Mark 9:38-50
Possible skit to start "Skeptical Skip or Negative Nell"
PRAYER
Our Gospel lesson has a painfully familiar scene in it. The disciples mess up and Jesus corrects them. The scene had played out too many times before in Mark. We had Peter telling Jesus he shouldn’t talk about his own suffering and death. Messiahs shouldn’t have to experience that. Jesus in turn rebuked Peter, saying his thoughts were of the Devil. Last week we saw Jesus catch the disciples in an argument about who was the greatest. According to Jesus none need apply.
Today the disciples are seen grumbling about a man doing miracles in Jesus’ name without the benefit of a union card. He hadn’t paid his dues by leaving everything to follow Jesus. He wasn’t part of the inner circle of chosen disciples. The incident became one more opportunity for Jesus to explain what it meant to be his follower. Of course none of us would be so dense and clueless about what it means to be a Christian and how that identity shapes our lives. Of course, not us.
Jesus keeps the lesson in discipleship simple. Whoever gives a cup of water because of the name of Jesus understands being his follower. The reward is a life in the presence of Jesus, one filled with love, hope, and fulfillment. The transaction of giving the cup comes with no strings attached, not for the giver or the recipient. However I don’t want us to be confused about Jesus’ intentions here. The mistake could easily be made that Jesus meant that a cup of water should only be given to one bearing his name, a Christian. Or that it means be hospitable only to those like us. That is not the intention of his teaching.
For instance, a local family falls on hard times they could use some help to get through a crisis. The cup of water is in our hand. But we know the family. We have their dark and questionable past history before us. Help has come their way before, without any improvement in their behavior. Are we willing to give them one more cup of water?
It seems to me that "in the name of Jesus" does make a difference in who and how we respond to needs around us. To respond in his name helps us put aside personal feelings and biased opinions about worthiness. If Jesus would have been hung up about worthiness, I think the disciples would have been fired.
There is one more idea that comes to mind when I reflect on giving a cup of water, "in Jesus’ name." It is a lesson that has come to me with some difficulty. Does it matter if the one helping understands the phrase, "in Jesus’ name" the way I understand it? Do people who believe differently than I still do their good deeds "in Jesus’ name?" The disciples protest to Jesus that someone outside their circle is casting out demons "in Jesus’ name." He was doing good, giving the cup of water. But were his deeds no good because he wasn’t one of the crowd, selected personally to be a disciple of the one and only, Jesus?
Jesus reacted to their protest with an interesting turn of a phrase. "whoever is not against us, is for us." Did you notice how he said that? Jesus came into the world to overcome the power of sin, to do God’s will, to give people hope for the future. If those good deeds are being carried out by someone else not in the inner circle, they aren’t working against God’s will. They will soon enough be on the same team.
"Whoever is not against us, is for us," is much different than the phrase George Bush used in describing those against his decision to go into Iraq. He said, "whoever is not for us, is against us." Saying it that way forces the issue. Sides must immediately be chosen, there are either winners or losers. You have to completely agree with his position. Therefore the good deed done doesn’t matter as much as who does it and why. That same kind of thinking leads to animosity among religious groups. When Christian and non-Christian groups try to help the poor or work for justice, sometimes the religious beliefs get in the way of the good being done that reflects God’s will.
I had breakfast this week with Bud and Adeline Carlson, and their son, Mark. Mark told me about a Christian church in his town in Florida with a sign out front that states: "Islam is of the Devil." The same hateful phrase is on t-shirts that children of members are told to wear to school. Obviously that church is hearing the teachings of Jesus differently than I am. It seems to me such thinking is more in the category of stumbling block and millstone. For me justice, doing good on the behalf of others can only be "in Jesus name," whether by a Christian or not.
A United Church of Christ pastor, Linda Petracelli, tells this story about growing up in a strict Roman Catholic school. One day Sister Mary Roberts Cecilla preached to the children at the school. She told them that everyone – especially Lutherans and Episcopalians – who were not Catholic, were going to hell. That afternoon, when Linda returned home, her mother asked the usual question: "what are you thankful for today, dear?" Linda answered: "Today I’m thankful that Sister Mary Roberts Cecilla is not God."
No matter what religious group or faith community one belongs to, it is much better and more hopeful to hand out a cup of water than to put a lot of energy into trying to keep score of who’s side God is on. If we really paid attention to how Jesus operated while in the world, every time someone determined God was for us and against them, they would find Jesus with them.
Paying more attention to handing out cups of water would allow the "us/them" divisions to disappear eventually. Then we would find ourselves not against, but for all that Jesus offers the world in his name.
You know someone right now who is in great need of a cup of water, a reassuring hug, an accepting smile, a meal, or knowledge that Jesus loves them. Jesus is reaching out to that person through you and me. The power of that cup of water to change the circumstances of a life are in the words, "in Jesus’ name." Give the cup. Name the name. Jesus will take it from there. Amen.
