Mark 9:38-50
Just think of all the patience Jesus has with these disciples. This is the third week where a disciple just isn't getting what Jesus is saying and we are all guilty of this also. Just when we think we have it all figured out we realize we may not. It's John's turn this time. John thinks only the followers, the immediate disciples of Jesus can do anything in Jesus' name. Now the Greek here doesn't give us a clue as to whether the forbidding was just a vocal one or if they physically restrained the man from doing the healing. Jesus' response to this is whoever is for us is not against us.
Talk about something which is counter-cultural right now. Right now we think we know what is right and wrong according to Jesus and we place stumbling blocks in the way of people because we think we have it right. We try to limit what they can and cannot do all because we've got the "right" way to go about it. Look at how many times Paul tells his people to encourage each other and this is part of being a disciple. Even James is bringing our attention to the corporate structure of praying for one another.
So part of being a disciple is encouraging one another, supporting one another, not stopping one another or shutting one another up because we don't agree on some point. Our history has been one of stumbling blocks as the church. This week I went back and read the story of Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest. His story is one of standing up to the stumbling blocks put in his way. The black members of the congregation were not supposed to worship with the white congregation in Philadelphia. First they were regulated to the back and then eventually to the balcony. They walked out. They walked out and started their own church.
When years later the whites were fleeing Philadelphia because of an outbreak of yellow fever Absalom Jones and many others stayed behind to nurse the sick and dying, even when faced with losing their own lives. They made a stumbling block into something to be overcome and laced it with forgiveness.
It was not so long ago the Episcopal church wouldn't ordain women. When World War II came the first woman, Li Tim-Oi, was ordained in the Anglican Communion in 1944. After the war ended she was stripped of her ordination and regained it again in 1979 after the Philadelphia eleven were ordained in the United States. There were many stumbling blocks for these first women and they still overcame them.
We should learn that stumbling blocks only lead to people who find ways to overcome them. There are also those who never do. Instead they remain behind because they believe they can't, aren't allowed, and aren't Christian enough. This causes more pain than we can know.
If they are for us then they are not against us. We must learn the value of encouraging one another. To keep in mind we are not gatekeepers, as if God really needs one. Jesus is the way, it is what our partner churches keep in mind when we do things together. The one thing we agree on is Jesus, all else is inconsequential because we are all different parts of the body of Christ. We cannot survive without the whole body and Christ is our head.
So as disciples encourage one another. Pray without ceasing. Lift one another up and throw the stumbling blocks out of the way.
Just think of all the patience Jesus has with these disciples. This is the third week where a disciple just isn't getting what Jesus is saying and we are all guilty of this also. Just when we think we have it all figured out we realize we may not. It's John's turn this time. John thinks only the followers, the immediate disciples of Jesus can do anything in Jesus' name. Now the Greek here doesn't give us a clue as to whether the forbidding was just a vocal one or if they physically restrained the man from doing the healing. Jesus' response to this is whoever is for us is not against us.
Talk about something which is counter-cultural right now. Right now we think we know what is right and wrong according to Jesus and we place stumbling blocks in the way of people because we think we have it right. We try to limit what they can and cannot do all because we've got the "right" way to go about it. Look at how many times Paul tells his people to encourage each other and this is part of being a disciple. Even James is bringing our attention to the corporate structure of praying for one another.
So part of being a disciple is encouraging one another, supporting one another, not stopping one another or shutting one another up because we don't agree on some point. Our history has been one of stumbling blocks as the church. This week I went back and read the story of Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest. His story is one of standing up to the stumbling blocks put in his way. The black members of the congregation were not supposed to worship with the white congregation in Philadelphia. First they were regulated to the back and then eventually to the balcony. They walked out. They walked out and started their own church.
When years later the whites were fleeing Philadelphia because of an outbreak of yellow fever Absalom Jones and many others stayed behind to nurse the sick and dying, even when faced with losing their own lives. They made a stumbling block into something to be overcome and laced it with forgiveness.
It was not so long ago the Episcopal church wouldn't ordain women. When World War II came the first woman, Li Tim-Oi, was ordained in the Anglican Communion in 1944. After the war ended she was stripped of her ordination and regained it again in 1979 after the Philadelphia eleven were ordained in the United States. There were many stumbling blocks for these first women and they still overcame them.
We should learn that stumbling blocks only lead to people who find ways to overcome them. There are also those who never do. Instead they remain behind because they believe they can't, aren't allowed, and aren't Christian enough. This causes more pain than we can know.
If they are for us then they are not against us. We must learn the value of encouraging one another. To keep in mind we are not gatekeepers, as if God really needs one. Jesus is the way, it is what our partner churches keep in mind when we do things together. The one thing we agree on is Jesus, all else is inconsequential because we are all different parts of the body of Christ. We cannot survive without the whole body and Christ is our head.
So as disciples encourage one another. Pray without ceasing. Lift one another up and throw the stumbling blocks out of the way.
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