Ouch,
That Hurts!
Mark
9: 38-50
October 1, 2006
38-50
John said to him, “Teacher,
we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him,
because he was not following us.” But 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.
Whoever is not against us is for us. For 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.”
“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. If 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. And 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. And 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, where their
worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.”
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt 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.”
The evangelist shares another powerful story with the reader. The
disciples were traveling and discovered another person – who was not of
their group – doing good things in the name of Jesus.
Maybe it was a little bit of jealousy or maybe it was truly out of concern
that this person might have been misrepresenting Jesus,
but the evangelist informs us that the disciples tried to stop this person
from using the name of Jesus. Whatever their
reasons, they were upset that this outsider was using the name of
Jesus to cast out demons. Let’s think about
their action for a moment. If any of us were walking in a mall or to a
restaurant and we saw someone helping another person, what would our
reaction be? Hopefully, it would give us a good feeling. There is plenty
of pain and grief in this world. If someone along life’s journey stops to
help someone else deal with his or her pain, grief or illness would we not
rejoice at that action? The disciples did not rejoice that day. We know
that they were upset with the person who was helping others.
One of the reasons that I believe that the Bible is the
word of God is that the writers told the
entire story. I can only speak about myself and our family but if I was
going to write a family history, I probably would omit that there were
some characters in our family history that were less than upright and
moral. The writers of the scriptures told the good and the bad on
themselves. They did not attempt to cover up their transgressions. They
told their faith story and that included their faithful walk with
God as well as their transgressions against
God.
That is exactly what the evangelist did in this text.
He showed a side of the disciples that was not their best side. They were
upset with someone for doing great deeds in the name of
Jesus because that person was not a part of
their group. They attempted to stop him. Evidently they could not stop the
person from sharing God’s love and grace as
revealed through Jesus so that went back to
Jesus to complain about him.
I doubt that they were prepared for the answer that
Jesus gave them. Maybe we should ask
ourselves, am I ready to hear this message from Jesus?
His response was:
“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. Whoever
is not against us is for us. For 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.”
Jesus immediately informed those early
disciples to not do anything to stop someone else that was witnessing in
His Name. Jesus knew that if someone called
upon his name that the power that God had
given to Jesus would indeed change that
person’s life. The person would not be able to tell others that he or she
believed in Jesus multiple times unless he or
she had experienced a life altering change. For one to be able to witness
for Christ, one must experience
Christ in a personal way in one’s life. One
develops a relationship with Christ that
changes that person’s personality and actions in life.
Many years ago there
was a television ad that showed a young father and his son walking down a
country lane. It showed them walking by a stream. Everything that the
father did, his little son copied. When the father skipped a pebble across
the water, the son tried to do the same thing. When the father laughed the
son laughed. They finally sat down beside a large oak tree. The son sat
the same way his father sat. The son wanted to be exactly like his father.
When one truly
accepts Jesus then one desires to walk the
walk. One desires to live his or her life as Jesus
like as possible. One wants to reflect the love and grace of
God as revealed through
Christ.
During that teaching lesson, Jesus
went on to teach the disciples that if they caused any little child to
stray from him that they would be better off with a giant rock tied around
their necks and cast into the deepest part of the sea. Ouch, that hurts! A
large rock tied around one’s neck means that one is going to drown in that
sea. Life is over, as one knows it. Death has claimed that person. It is
more than the physical death. Jesus was
teaching the disciples that if one drove away the smallest child of
God due to their actions or words that they
would experience another death and that death was and is a spiritual
death. It is total separation from the love and the grace of
God.
I cannot imagine living in a
land where for months there is almost total darkness. That has to be hard!
Not seeing the light of day as blessed by the sun in the sky would for me
be depressing. As most of you know, I love to see and experience the
brightness of the day when the sun is brilliantly shining in the heavens.
It makes my day. Jesus was teaching those
disciples and he is teaching his disciples today that if we cause someone
to leave the family of God then we will be
held accountable for our actions. If we cause someone to walk away from
God then we will experience that second
death. It is a death of darkness and loneliness because the loving hand of
God no longer touches one. One is no longer
experiencing the radiant love and power as revealed through
Jesus of Nazareth.
Vance Havner wrote
Just a Preacher. On page 36, he wrote these words: “When I
pastored a country church, a farmer didn't like sermons I preached on
hell. He said, "Preach about the meek and lowly Jesus."
I said, "That's where I got my information about hell. Most of the
information that I have about hell I got from Jesus.
He took the last verse of Isaiah and the garbage heap outside Jerusalem
and mixed them up into the most fearful picture of eternal punishment on
earth. No amount of exegetical sleight of hand can change the fact that He
saw the future abode of the wicked as endless horror beyond the great gulf
that was forever fixed. I believe there is a hell because he did. And on
that rock I stand.”
Jesus
wanted his disciples to know that they would be held accountable for their
actions if they kept someone from experiencing God’s
awesome love by their deeds, thoughts or words. He wanted them to
understand that being separated from God’s
love would mean that they would exist in an eternal life situation that
would be horrible.
His lesson plan that day was to
teach the disciples to think before they acted or spoke words that could
and would be considered to be damaging to another person.
Sometimes, we hear someone saying: “Well, I just
speak my mind.” Jesus is saying to that
person or any other person that “you will be better off thinking about
what you are going to say, write or do before you do it because if you
hurt or harm that other person then you will be held accountable for your
actions.”
Ouch, that hurts! I remember one of my grammar
school teachers telling our class one day that: “sometimes the truth
hurts!” Jesus was proclaiming to those early
disciples the truth of the gospel story. He was letting them know that
they had been picked to tell others about the awesome
God that they worshipped. They had not been
picked to turn others away from God.
Every person that
has said “yes” to a life altering experience as revealed through
Jesus of Nazareth is a missionary.
Jesus calls us to be missionaries of the
gospel. Every one has been called to be a missionary to the world
representing the love and the light of Christ
to all persons. Sometimes, even if we do not mean to, we get caught up in
our own life situations and we no longer represent the light of
Christ. Instead of goodness, evil comes from
us. We gossip about another person thus we harm another person with our
words. We sometimes treat another person coldly by our actions. How often
have we heard or said ourselves: “I am sorry this is my pew!” A person
looking to experience the love of Christ for
the first time will most likely walk out of that place of worship shaking
his or her head and never return to a place of worship. We can argue that
we did not mean to cause any harm. The fact remains that we do when we do
not represent Christ and His love for all of
God’s people. When we do not represent
Christ, we represent evil and then we are
held accountable for those actions.
Jesus shared a learning
experience with his immediate disciples that day! It is a learning
experience that the evangelist is sharing with the disciples today through
this text. May we hear the words of Christ
and may we grow in His words and our walk in the faith.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
