Mother Vivian Shelby – The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 29, 2024

The gospel today is kind of complicated but simple. So it begins with John telling Jesus (and I almost assume probably a little proudly) “Hey Jesus, this guy was trying to do stuff in your name, but he’s not one of the disciples and we told him to stop.” And Jesus says, “No.” We heard this in the story about Moses where they came and said two men were prophesying in the camp and that Moses needed to stop them. And Moses said “No. Would that everyone would prophesy.”

So Jesus is telling John to allow those who are able to use the power of Christ in the name of Christ to let them do it. Don’t judge them for that. And then he goes even further and says “if you put a stumbling block In front of one of these little ones.” Now he had basically, John had just done that, to the person who was casting out demons. He told him to stop. What if after this event happened the man thought about it and thought “oh, maybe I shouldn’t do this.” And then had someone not doing things in the name of Jesus. He says “if you do that, if someone stumbles because of you, it is better that you drown in the sea.” Specifically, this great millstone be tied to your neck and you’d be thrown into the sea. So not just a regular millstone to grind wheat, but one so large the great millstone that it takes a donkey to actually pull it, to turn it to crush the wheat So a great millstone would make sure that you didn’t make it out of the ocean

And then he turns to the disciples themselves, “If you stumble, if you stumble because of your hands, because of your feet, because of your eyes, it would be better if you did not have those parts of yourself, physically, because then you’re going to die in hell, tortured forever.” That’s pretty harsh. Now he literally says, Jesus, “if your hand causes you to sin cut it off.” He does not mean that literally. He’s saying it would be better if.

So for you who cannot stay on the path when you stumble, you have to be very very careful. And then all of a sudden at the end, salt. We will all be salted with fire. Now that visually to me is like someone’s shaking a salt shaker on top of you, but instead of salt, it’s actually little pieces of fire. And I take that to mean the things in our lives that test us. Bad things are going to happen. But you have to keep true to God. Salt is also used as a preservative. So when he says “keep salt in yourselves”, I think it’s about preserving who we are as Christians. Now he’s talking to the disciples and that’s some pretty harsh language.

So for us sitting here today, what does that mean? I think this is actually the story of the human condition, from start to finish. Are there not times when we see people doing something that we think they shouldn’t be doing and we try to stop them? Whether it’s in the name of being a Christian or not, that we take on the role of judge. And that’s what our eyes are doing is watching, being critical. And we are making a decision as to whether they should or should not and God may or may not agree with us. So if we do anything that other people will stumble. Any act, any word that would interfere with their path in God’s world, that is a very bad thing. And we shouldn’t do that. Sometimes we do it unintentionally. But we need to be mindful.

And then even more importantly what about when we stumble? What about our own stumbling? Our own getting tripped up, and not doing the will of God? We should focus on that. We are the body of Christ. What are we doing with our hands? What are we doing with our feet? And what are we looking at with our eyes? That’s what I want you to think about this week in a very literal way. What am I looking at? Am I watching television? Is it something uplifting or not? Am I playing video games? Are they uplifting or not? Am I looking at other people with judgmental eyes or with the eyes of Christ? What are we doing with our hands? Are we using them to caress the hand of someone who’s grieving, someone whose hand has a different color of skin, someone’s hand is filthy and dirty because they have no place to shower? Or are we using our hands to grab things, to take things that we want that have nothing to do with the kingdom of God? Are we reaching out to people? Are we putting our hands in our pockets because we’re afraid?

Just literally I want you to think this week: eyes, hands and feet. Where are we going? What are we doing? Are we stuck? Are we afraid? Are we standing still, not going anywhere? Have we heard the call of God and we’ve turned around and we’re running in the other direction? Are we walking forward? Forward in the way that we want to drive the bus or forward in the way that God is driving the bus? Where are we going? Just think about it, for informational purposes, and notice when maybe you’re seeing something, and maybe that’s not of God. Or when you’re walking in a way that may not be of God. Or when you’re touching something, holding something, holding on to something that is not the way of God. Just being aware of where you are.

 And I will give you this as the final task. This gospel gives us instruction, and the collect of the day says it best: running to obtain God’s promises. That’s what we’re called to do. Not just looking. Not just touching. Not just walking. Running to obtain God’s promises. We should be so excited to get them that we should be sprinting towards God. And as a community help each other. Amen.