Stumbling

Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
September 27, 2009

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 21
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 124
(James 5:13-20)
Mark 9:38-50

Stumbling

This year on most Sundays we’ve been hearing lessons from the Gospel of Mark. For a long time, Christians didn’t pay too much attention to Mark. Since it’s the most barebones of the four gospels and shares much material with Matthew and Luke, it was seen as sort of the poor relation of the other gospels.

In more modern times, however, the Gospel of Mark has gotten a lot more attention. Most scholars have come to the conclusion that the barebones Gospel of Mark is actually the earliest of the gospels and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as their major source of material.

Most scholars date the writing of Mark’s gospel to around the year 70 - early, but still decades after the earthly lifetime and ministry of Jesus. This means that even this earliest gospel probably drew upon earlier written material about Jesus as well as oral traditions about Jesus that had been passed down over a couple of generations.

In the kind of dense section of Mark that we read today we hear an echo of that earlier oral tradition. We have a cluster of Jesus sayings that Mark seems to have drawn from the oral, memorized tradition and inserted into the Gospel. There’s a lot for the preacher to unpack in this passage but I’d like to focus on stumbling and being a stumbling block for others.

First, this passage tells us is that from the very beginnings Christians have stumbled. One of the major themes running through the gospel is that over and over the disciples don’t really get what Jesus is trying to teach them. This theme probably reflects historical reality. I mean, let’s face it, Jesus is not the kind of messiah anyone was expecting and his teachings are always challenging. And this theme of the stumbling disciples also offers comfort to us today in our own stumbling. When we stumble we can take comfort that we’re the latest in a long line of Christian stumblers stretching all the way back to the first disciples.
So, in today’s gospel lesson we see the disciples stumble once again. The Good News is that Jesus is always ready to forgive their – and our - stumbling.

This whole section of the Gospel of Mark is about Jesus making his journey to Jerusalem where he will give his life for humanity. There is urgency to the gospel as Jesus tries to get his message through the thick heads of the disciples.

Two weeks ago we heard Peter get it half-right when he recognized Jesus as the Messiah but could not accept that Jesus was going to be the Messiah who suffered and died on the Cross. Remember Jesus strongly rebukes the stumbling Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message to the disciples.

Last week, we heard the disciples stumble when they argued among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus succinctly puts his message to the disciples, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message through to the disciples.

And now today we hear the disciples stumble again. This time the disciples are concerned because someone not part of their inner circle is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. This story echoes today’s Old Testament lesson from the Book of Numbers where Joshua, Moses’ assistant is upset that Eldad and Medad – not part of the inner circle – were prophesying. Moses’ takes it all in stride saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”

There’s an extra wrinkle to the story about Jesus’ disciples, though. Just a little earlier Mark tells the story of Jesus’ disciples being not able to cast out a demon. So, imagine their frustration anger and confusion. Here we are part of the inner circle and we can’t seem to heal people and along comes this person we don’t even know and he’s able to do cast a demon. Can’t you imagine them running back to Jesus, “Jesus, do something – stop this guy – we’re the inner circle – we’re the ones who should have the power!” Jesus, however, is not too concerned about soothing the insecurities of his disciples. Can you imagine the reaction of the stumbling disciples when Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Hoping to have exclusive rights to the power of Jesus, the disciples stumble once again. The good news for them and for us is that Jesus is patient with stumbling. Patience and forgiveness are always available to us.

However. There is stumbling and then there is deliberately causing others to stumble. Jesus uses very graphic language to highlight the seriousness of being a stumbling block for someone else.

“It would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” Here today he might say something like, it would be better if you were wearing cement shoes and were thrown into the Hackensack River.

What is Jesus talking about when he warns us not to be a stumbling block for those who believe in him?

We should do nothing deliberately to cause someone else to lose their faith in Jesus.

What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?

Maybe we think of some of the terrible church scandals of recent years, the horrible stories of child abuse. Much of the focus has been on the Roman Catholic Church, but no denomination has been immune to it. Of course the core of the tragedy is what happens to child who is abused. But think also of the many people who lost their faith in Christianity because of the misdeeds of some.

What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?

Sometimes when I’m stopped at the light at Kings Road and Green Avenue I reflect on the line of churches one after the other – the Roman Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians and the Methodists. We are all Christians who agree on the most fundamental things but disagree on quite a lot, too. And in some cases we carry the weight of some ugly and even bloody history.

How many people have thought as they looked at all these different churches, why believe in Jesus if his followers can’t even get along?

Then there’s the Episcopal Church itself. We have always had disagreements about all sorts of things from altar candles to women’s ordination but in recent years the church has been nearly consumed by battles over biblical interpretation, human sexuality, money, property and power.

Why in the world would I be a Christian if even people in one little denomination can’t seem to get along with one another?

I think these are good examples of stumbling blocks, but they’re a little abstract aren’t they? They don’t have too much to do with us personally, do they?

But, how about us? Are we ever stumbling blocks? Do we ever do anything deliberately that might cause people to turn away or to reject Jesus?

Well, when we act just like everybody else, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.

When we pull out of the church parking lot and cut someone off then we have become a stumbling block.

When we are overly concerned with accumulating money and things then we have become a stumbling block.

When we act in an unethical or immoral way, then we have become a stumbling block.

When we ridicule those who are different than us, then we have become a stumbling block.

When we demonize those who disagree with us, then we have become a stumbling block.

When we don’t even try to love our neighbors – let alone our enemies! – then we have become a stumbling block.

When we act just like everybody else, when our baptism makes no difference in our lives, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.

Jesus warns us that this is serious business.

In the gospels over and over we see the disciples stumble – they didn’t always get what Jesus was trying to teach them. But ultimately, those same stumbling disciples went out and proclaimed by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.

Like the first disciples, we are all stumblers.

But, are we also stumbling blocks?

Amen.