September 28, 2003

Mark 9:38-50

“Let Go, Then Go!”

     Since my mother and father are here today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you just what sort of parents they really are.  I had a such a traumatic childhood!  Let me give you example of just one diabolical plot my dear mother carried out against me.  Like a lot of children, I used to carry a blanket around with me everywhere I went.  It was my security, my buddy.  I loved that blanket.  But when I turned sixteen, Mom decided I had carried it around long enough.  OK, maybe it was few years before that.  Anyway, when my blanket got grubby my mother washed it, but each time she did this, she took a pair of scissors and cut it down in size until one day it just disappeared altogether!  Now that was a sneaky thing to do, taking advantage of a trusting three-year-old.  See what I went through?

     That was probably the only way my mother was going to get me separated from that blanket, so I have to give her credit.  There just comes a time when one has to let go of some things, even near and dear things.  It’s part of growing up emotionally…and spiritually.  In some ways, it’s a process that never ends, especially for those who seek to grow in faith.

     The disciples certainly struggled with this - growing up in faith.  You might remember last Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark where they were arguing among themselves over which one of them was the greatest.  Today’s lesson is a continuation of this passage and here again, the disciples are having a difficult time being the humble people the Lord wants them to be.  We find them complaining that other people beyond their little group are casting out demons in Jesus’ name and they are unhappy because they consider this their exclusive privilege.  But Jesus is quick to set them right - they don‘t have a corner on the healing market, God’s power is not limited only to them.  Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us.“ 

     The disciples needed to humble themselves and be open to what God could accomplish through other people, even if they happened to be outside their circle.  The disciples needed to let go of things near and dear to them, things they considered very important - things like pride, power and prestige.  They needed to let go in order to grow to be people of mature faith.

     Perhaps because they were having such a difficult time grasping this concept, Jesus used some very blunt words to shake them up and get them to take notice:

“If your hand causes you to stumble cut it off!…if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off!…if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out!”

     If ever there was a good case to be made for not taking the Scriptures literally all the time, this passage is it.  Jesus wasn’t calling for self-mutilation, but rather, for a change of heart, a letting go of everything that inhibits the spirit, holds it back, covers it up, denies God’s claim and call upon a person’s life.  Jesus wasn’t looking for people to lose a limb for the Gospel, he was looking for them to lose their lives, to give their selves wholly over to God’s will.  Selfish pride would have to go, self-centeredness would have to give way, an attitude of humbleness would have to come into a person’s heart.  Only this would allow space for the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. 

     Christian folks can sometimes be like people who only go to other people’s tag sales and never have one of their own.  They bring home all this junk (material things, emotional things, griefs and gripes) and just hang on to it.  They stack boxes of it up to the ceiling, fill the closets, crowd the halls, cover the chairs and then wonder where God is.  Well, God doesn’t seem to be there because God can‘t find a place to sit down!  We need something like a tag sale, we need to make space in our souls, to lose some stuff to let God in.  Being a person of mature faith is not so much about finding our way to some deep spiritual place, some religious spot of great understanding as it is letting go of things in the space where we are in, letting go so we can hear God’s call, so we can respond to that call.

     Aaron Pressel, Jr. was a member of the first church I served, St. John’s United Church of Christ in New Chester, PA.  Aaron had more than twenty years with the York Air Conditioning Company and had followed his father’s footsteps into the factory.  Aaron had a highly skilled and high paying job with excellent benefits, but wasn’t satisfied with his life.  As good as his job was, he felt he should be doing something more for others.  In his forties, with three teenage daughters, a mortgage and all the other bills and responsibilities that go with that phase of life and a wife with a part time job at a little grocery store, Aaron gave up his security and made a change.  He took a new job at lower pay with the Sheltered Workshop, helping mentally challenged people learn a trade.  He let go of something near and dear - money, security, a familiar circle of coworkers, a job he knew well - because he believed God was calling him to something more important. 

     I must say, when a person is doing something they really believe God wants them to do, they are blessed beyond anything a paycheck or seniority at a job can provide.  Aaron and his family found a level of joy they never knew before.  Aaron now enriches the lives of others and as a consequence, his life has been enriched, too.

     You don’t have to be a scholar, a successful business person or a person of wealth to do great things.  You can be a person who assembles air conditioning units in a factory who makes the choice to let go of something for the sake of listening more intently to, following more closely, God‘s call upon your life. 

     What do you cling to that does little good for anyone but yourself?  What greater calling is the Lord making upon your life?  What choices are before you now?  These are questions each of us must consider as followers of Jesus Christ, as people who are called upon to lose our lives to find them.