"Our Greatest Investment", (Mark 9:38-50 )

A Sermon Preached By

Rev. Peter W. Shidemantle

 26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 28, 2003

 PEBBLE HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

5299 Jamesville Rd., DeWitt, NY  13213

Phone:  315-446-0960      Fax:  446-0672

phillchu@twcny.rr.com              http://pebblehill.presbychurch.org

We baptized Claire this morning - daughter of Maureen and George, sister of Emma, child of God and of this congregation. We have "stock" in her. When we baptized her we gave over our commitment to her growth and development as a Christian. Our investment in her has not been given from extra, disposable "capital." With this investment, as with every child baptized whose parents live up to their end of the deal, we are to be like those old guys who hang out at the brokerage houses watching the screen to see how their stocks are doing the whole time the market is open. Our fortune as Christians rises and falls with the "little ones," and not just infants and toddlers, but all who are vulnerable, impressionable, not yet strong or wise, perhaps - the ones out of the mainstream of the important business of the world - the ones who take our time and attention, who sometimes aggravate or interrupt or can’t keep up. We dare not cause any one of them to stumble, by our action or inaction, conscious and intentional or not. We dare not stand in their way, neither block their entrance into full inclusion in the community, nor trip them up once they are here. In graphic and even shocking language Jesus impresses upon his disciples that they are to take their discipleship seriously. He was speaking to the kind of life we are to share, and the stakes that are involved.

They had seen a man "casting out demons" in Jesus’ name. Apparently he was successful, but they stopped him because he wasn’t one of them, one of the inner circle. Jesus said not to forbid him, and said that whoever "is not against us if for us."

This wasn’t to be a movement that claimed some kind of secret power that you could be part of only if you knew the right people. It isn’t to be guarded jealously like membership in a fraternity or some secret society. It is not about including just "our kind of people." Fellowship with Jesus Christ is to be about the kind of life that is empowered by the healing, thirst-quenching spirit of God. There can be no boundaries to inclusion in this fellowship, and no impediments placed in the way of those who would be part of it.

How do we identify this life, and how do you recognize it? It isn’t hard, not hard at all. We already know what it looks like. A cup of water given to someone who is thirsty is as good a symbol for it as any. It is the spirit of compassion, sacrifice, healing and helpfulness that is universally recognized as the way people should relate to one another, especially those who are in need. It is the life that flows just beneath the surface of the world’s pain - its wars and injustices, its suffering and grief. It runs so surely and so steadily, and is recognizable to us, because there is hardly anyone, I would suggest, who at some point who has not been moved by seeing it, fulfilled in giving it, or blessed in receiving it.

When we were coming home from vacation up north in August we were driving in two cars. Dale and I were in one car, and Karen and Kara were in the car behind us. We were about 40 miles north of Syracuse on I81 when there was a loud pop and the engine died. I managed to drift over to the side of the road and Karen pulled in behind us. I told Karen she and the kids might as well go on home, but Dale volunteered to stay with me as we waited for some help. I would call Karen when we knew what was up. We waited a full two hours there along the side of the road and no one stopped to offer to help. No state troopers came by. Finally, after more than two hours a fellow stopped and asked if we needed help. We told him we sure did, and he offered to drive me to the next exit to find a phone and he would wait for me and bring me back. I went with him, we found a phone at a convenience store, and I was able to reach the emergency road service number to have a tow truck come to tow the car into town.

I learned that the fellow’s name was Daryl, that he was a hospice nurse, that he was a single dad who had a son in the military and an 18 year old at home who "knows everything," and that he was returning from a fund-raiser for his sister who is waiting for a lung transplant. We got back to the car and he gave Dale a bottle of soda he had bought for him at the store where we stopped, and he was on his way. It was a pain having to go through all that, and the additional two hour wait for the tow truck - but if we hadn’t I would likely have never met Daryl, experienced his helpfulness, or listened while he told me about his sister. Dale and I had a chance to talk as well. All in all, it wasn’t such a bad afternoon and evening.

There is nothing in the least dramatic about this story, but then our lives are lived out in mostly undramatic ways. A cup of water here, a small act of helpfulness there, a smile, a word of encouragement, a silent prayer for another - all together and over time these are the things that make for a life that is open and receptive to the spirit of God. This is the life that Jesus said we dare not hinder in others, and to stress just how serious an issue this is he said, in a way, if not to be taken literally, than to be taken with literal seriousness, that should we cause another to stumble in this way, "it would be better" if a great rock were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If, by the work of your hands you snatched someone away from this kind of life better you should cut them off, or if by the power of your feet you should lead another to walk down the road of selfishness and greed better you cut them off, or if with your eye you see only what you desire for yourself you should pluck it out.

Jesus was pointing to the tremendous responsibility we have to reflect life lived in the spirit of God, and to realize the power we have to influence and nurture others in this life. What do our kids see at home, what do they hear us talking about? What do they and others see and hear at church? What about your friends and co-workers? Jesus is trying to impress upon his disciples that following him is not a casual thing. He is concerned about what is good for them, and it’s a life and death situation, not because of what others may do to them but what they may do to themselves by not taking themselves seriously enough.

You can’t take a vacation from discipleship. You can’t let down and tell racist jokes. You don’t get time off to harass someone, sexually or otherwise. You don’t get a break from the commitments you’ve made to another just because you don’t feel like loving today.

We cause people to stumble when we talk one way and act another, saying we’re all God’s children and treat some of them like they’re not really part of God’s family; or talk about God’s gifts to us and then hoard them and refuse to share; talk about God’s grace and then store up our hurts and resentments. People notice these things.

Jesus’ words are harsh, cutting off body parts and all that. The very idea is horrifying, for we take our bodies seriously. They are precious to us. But Jesus is saying that our soul is just as precious as our body, and its wholeness comes first, because if your soul is sick and crippled, then even two good legs won’t take you anywhere worth going.

Claire is going to know, because we are going to teach her and show her, how to see like a baptized person. We are going to teach and show her that we can see spirit as well as flesh. She will know that there is more to life than meets the eye, and when we look at folks we are to see them whole, as God meant them to be. When they are hurt, then we are not whole. There is part of us that is missing. And so as disciples we dare not do anything, take part in anything, that diminishes the soul of another human being.

We have baptized Claire into this life. Doubtless there will be times when we let her down, when our actions won’t entirely reflect the words we say and the faith we confess. We will teach her the life-giving power of forgiveness, how to extend it, how to receive it. We have our work cut out for us. This "little one" has changed everything. But can you think of a better way to be called to the great freedom and the great responsibility, of life in Jesus Christ?

Amen.

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