Whoever is not against us

[thanks to Spill the Beans and David Lose]

We have been reading through the Gospel of Mark, here is a quick outline from the middle of chapter 8.

Jesus asks the disciples ‘who do you say I am?’

Peter answers: the Messiah!

Jesus ordered the disciples not to tell anyone

Then Jesus tells the disciples he will die,

and Peter, says: No Way!

Jesus tells Peter off for focusing on human things, not divine things.

“If any of you want to come with me,” he told them, “you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.  For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.

  

Is it any wonder the disciples didn’t seem to understand what was going on at times?

then the story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain –

a mystical experience for the three disciples with him.

Jesus and the three return to find the rest of the disciples in a pickle. They have tried healing a boy and not been able to.

Jesus heals the boy.

[Last week]

Jesus again tells the disciples he will be killed,

this time they are silent because they are afraid.

as they travel the road they argue over who is the greatest among them.  Jesus tells them the one who welcomes, the one who is a servant, these are the greatest in the kingdom of God.

Then we come to this passage, and the disciples,

the same disciples who could not cast the evil spirit from a boy,

the disciples tell Jesus,

that they have told someone to stop healing,

because he wasn’t part of the ‘our’ group. 

a story from Soill the Beans

Have you ever been on a Litter Pickup?

What do you need? (Gloves, a bin bag, a litter picker).

A bunch of friends, Lucy, David, Anja and Michael, went along one Saturday to the local park where their church had organised a Litter Pickup. They pulled on their gloves. They took a big black bin bag to share. They got two litter pickers between the four of them. And they each got a special bright yellow vest to wear, which said “ST PAUL’S CHURCH. LITTER PICK-UP. KEEPING OUR PARK BEAUTIFUL.”

The park needed their help—what a lot of litter there was, on the grass, on the paths, among the flowers and beside the pond! The children got to work. They were so proud to be part of a team doing something good! Soon the big black bag was half-full, with chip packets and chocolate wrappers and newspapers and plastic bottles and drinks cans. Lucy and David were carrying the bag along, while Anja and Michael used the litter pickers to carry pieces of paper and all the other rubbish to the bag.

“Look!” said Lucy suddenly, in a loud whisper. “What’s he doing?”

The others looked where Lucy was pointing. There under the big beech tree ahead of them, a man was picking up rubbish and putting it in a wee carrier bag. It wasn’t a proper big black bin bag. And he didn’t have any gloves or a litter picker. And he wasn’t wearing a special bright yellow vest.

 “He can’t do that!” said Michael. “This is OUR Litter Pick-up!”

But David started to smile. “He might not be in our team, but he’s helping to keep the park beautiful!” he said.

“I wish he’d stop!” grumbled Lucy, “I’ve never seen HIM at our church!”

Then Anja whispered, “I think we should say hello. Isn’t it great that we’re not the only ones who care about the park?”

 [Spill the Beans]

Jesus tells the disciples: “whoever is not against us is for us.”

“Whoever is not against us is for us.”

  

Jesus seems to continually be trying to open the disciples to an ever widening group of people. The lame and blind, outcasts of various sorts, lepers, women, children, non-Jews and now people who do good, who are agents of the kingdom, BUT aren’t part of the group!

I wonder which groups in this area work for the kingdom, without being part of this church, or any church?

And what is the Kingdom of God, and how do we participate in the work for the kingdom.

The early disciples in general were not wealthy or in positons of authority. The early church, the people Mark was writing for, were mainly those who were outcasts, the poor, the lame, and the people that the religious leaders looked down on.

This means that when we read Mark’s gospel, we need to use our imagination, we need to look for wat the early church might have heard.

The Kingdom of God is contrasted with the empire, or earthly kingdoms.

Do we look down on people who dress differently to us when they want to come to a church function?

How do we treat people who understand the gospel differently?

Here the disciples are involved in a demarcation dispute. A turf war. Do we accept people who are different, racially, theologically, politically? Do we accept people without trying to make them like ‘us’?

Then the reading seemingly makes another turn, but it goes back to the ‘little ones’ from the reading last week.  Don’t be a stumbling block. Last week Jesus was telling, and showing, the disciples to welcome the little ones, the least; and after the interlude about someone, but not one of the disciples, healing in Jesus name; Jesus takes the conversation back to the little ones.

Don’t be a stumbling block.  Don’t be a stumbling block for the little ones, the ones who are of little or no account in the culture, don’t lock them out, don’t make it hard for them.

There are more people who say they have a belief in God, than in all the churches combined.

As we think about the least in the community, people who are homeless, unemployed, single parents, people addicted to drugs of various kinds  - what might we do to make it easier for people to be part of a community of faith.

Some questions to think about:

Which groups could we work with to bring hope and healing in this community?

What might we do to make it easier for people to be part of a community of faith?