Lessons in Leadership
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,u it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 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,v to the unquenchable fire.w 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.x, y 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,z 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Today’s gospel is a puzzle. It seems to lurch from one disconnected part to another. First John reports that he has tried to stop an exorcist, who wasn’t part of their group, from casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus corrects him saying “whoever is not against us is for us”.
Then Jesus speaks about “little ones”: who are they; and where are they? Finally, Jesus chides John with apocalyptic visions of punishment.
What’s going on? Reading through Mark this summer we have been reminded just how spare and dense his gospel is. Today’s excerpt is a small slice in the middle of a thick cluster of moral teachings. If we look just a few verses back, we can understand these parts better.
Only five verses before, Jesus predicted his death for the second time “But [the disciples] did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” Instead, along the road they argued among themselves about who is “the greatest”. Jesus sat them down and tried to set them straight saying: “Whoever wants to be first [i.e. the greatest] must be last of all and servant of all.”
36 Then Jesus took a little child in his arms and said to the disciples, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Turns out that John had interrupted Jesus’ teaching with his complaint about the exorcist. The “little ones” were symbolized by the child Jesus is still holding. Children had no status at all in their culture. By honoring the child Jesus was demonstrating the radical call to share God’s loving care and respect with all humankind—regardless of the person’s status. He was enacting the humility that it takes to be “last and servant of all”.
Shake Them Up
Jesus went on to vent his frustration with John. We may be shocked by the intensity of the words, but apocalyptic images are more common in Mark than the other gospels. And the strong, scalding images that John provoked were meant as a caution for them all. Jesus’ ferocity was intended to shake the disciples up. He wants them always to remember: to respect and protect the innocent and vulnerable, to be self-aware and self disciplined, or to risk the consequences.
In seminary I recall one such startling teaching moment from Will Spong, professor of pastoral ministry. Will was usually gently spoken. Just once, he raised his voice angrily. He said “don’t you ever take away someone’s denial, unless you have something better to put in its place.” His point: denial may shelter the wounded soul for the time it needs to accept the reality of grief, loss. Instead of trying to fix something/someone, a pastoral minister—lay or ordained—should tenderly listen, hold the space and trust that God’s own healing work will happen: in God’s good time.
Later I learned that not all innocents are children. At St. Matthew’s I was surprised when an elderly parishioner assured me that God had created the world in seven days. Who was I to contradict the faith of this dear child of God? Actually, it opened me to wonder how a “day”in God’s time begins and how long it lasts. Millennia?
Teach Them
Back to our gospel. We can sympathize with Jesus’ frustration! On the road to his destiny in Jerusalem, he is trying urgently to teach the disciples. He has told them twice explicitly that he will die. They refuse to hear it. And, worse, they fail to understand the work they are to carry on after his death.
We can also cut the disciples some slack. They are simple working people who have been pulled into an unfathomable reality. Swept up by a cosmic force, they find themselves in a series of events that will change the course of history. Overwhelmed and confused by the myriad miracles, they react as we might; they push back. They deny the horror that Jesus would be killed and the nonsensical idea that he would rise again. It’s not surprising that they might try somehow to tame or slow down the whirlwind in which they live. That’s what John did in his interruption.
All of the disciples probably feel the same way, but only Peter and John have the gall to contradict to Jesus out loud. They and James are his closest disciples—the insiders who were witnesses to the Transfiguration.
Jesus is training John for leadership, but John overstepped by trying to stop the exorcist.
There’s a parallel in our OT lesson from Numbers. Poor Moses! Years into the endless journey to the Promised Land, he is weary of the responsibility. In answer to Moses’ plea, God’s Spirit had anointed seventy elders gathered to help Moses manage the restive people. Joshua was Moses’ trusted assistant. When Joshua learned that the Spirit also came to Eldad and Medad who were outside the gathering, he appealed to Moses to stop them. Joshua reacted protectively, as John would about the exorcist. Moses responded, “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!” Like Jesus with exorcist, Moses trusted and honored God’s independent action.
Both Joshua and John have failed to get the big picture, to understand that God is in charge. In the gospels Jesus repeatedly carries the message of God’s love far beyond the confines of his own country and creed. Sometimes he finds it is there already. Pope Francis reflected that openness when he recently said “All religions are paths to God.”
If Moses, Jesus and Pope Francis trust God’s action, so can we. Whether we are lay or ordained, a member of one of the world’s many religions or of none, each of us can recognize and support God’s peace and reconciliation in the world. With humility let us welcome God’s presence and action and strive to be last and servant of all.