Mark 9:38-41; James 4:13-17; 5:19-20; September 29, 2024; Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” – James 4:13-17
What is sin, my friends?
I know, I know. You’re thinking, I thought our pastor was a fun-loving guy who just wants to sit in a lawn chair and be happy… so, are we really going to talk about sin of all things today?
I get it. Boy, do I ever! But it’s not me, my friends. It’s James. It’s Mark and Jesus. Don’t blame me. Blame them. I’m just a faithful vessel here. Let not my will be done, but God’s!
And so, I ask again, both of myself and all of you…how should we define it? How would we define sin?
If we go to the web we get: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
And that seems pretty succinct, doesn’t it? An immoral act. A transgression. Against divine law.
And what is divine law? I’d imagine we could say that Jesus’ commandment to love God and neighbor is central to its essence, right?
If so, perhaps then we can say that sin is an immoral act against someone else, if not also ourselves, which is thereby an affront to God who made us alike in God’s image.
Okay, but, are some immoral transgressions worse than others? Are some sins worse than others?
Often, at least in our reformed tradition, we usually refrain from distinguishing one sin from the other. It’s all sin. It’s all equally bad.
And our dear friend Jesus seems to suggest that even “minor” sins are to be considered as bad as “major” ones. Think for instance of the story of him shielding the prostitute, drawing a line in the sand, saying “you who have not sinned, cast the first stone.” Or think of him saying you who thinks even a single lustful thought are no different than the guy out there fornicating and adultering.
Sin then… It’s all a huge, ugly grab bag. But as I don’t really want to bludgeon you all today with Sin at large, perhaps I can just focus on one sin. Would that be okay; more agreeable?
Okay, so how about today then we talk about the sin of… arrogance. A sin that perhaps isn’t thought by some to be too major, and yet, probably is, and at the root of most of our problems.
We heard a bit about arrogance last week, didn’t we? With the disciples arguing amongst themselves who was the greatest among them. And today, not only does James equate arrogance with boasting, and boasting as evil, but the disciples in our gospel… well, they still can’t quite grasp humility, can they? They don’t seem to know a thing about it even if Jesus were to bludgeon them over their heads with it.
“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.’” Mark 9:38
And we tried to stop him because he was not following us!
Mind you, these are the same dudes who were caught red-handed not following Jesus or listening to his words just paragraphs before (Mark 9:30-37) and, they are also the same guys who were entirely impotent when trying to cast out demons themselves.
Just moments before, in the very same chapter, Mark tells us a story about a boy with an unclean spirit. It goes like this:
“When the people came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. When the whole crowd saw Jesus, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.’” — Mark 9:14-18
But they could not do so. These same disciples who would rather argue amongst themselves about who was the greatest, and who would rather argue with the crowd rather than help them, had the audacity to try to stop someone else who not only tried to help, but who was also successful in doing so!
Does this remind you of anyone you know? Someone in your life who behaves the same way?
‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ … But Jesus tells them, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.” — Mark 9:38-40
Whoever is not against us is for us. Jesus, ever the quotable. …Jesus says do not stop him, and the Greek verb for “stop” here is: κωλύετε which can also mean: do not hinder, do not forbid, do not condemn. It has a carry forward effect rather than just a single action.
And the Greek noun for “deed of power” here is: δύναμιν which means: inherent power, inherent goodness, inherent morality, and excellence of soul. As in, more than just performing miracles, but being a good and moral person.
In other words then, Jesus is saying to his disciples — to us — do not live in sin, transgressing against God by forbidding/hindering/condemning others who are just trying to help by being decent people.
For even if they don’t follow you, even if they don’t follow us, just let them be, because they are not only doing good things in accordance with the Divine law, the golden rule to love God and neighbor, but are also just good and moral people capable of doing things that even you yourselves sometimes can’t!
In even simpler words then Jesus is telling us to stop being so arrogant, so pious, so sinful. But to be humbled, allowing our eyes and ears to be opened to what others are capable of doing through the power of an indiscriminatory Spirit, from which we could all learn a thing or two.
For, as James says in his final salutation: “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever [that is]… will save the sinner’s soul from a multitude of sins.” – James 5:19-20
Whoever. God can use literally whoever to save God’s people! To save us. And in these days where we are increasingly becoming more divided, more tribalized, more centralized in our own little circles, I think this is the good news that we all desperately need to hear today!
Both James and Mark cast the net so widely that literally nameless people who go by the titles, “whoever, anyone, someone” are yet also chosen by name as God’s children too. And they can be filled with the same Spirit as us. And they can do the same good works as us. And they can teach and love and heal just as we can, if not better! And from their example, we can learn in greater magnitude and multiples what it truly means to sing Christ’s praises, to evoke his name, and to follow in his footsteps by living according to his greatest commandment.
For as James reminds us… none of us know what tomorrow brings. The Lord can do things beyond our control. Beyond our vision. Beyond the towns we want to live and work in, for if the Lord wishes it, it can be done no matter our protest.
For in the end, we are mist. We are mist…. So let us today not be so arrogant to claim that we alone have the truth, that we alone have it figured out, that we alone have trademarked his name. For none can ever contain our God! Oh no, not at all. Not our God who lifts up the lowly and brings down the exalted! Not our God who is awesome, amazing, and bigger than just a name!
For God will be who God will be (the very meaning of YHWH) and so, God will always be able to do whatever the heck God wants, using whoever God wills to get it done.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
