This gospel message that we hear today is not for the faint of heart. It’s discomforting, to say the least. Because this is one of those texts where we realize how important it is to take the Bible seriously, but not necessarily literally.
I mean, it seems pretty obvious to me that we have recognized that Jesus’ words today are meant to be taken with – well, a grain of salt. Throughout scripture, we know that God is interested in our wholeness, mostly from a spiritual sense but also in a practical sense. It’s for this reason that the works of Jesus often had a physical healing component. Those who were not whole were indeed made whole. So we are able to discern that this text is looking for something deeper than physically maiming ourselves.
At the same time, however, those things that make us stumble often are founded in some sort of brokenness. Sin is itself often a symptom of the brokenness of the world that we live in. And so we look toward our own sinful selves –as we have confessed, we all sin and fall short – and it’s easy to see the shortcomings. If we’re honest with ourselves, often we know when what we have done is harmful – either to ourselves or to others. And when the harm comes, we are then called to address that. But the addressing of our own sinful selves doesn’t truly rely in the casting aside of those things about ourselves that are a mere symptom of that sin. Instead, we need to look deeper. Because when we look deeper, we are able to acknowledge the things that hold us back, and maybe, just maybe, begin to let them go.
One of the things that held back Jesus’ disciples in our gospel text is this idea they had that God’s blessings were about what they were doing. We saw it last week, when they were arguing on the road about which one of them was the greatest. They probably thought the works they were doing as people who had been sent out by Jesus made them hot stuff. Today, after Jesus had just finished telling them that they were to welcome children as much as they were to welcome their very God, we have John speaking up about how there are people who aren’t following Jesus who are using his name to cast out demons. And you can almost feel the indignation, can’t you? It’s kind of like they feel this other person is infringing on Jesus’ trademark or something.
But it’s apparent that Jesus isn’t too concerned about this. He knows that even if this person isn’t following Jesus, good things are happening for the sake of people who need it, and that’s enough for him. But the way his disciples are still more worried about who gets the credit isn’t okay with him. They’re still missing the point on where their priorities need to lie when it comes to the coming kingdom of God, and so Jesus gets a little more aggressive in his challenge.
But the problem is Jesus says these things for a reason. It isn’t just hyperbole – there is truth behind his challenge to his followers. And the truth is changing our ways isn’t easy. It’s uncomfortable and perhaps even painful to change the ways that cause us to sin. It’s sometimes painful to be willing to address those things that are the hurts behind those sins, too. Because when things are broken, mending sometimes also hurts. When things are broken, sometimes we get so used to the brokenness that we don’t even realize there is something wrong any longer.
How many of us remember our first car? Most of us, right? Because having a car is kind of a big deal. My first car was a `90 Pontiac Grand Prix. It was red, and leaked brake fluid, among other issues. One of those other issues was the turn signal didn’t always actuate when I tapped it into position. In order to ensure that the car recognized the turn signal was on, I would have to hold the lever for the turn signal in just the right position so that the electronics would make the necessary connection to the rest of the car. At first it was annoying, but eventually it just because something I did naturally – even when I was driving somebody else’s car. Even when eventually the steering column failed and we had to have it replaced, and in the replacing of the column the offending connections were replaced. Even though the turn signal no longer had that issue, it took me months to unlearn the adaptation I had made to the dysfunction of my car.
Our sin can be like this – response to dysfunction, so ingrained we don’t even realize we’re doing it any more. And while Jesus uses dramatic examples of our limbs or our eyes causing us to stumble, this text starts out with the problem being pride, and a need for control. John – and presumably the other disciples – wanted to control the Jesus brand. And when they couldn’t, they took offense. They want to control how they’re seen by those around them and by Jesus himself. And so they struggle as Jesus tells them to honor children. Children don’t have power. They don’t have much practical value until they grow up. And yet, Jesus says they should be the priority. Not the people in the crowds it would be politically advantageous to know. Jesus is telling them getting ahead is not the way to eternal life. But that takes a complete re-imagining of the world as they know it. To try to get ahead and to discount those who can’t help them is as natural to the disciples – and if we’re honest, to some extent us – as it is to walk. The power they wield in their society is natural to them, and Jesus is asking for them to make a radical change. Jesus is asking them to heal a brokenness in their world that they didn’t realize was really broken. They had gotten used to it.
Family of God, I wonder, what brokenness in this world exists that we have simply gotten used to? Who do we place second that God calls us to put first? How do the things that we do naturally cause harm and brokenness in our world? I don’t know about you, but I find it’s easier to find the flaw in the other, but to instead place the magnifying glass on our own faults? That’s hard to do. True self-reflection for the ways that we participate in and advance the brokenness that happens in our world? That’s hard. But the truth is, the path that Jesus invites us to today isn’t easy. The truth is, to reprioritize our lives to put the kingdom of God first has never been our strong suit. That’s why we need a savior. Because we can’t fully do these things on our own. There will always be blind spots for us – areas where we won’t become purified in the way that God created us to be. But when we do the work of seeking first God’s kingdom – when we live into Christ’s challenge and seek to place our neighbor ahead of us, we begin to see the brokenness of our world be mended, ever so slightly.
So this day, I invite you – live into your hopes for doing things just a little bit better. Those things you think might make the world a better place if others started doing them? Try doing those things yourself. Because healing and wholeness begins with Christ in you. And as you truly experience Christ in you, others will experience that love through you – and a single stitch in the brokenness of this world is joined with another stitch and another – until the whole world is mended and set free in the love and grace found through Christ our Lord.