Mark 9:38-50

This week I need an assistant. I need the most powerful person in this congregation.

Last week, I talked about our disciples arguing over who was the greatest? Does anyone remember what the outcome was? The child

Alright, so I need a child. Let me find one…

Hello. Could you tell everyone what your name is?

It’s a pleasure to be with you today __. Are you a powerful being? I Demonstration using a hand-held Lighting Rod Children’s Toy. Amazon.com: Hands On Lightning Rod – Educational Science Toys for Boys and Girls – Learn Science of Electricity and Circuits – Human Electricity Conductor : Toys & Games

It seems as if all of us might have a little power inside.

Who can name a powerful person?

Can one person be more powerful than another?

What is power?

Where does it come from?

Alright, so if power comes from God can any human really be more powerful than another?

The answer is actually yes, which then raises the question… how?

God grants each and every one of us just a little bit of power enough to say… power a light bulb. God however has enough power to light up every single star in the sky along with extra to meddle with us puny humans.

I am here and able to speak to you today only because you grant me this power entrusting that I will not use it for my own purpose but for God’s. The option to not show up here today was always on the table as well as the option to walk out the door at any given moment still remains. At this point you should all be afraid I am going to give your child or grandchild a loud noisemaking device to take home with them. Sorry, I only have one today. I’ll look into buying cymbals in bulk for Christmas.

Power is one of the biggest misunderstandings of human kind. War after war after war has been fought over the centuries because one human thought that in order to be more powerful, they had to take power from another. They believe that power is something that can be possessed and possessing it makes you special.

Our disciples have gotten themselves all worked up because some else is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Someone else has and is using the power that they believe Jesus Christ gave to them and them alone. Someone else claimed that which was rightfully theirs! How dare they!

How on earth could some nameless exorcist take power from them! They must be stopped! “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” The disciples tried to stop him from doing good because he wasn’t following “THEM.” Not God. Not Jesus. THEM! Imagine if we could only come to know God if we followed “THEIR” rules.

Our disciples are either the ballsiest human beings to ever walk the earth or the dumbest. I’m not really sure yet. Last week they argued over who was the greatest. This week they’re crying to Jesus because someone isn’t treating them with the respect they feel they deserve. They are authority the figures, so why aren’t people following them? They’re important powerful people!

Doug and I are currently watching a television show called Ted Lasso. Anyone else seen it? It’s amazing. We’re loving it.

It’s about an American football coach who goes to England to coach British football, aka soccer… the game where you actually use your feet to move a ball around… foot… ball… as opposed to the game where you carry a ball around that we call a football… This segway is to provide an example of how American English makes no sense and creates all kinds of translational problems which we will talk about from time to time.

But, back to Ted, Ted is always positive, always encouraging, loves his enemies, and ends up not only very successful but also sharing his success with others. Ted coaches by showing people how powerful they are not by demonstrating how powerful he is. Ted acknowledges he knows nothing about soccer but has great skill in empowering people to do what they are good at. And so, he relies upon his staff to utilize their power to do good for the team and rather than ordering his players to stop doing things which are negatively effecting the team he let’s them develop the mindset on their own to change by exposing them to his endless positivity and encouragement.

Jesus responds to this week’s disciple breakdown with a terrifying example.

“If your hand causes you to sin, 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 sin, 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 sin, 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.”

How have our disciples sinned you may ask? Our Catholic ancestors identify seven deadly sins. Today’s example is… greed. Last week’s example was pride. The disciples wanted all that power for themselves. They didn’t want to share. What I have, you cannot have.

Jesus doesn’t want us to literally start cutting off our body parts. At least, I’m not going to interpret it that way but to each his own. Jesus is telling us that if we are engaging in activities that are sinful, they are going to start permeating our lives in ways we do not yet understand.

The disciples are sinners. How do we know this? Well, last week, the disciples were engaging in a prideful discussion about how amazingly awesome they are and trying to decide which one of them was the coolest disciple. And, what did that lead to? Now, the disciples trying to stop someone from doing good in the world because that’s “their” job.

Honestly, boy do I wish that were true! Oh how much easier life would be if only a select few had to try and save the world. If it was the pastors job and not the friends, family, and congregations job to visit the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the poor. That’d be great right. If someone else had to do it. But no, Jesus is telling us it’s EVERYONE who believes’s job. And through helping others, those who do not believe will come to believe.

The disciple’s pride is standing in the way of the work of God… or at least trying to anyway. Really it’s just standing in their own way.

If you are hanging around people who encourage you to walk away from your faith, leave it behind and just enjoy life doing what you want without caring about others, it will affect you. If you are spending your time bickering about things that you don’t like, you don’t agree with, or you think should or should not be, it will affect you. If you’re spending all of your time with your buddies arguing over which one of you is the greatest, maybe you might start thinking a bit much of yourself and that might start causing problems in the way you interact with other people.

Jesus is telling us to remove things from our life which are impacting us negatively! To recognize you are being influenced by that which you yield power to. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

Jesus is using such gory examples as chopping off hands, feet, and eyes, things that you couldn’t imagine willingly chopping off because the reality of those words can be much more terrifying. We have the power to illuminate the world and so often we just hand it over to other people.

How many bad relationships have we clung to over the years or are still clinging to where the person drags us down, makes us feel horrible about ourselves, makes us feel as if they have power over us?

Maybe it’s a job, a coworker or maybe it’s a friend or even harder, a family member. The idea of chopping your own mother or father out of your life is definitely not something most want to do. “Blood is thicker than water,” right?

Some would rather chop off their own hand or foot than leave some of the relationships in their life or give up a habit in their life? Cell phones, television, sugar, carbs, control over others. So many things that we lose so much time to, lose so much life to that are doing us so much harm. So many things, we give power to that are not God.

The disciples started to believe they had power and seem to have forgotten that those healings they were able to perform had nothing to do with them and everything to do with God. As great as they were they thought they should have a monopoly on God’s power right? Wrong.

I am hoping that when I get to heaven there won’t be hundreds of eyeless, handless, footless people crawling about blindly on their elbows and knees. I trust that there is another way to deal with things which cause us to sin besides literally chopping things off.

We could just not let them cause us to sin anymore. We could start acting like we actually believe God is the only source of power. Because quite honestly the very idea that the only things with power are the things we give power too is a terrifying notion. If we don’t give all that power back to God we could have some dangerous human beings roaming this earth.

We can stop being jealous because other people are doing the things that we think make us special because the truth is… anyone can cast out demons in God’s name. Not just Christians. Not just those who believe they can take power from you or those that you are foolish enough to believe they can take your power. The words of those who speak with God at their back cannot be taken down. To overcome the ills of society we must all trust in the same source of power, God. Not ourselves. And also, not someone else.

While we may have enough power to light up a few bulbs and make a little noise. God has the power to create the sun and the stars. Make thunder clap and the earth shake. Compared to God, we are powerless.

If we let God work through us, we can be very powerful. We can heal the sick, cast out demons and… turn on a light bulb. But this passage is a warning to our power hungry disciples. Everyone else has the same power you do. If you use that power to oppress others, to stop anyone from doing God’s work, to try to control others, God will cut you off. But to use your power with others, for others, God will use you to illuminate the world.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace