around us.
Imagine a world transformed by Christians who gather to pray earnestly for Christ’s reign in the world. Imagine a world transformed by God’s children who refrained from infighting and focused their energies on bringing the light of Christ to the world. Imagine a world transformed because we set aside our egos and the whole concept of “we’re right and you’re wrong” and we sought as a unified body the united ministry of Christ in the world.
Imagine what can be accomplished if we take to heart Christ’s teaching that whoever is for us is not against us.
This passage from Mark, at first reading is not the comforting words of grace that we so often crave from the scriptures. And yet, the more we dwell upon it and allow it to come alive in and through our living out of the Word, we see that it becomes a transformational passage for all of Christendom. Whoever ministers in the name of Christ cannot be against Christ’s common ministry in the world.
We may disagree on some issues.
We may not really like each other.
We may question motivation.
We may wish that others would be more like us.
But, ultimately, “whoever is not against us is for us.” Whoever invokes the name of Christ, whoever proclaims the gospel of salvation, whoever works, heals and ministers in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are indeed united in mission, ministry and faith. We are the one body of Christ in the world. We are called to be one family of faith in the world. So let us go forth living as one faith, one family, one people of God – now and forever more. Amen.
