This sermon was delivered to Holy Trinity in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland on the 26th September 2021;
a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The readings for today are: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 Psalm 12 James 5:13-20
Main Reading: Mark 9:38-50
Introduction.
When I first spoke to Ken about today’s gospel reading, Ken read through it very quickly, and went: “oh dear, this is full of hell and damnation … good luck with that one”. Thanks Ken, but once I had a chance to study it, I found it quite uplifting and a positive message, and I hope you will agree.
The verse in the vernacular.
Now, to gain the full understanding of this verse, I find it better sometimes, to translate the verses into the vernacular; a language I am more familiar.
So, our text today could read, “as the disciples went about their daily business, they saw a man casting out a demon in Jesus’ name. They were shocked about this, because he wasn’t one of them, and he hadn’t done his apprenticeship with Jesus. Yet, earlier that same day, the disciples themselves had tried to cast out a similar demon, and failed … and here was a man, a stranger, showing them up. So, the disciples looked at each other and said, “we canny have this”, everyone will be doing it; and we will lose our status.
In fact, the disciples thought, “how dare he”, so they hatched a plan to tell Jesus about this, and for Jesus to sort out, in their favour. So they went to Jesus, and told him what they saw … but instead of Jesus agreeing with them, he went completely off on one, he was absolutely raging … shouting out that this man was doing his work, in his name, and that he was working for him and not against him. … And like us, once Jesus got started, he kept on going. … These disciples had completely disappointed Jesus, and so he was clearly upset at them. … In all the years they had been with him, they had learned absolutely nothing.
And we know this feeling, because that is when we say, why bother, and I am sure Jesus said it, because the disciples had totally missed the whole point of Christianity and their relationship with God.
The real object of the exercise.
Christianity, as you know, is not just a religion, it is a way of life, it is a way of thinking and acting according the kingdom of God, and not according to the kingdom of men. And I am sure you will agree, that sometimes Christianity just does not make sense, and goes against the ways of this world, yet we also know, that it does work, but in a kind of strange way … but rarely in a way we want it work, or a way that makes sense.
For example, our sins are forgiven by God, all our sins. We don’t deserve to be forgiven of our sins, but Jesus died a horrible death to completely free us from both our lives of Sin, (capital S) and … our everyday smaller sins, (small s). No other religion does that, but Jesus died to set us free from Sin, and the penalties of our sin.
Now this can be a hard one to take in, (I still struggle with it at times), but Jesus did this for many reasons, one being, that we are free from sin, enabling us to serve others in his name … rather than in our own name, where in our own name, we can gain a position of authority … a position of self-importance … a position we can use and abuse for our own ends.
And we have all heard the stories of those who have done so, to greater and lesser extents, including those who are absolutely despicable. And this abuse does not apply just to the church on, it applies to all societies, groups, clubs or whatever … and that was why Jesus was so angry, because the disciples were still thinking in terms of self-promotion.
They were focused on wanting that wee stripe on their shoulder or arm, that wee position in church, that wee position of authority just to give them a wee edge, on someone or something … and not, on the poor man who was being delivered, or the man trying to deliver him.
This is exactly what Jesus was raging about in our reading this morning. These disciples had learned absolutely nothing, but they had somehow given themselves a certain position, a certain authority or status because of their association with Jesus, because after all, they were the ones who followed him around, they were the ones Jesus was spending most of his time with, they were the ones closest to the son of God, and they wanted the people to know it. So, we can understand quite easily, their thinking, that they were someone, that they were that wee bit closer to God than everyone else … and they were keeping it all to themselves.
In fact, every day, they had listened to the teachings of Jesus and learned nothing, they wanted the authority without the responsibility, and we have all seen it … we may even have done it ourselves … and not just in church … it is simply human nature and the way of this world, but it is a way that is not of Christianity.
So, what are we supposed to do?
So, having to live in this world, with people who think this way, (and many do), what are we supposed to do? How then are we meant to behave, without others walking over us? Well, the answer to this is quite positive, and I am finding it easier and easier to put this into practice, but I will admit it can be a little bit difficult to get started.
To start with
To overcome this selfishness or one-upmanship, we have to understand that Jesus gave freely of Himself … in his service to us. He didn’t do it for profit, and he didn’t do it to gain a position of importance … He gave basically, because he could … he gave because he loves us … and he gave, to show us the way, that we could do likewise.
Jesus wants to show us there are alternative ways of behaving, better ways of living than we know, and he really wants us to give as freely as he gave to us, and to do so, we must then be in a position to be able to give freely, without lack or limitation.
Thinking about it, if we had unlimited resources, we would be happy to give, or so we would say. But we don’t, and we are limited in what we can actually do. But that is not the message form Jesus, Jesus said, “give and it will be given unto you … freely you have received, freely give”. This is not new material, its just in a different context, because this is telling us that by giving, we will have access, to greater and greater resources, and the more we give the more we will be in a position to give, and then to give even more. Is that not powerful? The more we give, the more we receive.
Obviously, we have to start with the smaller things in life, but as we mature in this teaching, our resources will grow, and so will be our ability to give even more. Now I and not talking just about money here, I am talking about our very own personal qualities, like our own individual skills, or our time, our knowledge, our support, any assistance or and kind of help that we can give. The more we give of our skills, with love in our hearts, the more we receive in return. ... Jesus said we do not need to look for profit or returns, because our heavenly father can’t help but provide, in return.
And that is the bit that gets us, because we never really see the Lord providing us in return, even when he does. … And so, we can be forgiven for saying, “why should I give … there is nothing in it for me?
Because giving without expecting a return simply does not made sense, it certainly defies all logic, and it defies all sense of business … but that is what Jesus did, and that is what he is telling us to do; to give and our heaven father will bless us in return. … However, and let me be clear about this, he is not telling us to give things we cannot afford, or things that we do not want to give, he is telling us to give when we feel it is right to do so, with love in our hearts.
And that is the key to this whole message; that whenever you see the word love, we should look for God, because as we say each Sunday, “God is love and we are his children”; God is to be found wherever there is love. … Whenever we are good at something, whatever we enjoy doing or loving doing, we will find God in there somewhere … and when we find that love, we find the things God wants us to share … or freely give as he wants, because we then deem it is a pleasure, to pass those things on for the benefit of others. Jesus said, “freely we have received, so freely we can give”.
And we all have certain gifts, we all have different gifts, and we all have gifts in different stages of development. We must not however, underestimate ourselves, because we all, everyone of us, regardless of how poor and unworthy we may feel, have something, or some gift that we can pass on to others, or more importantly, something we want to pass on to others.
I am aware it can be difficult to get started, it can be difficult finding those talents that someone else wants; but we don’t have to start with the bigger things in life, no, this process requires us to start with the smaller thing in life and move on, and grow and grow. That is how every successful person starts.
Basically, we are learning to give what we can give, when we can; and if love is not in our heart, then it is simple, don’t do it … ok we may be obliged, but without the love, it simply won’t work. … We all know the saying, God love loves a cheerful giver, in fact, God really loves a cheerful giver, because a cheerful giver is replenished, and given even more. Why are they replenished? So that they can give even more. And I have to emphasise again, if you do not feel led to giving something, don’t do it, because you will not be replenished. It is only when there is love in our hearts that God will multiply that love.
I love this, because it works … and there is nothing better than watching it work; and yet those disciples that day were so immersed in their own little world that they could not see the value of what Jesus was trying to teach them, that the more they gave, the more they would receive.
Conclusion.
I am going to finish here for today, but this is such a key message. So, on reflection, we may see today’s readings in a different light; where the disciples this morning should have welcomed this man, they should have tried to encourage him, befriend him, shared their knowledge with him, or just tried to help and support him.
They should have approached this man in a position of strength, and not one of weakness … weakness in the fear of losing their so called “status”. If they were in the habit of giving freely … and if they were truly loving the lords work … their hearts would have gone out to this man, and welcomed him as a friend and ally … and much more would have been achieved. Instead, they went crying to Jesus with their tales of woe. How pathetic is that?
When we are in a position to give, and choose to focused upon ourselves and what we can gain from it, we somehow give all our strength away, or resort to dirty deeds.
What I am saying this morning is that the opposite is true, that when we give with a joyful heart, our love grows and so does the power of God within … and through that love, God will direct us to the things he wants us to do, and … he will give us his love to do them.
I think that is a lovely message this morning reading, I just hope you agree.
