DISCIPLESHIP AND DISTORTION
Text: Mark 9:38 – 50
There is the story of an army chaplain who once told his men that he did not believe in hell. Some of his men responded by saying that his services would no longer be needed. The one who tells this story (Warren W. Wiersbe) also says what some of those men might have been thinking which was: “… if there is no hell, then why worry about death? But if there is a hell [and there is] then the chaplain was leading them astray! Either way, they would be better off without him!” (Warren W. Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 1. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989, p. 143). This chaplain’s distorted point of view could even contribute to leading someone astray in a way that would be eternally costly. Why is this story important as it relates to today’s text? It is important because, like this chaplain, there are some with distorted points of view that could be costly unless they are corrected. We might even say that much like an optometrist, Jesus gives His disciples corrective lenses to see what is blurry---distorted to them. Jesus pointed out to them their blind spots. It is as if Jesus gives them a set of bifocals that helps them to look “inwardly” at themselves as well as “outwardly” at the world around them. As Christian disciples, we all need these “spiritual bifocals”.
In this passage of scripture, we can see three things. First, we can see where caution hinders compassion. Secondly, we can see where compassion builds community. Finally, we can see where members of the community must be accountable to God and each other.
CAUTION VERSUS COMPASSION
Exercising caution shows wisdom. When we are driving, we know that at a traffic light green means go, yellow means caution, and red mean stop. Naturally, we use wisdom when driving through an intersection. Like driving, living the right way as Christian disciples has its rules.
Can exercising caution hinder compassion? The answer to that question is yes. The actions of the disciples in this story illustrate how caution can hinder compassion. The twelve disciples appear to be annoyed with this “alien [disciple] exorcist”. There are two possible explanations, One, they are annoyed because he is not one of their group. Secondly, the reason that the disciples are annoyed seems to be that he is successful in his exorcism where they failed in their ability at exorcism earlier in Mark 9. Someone (Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa & Newsom) even points out that the success of this “alien disciple ” seems to be a threat to not only their lack of success but their “status” as well because of his success. (Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, James D. Newsome. Texts For Preaching: Year B. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, p. 529). So Jesus tells them “Do not stop him … no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against is for us” (Mark 9:39 – 40 TNIV). Was the caution really caution or was it pride dressed up like caution? What about compassion? Here was a man in need of healing.
COMPASSION BUILDS COMMUNITY
How often do we get hung up on things that run contrary to our purpose? How often do we overlook what really matters? Sometimes it takes a crisis to “remove the scales from our eyes” before we will see the things that matter rather than focus on our differences. “The intensive care waiting room is a different world. No one is a stranger. They help one another. They grieve with one another and shed tears of joy together. There is no distinction of race or class. Vanity and pretense vanish. Everything focuses on the next doctor's report or the next telephone call. Here in this anxious stillness it becomes clear that loving someone else is what life is all about. Why does it take the intensive care waiting room to teach us to forget our irritations and love one another?” (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 71). Did you notice the compassion in this story that would not likely exist outside that waiting room?
Compassion builds community because it can reach out to those in the margins. There are always people who are hurting for one reason or another. There are many who hunger to belong. Some are scared to risk getting involved because they feel that they might get hurt. Many stand on the sidelines for various reasons. The one thing that they all have in common is the brokenness that they feel. Compassion reaches out where others are scared to take the chance. Consider the following story and how it illustrates just that.
“After an accident in which she lost her arm, Jamie refused to go to school or church. Finally, the young teen thought she could face her peers. In preparation her mother called her Sunday school teacher and asked that he not call attention to Jamie. The teacher promised, but then he got sick on Sunday and had to call a substitute.
At the conclusion of the lesson that day, which was about inviting friends to church, the substitute teacher led the class in doing the hand motions to the familiar children’s poem:
Here is the church,
Here is the steeple.
Open the door
And see all the people.
Jamie’s eyes filled with tears. A thirteen-year-old boy sensed Jamie’s pain and knelt beside her. With one hand apiece, they supported each other, making the church, steeple, and people.
Together they illustrated what real church is.
— Billy Waters, Teacher Touch (Cook, 1999). (Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof. gen. eds. 1001 Illustrations That Connect . [— Billy Waters, Teacher Touch (Cook, 1999).]. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2008, p. 46). How well do we illustrate what church is in the ways that we demonstrate our compassion? How well is our compassion building community in the name of Jesus?
ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTEGRITY
No one is stumble proof! We all make mistakes. We all fall short of the glory of God and miss the mark (Romans 3:23). Just because we miss the mark does not mean that target practice is over! We press on for the prize! We always fall short when we get “distorted” in our mission focus. Keeping our saltiness as Christians is a struggle (Mark 9:49, 50). The expression being salted with fire is metaphor for persecution. (Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa & Newsom, p. 530). The way Satan wanted to sift Peter like sand is a good example of such a test (Luke22:31). We cannot rely on our own strength to succeed. As someone put it, “Salty Christians cannot go it alone, but need one another in the community of memory and hope”. (Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa & Newsom, p. 530). As Christians, we can help each other in carrying our burdens (Galatians 6:2). Keeping our saltiness is about persevering in our Christian witness. That is why our target practice never ends!
We have to remove those things that mess up our target practice. We all have stumbling block potential. Stumbling blocks are not good for us or those who can be negatively influenced by us. Jesus made the point that it is a sin to influence someone else who is younger and more vulnerable to sin. Jesus said that it would be better for someone to have a millstone hung around their neck and drown in the depths of the sea than be guilty of causing another to stumble (Mark 9:42). Jesus therefore gave us the following advice: If your hand, foot or foot cause you to stumble, cut it off. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. Jesus then said it is better to enter life maimed than to go to hell with your whole body (Mark 9:43 – 47). Why? The reason is because the torment of hell never stops.
The imagery that Jesus gives to us concerning the eternal torment of hell is pretty graphic. Imagine a worm that never dies and a fire that never burns out (Isaiah 66:24, Mark :9:48). “Worms and fire represented both internal and external pain”. (Philip W. Comfort & Dan Lins. eds. Life Application: New Testament Commentary. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001, p. 189). And if the internal and external torment were not bad enough, then consider the duration of the torment which is for eternity.
Jesus was speaking figuratively about amputation and removal of body parts. Someone (Larry W. Hurtado) gave one of the best explanations about Jesus’s advice on what to do with potential stumbling blocks: “The parts of the body mentioned here are really symbols for various types of activity, for example, the hand that grasps for things that it should not, the foot that goes where it ought not, or the eye that desires what it ought not”. (Larry W. Hurtado. New International Biblical Commentary: Mark. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1989, p. 156). In spite of his father’s disapproval of alcohol (mentioned In The Grip Of Grace) Max Lucado mentioned that he was on his way to a drinking problem by the time he was eighteen. By the time he was twenty, he removed this stumbling block. Then, (back in 1999?) later the stumbling block proved to a hindrance for him as he became a closet drinker who began to sneak a beer here and there. He thought beer with barbecue won’t hurt. Then, it sent him back into the stumbling block phase again as he began to go snake a beer. He even snuck a beer on the way to a ministry retreat. He had just recently scolded his daughter for keeping secrets only to be plagued by the shame of his own stumbling block secret. He shared his struggle with some of the elders and members of his congregation and got passed it. (Max Lucado. Traveling Light. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001, pp. 120 – 121). Max got back on track before his stumbling block caused him to get to the point of leading others astray.
How salty are we as Christians? Have you ever heard the expression “worth your salt?” Have you ever wondered what that expression meant? There was a time in history when soldiers---Romans soldiers actually got paid with salt rations. (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. Volume 4. Sharon Ringe. “Exegetical Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2008, p. 121). Therefore, being worth your salt meant doing work that was equal to the amount of your paycheck. Again, “Salty Christians cannot go it alone, but need one another in the community of memory and hope”. (Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa & Newsom, p. 530). Jesus wants us to live a life worthy of our calling as His disciples so that no one will ever have a reason to say that we have lost our effectiveness---our saltiness.
