In this passage from Mark (9:38-50), the disciples question Jesus about someone who is exorcising demons in the name of Jesus, but who isn’t part of the group. When we read this, perhaps we’re thinking “why does this matter…who exorcises demons anymore?” But it matters because it’s another question of who’s in and who’s out.
What if the gospel passage read: Jesus, we saw someone feeding the hungry, but they weren’t one of us, so we tried to stop them? Or how ‘bout if it read: Jesus, we saw someone give clothes away to a mother in need, or give a tent to someone who was without shelter, or medicine to someone without insurance …but they weren’t one of us, so we tried to stop them. Sounds ridiculous, huh? But if we look honestly in our hearts, how often do we think “but they’re not one of us, so they should stop that (fill in the blank with works of love, healing and reconciliation)…”? It’s an ugly truth, something we’d prefer to deny, but it’s there.
And this is the challenge that Jesus is faced with as he continues to nurture his disciples. So he tells them, as long as good is being done, there’s no reason to stop good work. Don’t create a stumbling block…a set of rules or expectations…for those trying to do the work of the kingdom. Let them be! Let them do works of love, healing and reconciliation with wild abandon because it is bringing about the Kingdom of God!
So what happens when we create stumbling blocks? Well, we create hell instead. In the original text, the word for “hell” is actually “Gehenna”. And Gehenna is a real place. It is a valley outside of Jerusalem that was and still is used as a garbage dump. Gehenna has become a metaphor for what happens to those who have no regard for others; it’s a place where we dump our “stuff”—both the literal garbage of our lives, and the emotional and spiritual garbage that we have accumulated. When we worry about who’s in and who’s out, we’re putting our garbage on them. We’re actively creating Gehenna, or hell.
This is not what Jesus wanted for his disciples, or for us. Instead, he wants us to be the salt of the earth…the purifying, peace-making, reconciling builders of the Kingdom; not the ones who contribute to the continual creation of Gehenna.
Let’s look for a moment at our Baptismal Covenant (BCP 416). In our covenant, we say that we will continue in the apostles’ teaching, breaking of bread and prayers. We say that we will persevere in resisting evil, that we will proclaim the Good News, that we will serve Christ in all persons and love our neighbor. We say that we will strive for justice, peace and the respect of every human being. No where do we say we will do all these things…so long as the “other” is one of us. No where do we say that we will be a stumbling block for those who aren’t like us. No where do we say that we will consciously participate in the creation of Gehenna.
No…we say that we will continue to be disciples, with God’s help.
So today we are faced with a choice as we continue our journey with Jesus. We can choose to say, “Jesus, I saw this person bringing peace into the world and it was awesome!” or we can say “yeah, that was great, but you’re not one of us”. Which is it going to be?