Pitt Street Uniting Church, 30 August 2015 A Contemporary Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Pentecost 14B Whoever is not against us is for us Psalm 124; Contemporary Reading i ; Mark 9: 38-50 I ve been away for two weeks holiday and so this morning s beautiful liturgy was written in my absence by Liz Watson. Liz also chose the contemporary reading from Marcus Borg. When I read the liturgy and the readings in preparation for sermon writing this weekend, I wondered if Liz chose the Marcus Borg passage as an antidote to the complicated and somewhat threatening gospel reading. Amidst the talk of demon exorcism, amputation and hell, it s helpful to be reminded of Jesus and the call to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbour as yourself. Or in the delightful paraphrase of Huston Smith s mother: We are in good hands; therefore, let us take care of one another. As Borg reminds us: being Christian is not complicated. At its centre is Jesus, whose passion was God, the way, and the kingdom. But as the gospel reading for this morning illustrates, Jesus could at times be quite complicated. What are we twenty-first century people of Pitt Street Uniting to make of Jesus s first century thinking? It has been suggested by scholars that the writer of Mark s gospel has Jesus addressing two concerns that were pressing in the Markan community rather than among Jesus s disciples. The first issue is boundary maintenance. Who is in and who is out, and what to do when membership status is unclear? The second is a list of rules, or rather of actions that are not acceptable for members of the community. The first issue is an outsider someone "not following us" who is doing ministry in Jesus' name. On one level the phrase "in my name" or "in Jesus name" simply means "on behalf of Jesus, but it also has a weightier meaning, connecting the "name" to the power and identity of Jesus of Jesus as the Christ. The community that acts in Jesus name becomes his continuing presence in the world. Mark's community is wrestling with the implications of that responsibility as the gathering of disciples is becoming the early church. The second issue that s being addressed is the issue of scandal in the community. The gentle teachings about a reversal of status (becoming first by being servant of all) from last s week s gospel readings are followed here by what sounds like an explosion of disproportionate and gruesome threats and punishments. This stuff is exactly what is going to distract us from following the way of Jesus! But a closer examination of the details can help clarify their intent. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 1 of 5
Our translation speaks of putting a stumbling block before people. But the word in Greek, linked to our word scandal, is much harsher than what we hear in the word stumble. The original has a sense of being so horrified that you simply cannot remain in a place or go forward along the path where you had that experience. In this passage, the reference is to actions or words that would completely derail a person from their faith and their life of discipleship. The first of the warnings focuses on things that would be harmful to "the little ones who believe." The seriousness with which the offense is taken is seen in the "better" consequence of being thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck leading, of course, to an inevitable to death. The following verses speak of various body parts that would be better removed if they cause such an offense or threat. These are grotesque, disturbing references to self-mutilation. However, New Testament scholar, Sharon Ringe, reminds readers that the body is used in ancient literature as a metaphor for community or social group. The most famous example is Paul s writing in Corinthians about the unity and diversity in the community - the necessity of all the parts to make up the body. In this case, the point of the story is not a call to self-mutilation but a claim that people with various roles in the community should be removed if their actions threaten the integrity of the whole. Such betrayals are a matter of life and death. The reign of God, the fullness of life, is contrasted with being consigned to Gehenna or hell, a place of eternal punishment and suffering. Passages like this have given rise to an interpretation of the afterlife as a system of rewards and punishments for behaviour here on earth. Those who behave well will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven, while those who behave badly will be cut off from God and dwell in "unquenchable fire." But this is not the only way for Christians to understand the Biblical references to hell. There is also a strong alternative voice in Christian theology that resists speculation about eternal torture and focuses instead on hell as a strong symbol for separation from God. As Princeton theologian Daniel Migliore put it, "hell is simply wanting to be oneself apart from God's grace and in isolation from others. Hell is self-destructive resistance to the eternal love of God." We can resist God's love in Christ, and such resistance bears its own consequences, but separation from God is never God's will. In this passage, Jesus does not describe hell in order to damn anyone, but to motivate his audience to pay attention to the "little ones" and not to impede their path. Looking back from this standpoint, it appears that the whole trajectory of Jesus' teaching in this section of Mark s Gospel is to warn his disciples against obstructing the path for those A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 2 of 5
who may turn out to be his "little ones," and even the "other exorcist" casting out demons in Jesus' name. If we can get past exorcism and the talk of hell, Jesus may still speak to us about what it takes to make a strong community. A strong community enhances the lives of its members. The community is a place of identity, where people have a sense of belonging because they are known and recognized. It was wonderful to come back here this morning, after 2 Sundays away, and to greet people to know and to be known. The community provides protection and support. The community shapes values and provides cultural norms. But there are risks in a strong community. The expectations and demands of a social order may restrict the creativity and the freedom of a person. The past ways may not work for the challenges of the future. A strong community may be so focused on itself that it loses the capacity to relate to those outside of it. One of the issues that this passage raises powerfully for me is our interactions with people of other faiths. For most of us, participating in worship with people of other faiths is not a big deal, but that is not the case for many Christians who adamantly reject interfaith worship because it is seen to legitimize other paths. This view seems to me to be ignorant and dangerous. But nevertheless, there are real differences among religions. Good interfaith practice recognises and respects the differences as much as the similarities. Stephen Prothero author of a provocatively titled book God is not one claims that persistent attempts to portray all religions as different paths to the same God overlook the distinct human problem that each of the major religions seeks to solve. For example, he says: Islam: the problem is pride / the solution is submission Christianity: the problem is sin or separation from God / the solution is reconciliation and salvation Buddhism: the problem is suffering / the solution is awakening Judaism: the problem is exile / the solution is to return to God. In good interfaith engagement we don t avoid the hard areas of disagreement or water down the reality of differences among faiths. Harvard Professor of journalism and religion, Ari Goldman, has a useful way of understanding both harmony and difference when he claims that "it is the will of God that we treat with tolerance and love those with whom we disagree about the will of God." I believe that what can unite people of faith is a language of peace that is beyond and beneath all of our religions, the language of human rights. Attention to the basic securities of life: housing, food, healthcare, and education. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 3 of 5
I believe that all faiths can and should work together to address the realities of poverty in Australia, the challenge of caring for planet earth, the curse of domestic violence, the enormous inequities in social outcomes experienced by indigenous Australians, and the ongoing hell of our abuse of asylum seekers in detention. In the coming decades there will be no one dominant ethnic or religious group. We will be multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-family forms of society. What we need is an emphasis on the common good that is grounded in respect of difference and diversity. Difference and diversity are not problems but rather our strength and our inspiration. How do we keep the integrity of our own community without isolating ourselves from others? The disciples confronted the issue when they came across someone who was casting out demons in Jesus' name. They tried to stop him. He was not one of them. But when they told Jesus about the person, he did not seem as concerned about the situation. He said to them, "Do not stop this person; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." Preserving the power of his own group was not a priority for Jesus. If good were being done by others, their actions were to be affirmed. Jesus went on to say to the disciples that when they receive ministry from outsiders, there will be a blessing both for themselves and for those who help them. The passage ends with Jesus talking about the salt of the disciples, the qualities that would preserve and enhance their community. From all that Jesus said as he journeyed the way to Jerusalem with his disciples, it is clear that their saltiness involves being humble in their relationships with each other, giving of themselves for others, reaching out and accepting all the people around them. They are to "have salt in yourselves, be at peace with one another." The images of punishment segue into an image of purification where a person is "salted with fire." In addition to choosing the contemporary reading and writing the liturgy, Liz Watson also choose the image on the front cover of the liturgy. It is by poet and painter Jan Richardson and it was inspired by these strange words in Mark about being salted by fire. Jan Richardson wrote about the painting, reflecting on how potters know what happens when salt is added to the fire. When salt is thrown into the kiln it alters the surface of the pot in a way that cannot be predicted or controlled by the potter. The potter has to trust that when the salt is given to the fire, it will do its work. Blessed by the intention and focus of the potter, the salt will make a way for the wild beauty that will come. Accompanying the painting reproduced on the liturgy cover, she wrote a blessing titled Blessing of Salt and Fire which, in conclusion, I offer to you now: A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 4 of 5
Blessing of Salt and Fire And so, in this season, may we give ourselves to the fire that shows us what is elemental and sacramental, that reveals what remains after all that does not have substance or savor falls away. May we turn our eyes our ears our hands to the beauty for which we were formed and bear with grace the patterns that blossom upon us who live salted and singed. And so may we live in trust that we are becoming who God calls us to be. We are in good hands; therefore, let us take care of one another, and of God s creation and all of God s friends. i Contemporary Reading - excerpt from: Jesus. Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, Marcus J. Borg, 2006 A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 5 of 5