Don't Be A Stumbling Block
Posted on Sep 30, 2018 by David Whetter
For the past several weeks we have been reading about how Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples about God’s way of thinking and turn them away from human ways of thinking, but he hasn’t been very successful. Our story ended last week this way, “[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’” (Mark 9:35-37).
Why would anyone want to “welcome” a child? Children had no value in Jesus’ day. Even today children are vulnerable; they are dependent on others for their survival and well-being. But, in the ancient world, their vulnerability was magnified by the fact that they had no legal protection. A child had no status, no rights. A child certainly had nothing to offer anyone in terms of honor or status, but Jesus says true greatness is not to be above others; no, greatness comes from serving those who are the most vulnerable.
So, today, as we start, I want you to imagine that Jesus is sitting in the same spot with that same child in his hands when John begins speaking. Jesus has just made this bold statement about welcoming and caring for the most vulnerable, when John, without skipping a beat, says, So, Jesus, “we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” Now, think about this for a moment. Jesus has been teaching about God and God’s ways. He has been reaching out to both Jews and gentiles. He has a child, a person that represents the most vulnerable of all people in that society, sitting his lap, and one of the key disciples says, Jesus, we don’t want just anybody doing this stuff, right? In other words, they came across someone relieving someone of their suffering, helping one who was extremely vulnerable, but they stopped the guy, because he wasn’t one of them. Apparently, it wasn’t good enough to believe in Jesus. Apparently, unless you are part of the right group, God doesn’t want to work in and through you. Isn’t that right, Jesus? Sound familiar?
This person was carrying for one of the most vulnerable, and John, and the rest of the disciples, still thinks it would be wrong to do that because the one offering the healing wasn’t important enough. Did John or any of the disciples hear what Jesus had just said? Well, they might have heard the words, but they sure didn’t understand them. So Jesus makes it really clear when he says, “Do not stop him…”. The person was doing God’s work. Don’t ever stop God’s work from being done, even if it being done in a different way than you were taught. Yes, even it is being done by a Baptist, even if it being done by a Methodist, even if it being done by an atheist, even if it being done by a Muslim. God works in and through everyone.
But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to say, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell…” (9:42-46). This sounds awful. Once again, to make his point, Jesus gets very pointed when he says, if you are acting as a stumbling block to God and God’s ways, you might as well drown yourself. If your hand is harming another, you might as well cut it off, because when you try to stand in the way of God’s work being done, even if it isn’t how you want it to be done, then you are the one in the wrong.
Brothers and sisters, we are called to look outside ourselves and ensure that what we do is for the good of the other. Once again, it isn’t about us. It isn’t about what we want. It is about doing what is right in the eyes of God. In our staff meeting this week I was asked if Jesus was being metaphorical or literal when it came to cutting off our hands or plucking out our eyes. Well, let me assure you Jesus doesn’t literally want us to do these things, but in saying these things, I do believe he wanted us to understand the seriousness of how he expects his followers to act.
Let me explain what I mean. As a pastor, I am given great privileges into people's lives, and I am often asked to help people deal with issues they are dealing with in their lives. Now, many times as people share what is happening in their lives, I often here things like, well I know I shouldn’t have said that, or said it that way, but that’s just the way I am. Or, they say things like, well I know I shouldn’t have done that, but that’s just how I am, people know that. Well, if you know you are a stumbling block, if you know you shouldn’t say things a certain way, or you don’t have the capacity to say things the way you should say them, or you don’t know how to do something differently, then, says Jesus, don’t do it at all. Cut that action, that habit, that way of doing things out of your life. You see, when it comes to caring for others, it isn’t about us. We are better off not saying or doing certain things than doing them knowing they are wrong, or hurting others and expecting others to understand or change on our account.
You see, God is at work in all people, even those who are different from us, and we, as followers of Christ, ought to be open to changing ourselves for the sake of the kingdom. We, as followers of Christ, ought to be able to see that our growth, our purpose, our success comes when we seek to put others first. We grow and we do the will of God when our focus isn’t on ourselves or our ways but instead on caring for and welcoming the diverse world around us that are all called children of God.
If our ways are inhibiting others from knowing Christ, then we need to change them. If our ways are preventing us from doing what God is calling us to do, then we need to stop them. If our ways, our practices, even our traditions, prevent us from growing the church, then, Jesus says, we would be better off not doing any of it.
Jesus says be salt. Be those who add flavor and zest to this world. Don’t hold the world back because the world is different, trust that God is at work and inviting you to join in. Brothers and sisters, as a faith community, we have been around a long time. We like to think that our ways, our traditions, our buildings, our …, you fill in the next item, are the best and only ways to be the church. Like John and the rest of the disciples, all too often we say, well, that’s not how we do things, so we aren’t going to do …, again you fill in the blank. Well, today, I hear Jesus saying, don’t do that; welcome these children who are vulnerable. Welcome these people who are different and learn from them and be salt.
Let us be a people and faith community that says not just “All are welcome,” but instead let us say, “All are welcome, even if you are different from us.” “All are welcome, even if you want to do things indifferently…” “All are welcome here, even those who have new ideas and want to start new traditions…”. Let’s not just say the words, but let’s be willing to “cut off” all those parts of us that prevent us from truly welcoming and embracing all God’s children, for God is at work in this world, and God’s work will be done with or without us. I pray we want to join in and be a part of God’s work. Amen.