Mark 9:38–50

³⁸John 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."

³⁹But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.

⁴⁰For the one who is not against us is for us.

⁴¹For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

⁴²"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

44

⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.

46

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,

⁴⁸'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Summary introduction:

Notice there's a pattern to Jesus' ministry. Always after a long day of work, preaching and teaching, healing the sick and casting out demons, Jesus and the 12 disciples would come home, or gather in a private place and discuss the events of the day. Sort of a debriefing. At these times Jesus taught the disciples privately, especially he taught them who He was and what he was doing for them. He taught them what it meant to be his disciples.

On this occasion, Jesus and the disciples had just returned home from an extended trip throughout Galilee. On the way home, the disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest among them. So when they were finally at home, Jesus called them together and placed a child in front of them as an example of someone whom the society considered the least important. He told them that if they wanted to be the greatest, they had to become like this child, the least of all and a servant of all. What Jesus was actually telling them is what He himself is like and what he does for us. Here we have a most wonderful picture of Christ and how he loves us. For it was Jesus, the very Son of God, who made himself the least of all and who became our servant in order to save us from our sin. It is the Christ, the eternal God who gave his own life for us and died on a cross in order to save us. Here Jesus gives us a beautiful description of himself.

Our Gospel text we just read is a continuation of this conversation. Let us listen in on what Jesus taught to his disciples as He teaches them who he was and who they were on account of being his disciples.

Let us pray:

Dear heavenly Father, give us your grace to understand your love for us and the forgiveness you have earned for us on the cross. Help us to become more like Jesus in our love and service to one another. Amen.

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus sat the child in front of them, He was painting a picture of himself. Jesus was the one who humbled himself and made himself the least of all and a servant to others. As Jesus was saying this it suddenly occurred to John that they, the disciples, had done something on the journey home that was quite the opposite of what Jesus was telling them. So, on behalf of the entire group he confessed their sin to Jesus:

"Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." They had not been humble as Jesus had been. They had not made themselves the last and the servant of all as Jesus had. In fact, they were jealously guarding their status and position. "We are the disciples of Jesus," they said, "It's our job to cast out demons in Christ's name. Don't you dare try to get our glory, our position, our job. The privilege of doing things in Jesus' name is ours." They were jealous of their status. They were feeling a little competition. They wanted to be the most important.

What it is like for us when we are on the job? When someone else does something that is in your job description there is an immediate feeling of jealously, perhaps even insecurity. It is as if he were invading your turf. Maybe he's trying to get my job. I might even get laid off or passed up for a promotion if he starts doing my job. There is competition, jealously, hurt feelings and wounded pride. And it doesn't just happen on the job. Churches can tend to feel competition and jealously of other churches in the area.

Even inside the church, don't we jealously guard and protect our positions? If you want to get someone mad, just try doing something or suggesting something that he thinks belongs to his committee or board. It is human nature to want to defend our turf. That's just how the disciples felt: that man is casting out demons, but he is not on our committee. Casting out demons is the responsibility of my board. So, they got jealous. They felt competition.

And now, John felt ashamed. He couldn't bear the guilt any longer. He spoke up and confessed their sin to Jesus. Here is an example for us as well. Speak up and confess your sin to Jesus. For any sin, no matter how small, can destroy our faith. And without faith we lose our reward of eternal life in heaven. Notice how Jesus ends this discussion. He tells them, "If your hand or foot or eye offends you, cut it off, for it is better to be crippled than to be cast into the eternal fire of hell." Now what does it mean by saying "your hand or foot or eye offends you"? An offending hand or foot is anything that causes you to lose your faith. How do I know this? Because, only lack of faith can cause one to be cast into hell. The only reason anyone goes to hell is unbelief. All sin was forgiven when Jesus died, so we are not cast into hell on account of sin. Only unbelief condemns one to hell. So, the offending hand is something that kills our faith. But what kills faith? Unrepentant and willful sin. That is the one thing that causes us to lose faith. Therefore the hand or foot or eye that offends is really unrepentant and willful sin.

So confess your sin, your pride and your jealously to Jesus and turn from it. Confession includes repentance. Repentance simply means to stop doing it. A Christian does not continue to sin willingly or he ceases to be a Christian. So then, repent and confess your sin, just as John did.

But then notice how Jesus answered John. Here again we see the beauty of Christ and his love for us. He did not respond with harsh, angry words. Jesus did not condemn him and tell him he would go to hell. He did not give him a verbal whip-lashing. Jesus lovingly and kindly said, "Do not stop him from casting out demons. He who is not against us is for us." What a contrast to us. If someone confesses an offense against us, we would say, "First you have to pay for what you did, then I'll forgive you." We want to make sure he gets what he deserves. We don't want him to get off scot free. We think it's only fair that he first pay for what he did, and only then will we forgive him.

But not so with Jesus. Jesus deals with us gently and with compassion and love. If we had to pay for our sins we would all be dead. Instead, the punishment for our sins has already been met out. Jesus took our punishment, so when we confess our sin to him, he gives us his pure grace and kindness. He bends over backward, in fact he gave his life to forgive us. There is no punishment, retribution, or payment left to make. He doesn't exact compensation from us. He doesn't say "Pay up, then I'll forgive you." He paid it all for us. He paid our debt. He made satisfaction for our sins. "It is finished," he said. Your sins are paid for. You are forgiven. You have received the reward: eternal life. It is a gift and God has given it to you and He keeps on giving it to you in word and sacrament.

Yes, in word and Sacrament he keeps on coming to you and giving you his gift. He doesn't just come once and then we possess him forever and ever, but He keeps on coming as we worship him, as we hear and read his word and as we keep on receiving the Sacrament. He keeps on coming to dwell in us, and he has a living relationship with us. As we live in relationship with him, we become more and more like him in our lives. As we live in a living relationship with Christ, our lives become a reflection of who he is. We become humble as he was humble. We become forgiving of others as he forgives us. We become servants of all as he was servant of all because we take on the shape of his humble life. These are his gifts to us.

And so when we see someone thirsty, we give him a cup of water because Jesus is living in us. When we see someone hungry, we give him food. When we see someone sick we visit him. When we see someone homeless we give him shelter. For whatsoever you do unto the least of these, unto the little child, unto the poor and needy, you do unto Jesus himself.

And these small acts of kindness and compassion are gifts from Jesus to us. They are not our works. They are not our efforts and sacrifices. They are gifts which Jesus gives to us from his treasure house of grace. These acts of love and service that Jesus gives us to do are our heavenly treasures. "Store up not treasures on earth, but in heaven." On one occasion, a woman anointed Jesus with expensive ointment. Jesus said, "She has done a beautiful thing to me." A beautiful, precious, honorable thing she did to Jesus. And when Jesus gives us deeds of love and kindness to do, they are beautiful, precious and honorable things we do unto Jesus. The opportunity to do something beautiful to Jesus is a gift from God. These good works are the gifts, the heavenly treasures he gives to us. Jesus said to a rich, young man, "Sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven." I know of a woman who this past week sold her jewelry which she had little by little worked to buy all her life in order to pay for the medicine for her sick mother. Such deeds of service and love which we do are not our works, but are the treasures God gives us. They are his gifts to us. Whether it be a cup of cold water for a thirsty stranger, or casting out a demon, our good works are gifts from God to us. Doing beautiful and precious things to Jesus are our treasures. And if he gives us such good gifts, he will never take away the greatest gift of all; eternal life. We shall in no way lose our reward.

So, go ahead and cast out those demons and give your cups of water. For what does it mean today to cast out demons? It means to proclaim the gospel to someone and bring him to the font of baptism. There he shall drink from the cup of living water. Evangelism is nothing other than casting out demons. Baptism is nothing other than exorcism. It is renouncing Satan and all his works. It is casting out the unclean spirit which holds us captive to sin. Baptism is giving someone the cup of water, the water that gives life without end.

Amen.