Sermon 9/26/2021

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Sermon Proper 21B 2021

Scripture: James 5:13-16, Mark 9:38-50

Theme: Conviction vs. Condemnation

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We are working our way through the Gospel of Mark. Today we pick things up in Mark 9:38-50

What on earth is Jesus talking about in this passage?

Not literal self-mutilation - forbidden in Judaism (Deut 14:1)

Mark 9:38-50 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,

It is not logical - we can still see with the other eye

Jesus was a powerful and persuasive speaker - like any good orator he used different figures of speech, in this instance he is using exaggeration (also known as “hyperbole” for those students of speech and debate).

I love spending time in conversation with members of Gen Z who have mastered use of hyperbole - “I am literally dying”

Fact remains that Jesus is using very strong language which means we should sit up and pay close attention to what Jesus is trying to teach us.

Let’s take a look at this passage more closely and examine the context

This series of sayings of Jesus comes after two noteworthy teaching moments with the disciples

First event - (we talked about last week) - the disciples had a debate about who is the greatest which Jesus settles by inviting a child into the circle and explaining that whoever welcomes a child in his name welcomes him.

Second event is described in today’s passage from Mark 9:38

Disciples were quick to pass judgment and condemn this stranger who was healing in Jesus’ name.

Three important lessons

Believers have a special responsibility to make sure the “little ones”, used in both passages to refer to those treated as “lesser than” by society are invited and welcomed into Jesus’ community

A stern caution for those who would put up roadblocks to anyone who would enter Jesus’ community. (Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol 4, p. 120)

Disciples wanted to reject this outsider, “he is not one of us”

Examine ourselves - Conviction not Condemnation

Jesus is calling us to examine ourselves: repent and change

Conviction is not being called out it is being called in to community

Jesus is calling us in

The goal is to stay in the game and stay in relationship

Passage from James 5:13-16

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,

Jesus is calling us to be a community of people in close relationship with one another, so close that we sing with the cheerful, pray with the sick and confess our sins to one another, forgiving each other

As I read through these passages and reflected on the difference between conviction and condemnation I thought about some of the damaging trends in our society today. How people speak about one another in conversation dismissing or writing them off, but even more so the language on social media has fostered a culture of condemnation. Sometimes this gets referred to as the “cancel” culture or the “call-out” culture. The problem with this approach is that when we are so quick to use language that condemns, we don’t leave space for conviction or transformation to take place.

I was reading about cancel culture awhile back and came across an article about a professor who is tackling these ideas in the classroom. I want to share some of the insights from this article and from Professor Ross.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html

Professor Ross thinks call-out culture has taken conversations that could have once been learning opportunities and turned them into mud wrestling on message boards, YouTube comments, Twitter and [on college campuses]

Sophia Hanna, 18, has never been called out herself, but has spent more time than she’d like to admit during this pandemic watching two beauty bloggers call each other out.

“It just fires something emotionally,” she said, noting that she doesn’t even like makeup tutorials. “There’s like a dopamine trigger that makes me keep scrolling.”

[Professor Ross discusses this topic with her students, the phenomenon known as doom scrolling]. “I think we actually sabotage our own happiness with this unrestrained anger. And I have to honestly ask: Why are you making choices to make the world crueler than it needs to be?”

The antidote to that outrage cycle, Professor Ross believes, is “calling in.” Calling in is like calling out, but done privately and with respect. “It’s a call out done with love,” she said. That may mean simply sending someone a private message, or even ringing them on the telephone (!) to discuss the matter, or simply taking a breath before commenting, screen-shotting or demanding one “do better” without explaining how.

Calling out assumes the worst. Calling in involves conversation, compassion and context.

It doesn’t mean a person should ignore harm: language or behavior that denies the humanity and dignity of others.

Personal caveat - “Calling - in” is focused on our interpersonal relationships. We still can and should hold public figures and public institutions accountable for their responsibilities to uphold the values they promote and for the common good.

Prof. Ross doesn’t just teach about these ideas in the classroom, she has sought to live them. Formed relationships with some very unlikely people.

In the early 1990s, Professor Ross accompanied Floyd Cochran, once the national spokesman for the Aryan Nations, on a national atonement tour.

Mr. Cochran “My first true friends in all my life were Leonard Zeskind, who’s Jewish, and Loretta Ross, who is black. In the old days, if you had told me that I would be friends with them, I’d have laughed in your face. But the truth is, they saved me.” https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-10-tm-21338-story.html

As executive director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center from 1979 to 1982, she used her own story of sexual assault to facilitate a conversation with incarcerated rapists, teaching them Black feminist theory.

“the calling-in practice means you always keep a seat at the table”

Shifting back to the teachings of Jesus, I could take us to other examples, stories and parables Jesus shared in which confession is prized over righteousness

Pharisee and publican

Parable of the two workers

I read a devotional this week that opened my eyes to a new way of interpreting this parable of the two vineyard workers. I’d like to leave you with these insights from Mary Luti.

UCC Daily Devotional - “Change Your Mind” Mary Luti 9/25/21

What he commends isn’t mere ‘doing.’ It’s convertibility, a willingness to think again, to discover we’re wrong, to reverse course. It seems that a chastened heart may be preferable even to constancy and virtuous doing. Because there’s a sneaky danger in constancy and virtuous doing. It can give the illusion of perfection. Self-righteousness and judgmentalism come with that territory.

But people who change their minds are always undergoing the peculiar suffering of being wrong, swallowing their pride, recalibrating their assumptions and choices. They’re under no illusion of perfection. Humbled and teachable, they’re more likely to be merciful. And for Jesus there’s no other bottom line.