The 18th Sunday after Pentecost - Was Jesus Right?

So today, just to wake everyone up, we're going to start with a mini-grammar lesson.  Ok—remember conjugating verbs.  Then let's try one: to ring.  That's right: ring, rang, rung.  OK—here's another: to fling.  [fling, flung, flung] OK—but there is a blogger who decided to conjugate it a bit differently: her blog is entitled “Leave it lay where Jesus flang it.”  I have only read the blog occasionally, but I am absolutely fascinated by the title.  You may disagree with me, but I think the title of the blog tells us to let go of over-interpreting difficult passages, either as a literalist or as one who seeks information about all sorts of historical and literary contexts in order to soften difficult passages.

So this morning, I am advocating that we just leave the difficult parts of the gospel reading lay where Jesus “flang” them: in the minds of his close disciples who seemed to be challenging the way he was handling his ministry.  I will simply say this:  if you think all the Bible should be interpreted literally and you carefully seek to follow Jesus' teachings and you are honest about your own shortcomings, Mark 9: 42-48 may cause you some significant difficulty.

But now, on to what I think is the most important issue in our readings today—how do we define a community to which we belong and how do we act as a result of that definition.  We see three snapshots of communities in our three lessons today: the Israelite community in the desert, the inner circle of the disciples who were close to Jesus, and a gathering in the early church.  And, as always, we need to ponder what scripture says to our own community.

Here is how I see community defined in these readings: Physical presence in a gathering of the members [Numbers], a gathering concerned with each other's well-being—both physical and spiritual [James], and a small number of people who see themselves as carrying out an exclusive mission [Mark].  All these descriptions may apply to us here at St. Nicholas' at one time or another.  In fact, this morning in a few minutes we will doing exactly what James recommends to his community: praying and anointing with oil for healing in the name of the Lord.  We are not claiming to perform miracles at this moment.  What we do claim—as James puts it—is this:  “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”  True healing means an end to the “dis-ease,” including the dis-ease” of sin, which separates us from God's love.

But other actions based on an understanding of community we see in our readings today speak not to healing, but to excluding.  Who is part of our group and who is not?  Who has the correct beliefs or the purity to qualify for membership in our community? And taking it one step further—who may be our enemy?

Jesus will have none of this exclusionary stuff!  He was teaching his disciples to consider another person's intent from a positive perspective, to practice compassion, to avoid behavior that might offend and cause people to lose connection with their source of hope, to keep their own relationship with God fresh and finally to practice peace.  Jesus wasn't asking his disciples—and isn't asking us—just to be nice and don't make waves.  I believe he asked his disciples—and is asking us—to step outside our own set of pre-occupations and prejudices—as often as we can. We should look out for the well-being of the community and for what God may be saying to us—while being VERY CLEAR that we may have it wrong.

A parishioner accosted a priest one day, probably during coffee hour, and told him how wrong his ideas about an issue were.  The priest replied, “You may be right.”  The parishioner responded rather heatedly, “What do you mean? Are you saying I may be wrong?”  The priest answered quietly, “You may be right.”

If you take the leaflet with the readings home with you, read the gospel lesson again.  Is this what Jesus is saying: Consider another person's intent from a positive perspective?  Practice compassion? Avoid behavior that might offend and cause people to lose connection with their source of hope? Keep your own relationship with God fresh? And finally practice peace?  And if all this is so, was Jesus right?  And if we decide Jesus was right, we must behave in ways that reflect his teaching!