“We multiply fullness” (Mark 9:38-40)

Mark 9:38-40

Pastor Tom Johnson, September 27, 2015

Today in our Gospel reading, an outsider shows up. He comes alongside desperate people to help them confront their demons. He speaks of Jesus. He works under the authority of this Rabbi from Nazareth. But the disciples do not recognize him. The disciples do what is natural to anyone whose turf is tread upon; they try to stop the intruder. The person is unknown. The outcome is unknown. It is risky to allow outsiders to continue to do ministry in the name of Jesus when we do not have the assurance that the person even knows Jesus.

When I was ordained in the Presbyterian church, we held the service in the Episcopal church because we did not have a building. We were a church-plant or a mission church without a space of our own to worship in. At the point of laying on of hands, the pastor who led the service of my ordination invited all the ordained clergy forward to join the solemn ceremony. He did not say "all ordained Presbyterians just those who were ordained. The Rector of the Episcopal church, being ordained clergy came forward. Each pastor gave their blessing and a word of encouragement. The Episcopal priest, not hearing what he was waiting to hear proceeded to call on the Holy Spirit and invoke Apostolic Succession on me. That is to say, he later told me, he was waiting for someone to certify my ordination with the assurance that I was in direct line with the Apostles and part of a two-thousand year chain of pastors whose branches go back to the Apostle Peter and Jesus himself. The Episcopal priest was looking out for this closet Lutheran being ordained in the Presbyterian church! I’d like to think this was God’s sense of humor filtering through my own story. But that is essentially what the disciples want—to be assured that whoever does ministry in Jesus’ name be part of their chain.

We should remember that all four Gospels were written years after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Mark includes this story in his account clearly for a young church that might find themselves in a similar situation. What do you do when people start treading on your turf? What do you do when someone is not part of our succession? How do you know that a person is not leading others astray? How can we allow a questionable source with even more questionable results? What do we do with the many pastors, priests, and clergy just blocks away from this building—those confronting demons in peoples’ lives in Jesus’ name but not the name of Luther? They may be doing so in unfamiliar languages and music. What do we do when they speak about Jesus but don’t sound like us? It is clear they aren’t following us through our trustworthy Confessions and tradition. We do have a treasure in our clear doctrine of Grace. We are spiritual descendants of a 16^th century German monk who had the courage to speak truth in defiance of religious authority who was abusing its power. They asked that he would stop preaching in Jesus' name. It's ironic that we now ask, "Who does this Pope fellow think he is to come to New York City and Washington and bring our congressmen and women to tears?"

Jesus says, “Do not stop him; no one will do good in my name and later speak evil in my name. Whoever is not against us is for us.” In other words, if others are not clearly opposing the Gospel, don’t oppose them. Assume you are on the same team. Quit thinking so small about what God is doing. If you try to silence God’s people, even the stones will cry out. Broaden your vision of the Kingdom. Look for God’s activity in unexpected places. The fullness of God and his Kingdom will not be exclusively channeled through us. There will be unforeseen and unanticipated people doing good things in the name of Jesus for God’s greater kingdom. It is clear that no human being can cause the Kingdom of God to grow in our world. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” But I think it is just as clear that we can be an obstacle to Kingdom growth.

We cannot stop the reign of God from impacting the lives around us. But we can exclude ourselves from participating in what God is doing. Or to put it another way, God will do what he will do in spite of us or through us. God helping, healing, and assuring the world through us—sounds like a much better plan. You’ll remember that John the Baptist heard the complaint of his disciples and how Jesus’ disciples started to baptize. John wasn’t offended. Referring to Jesus, he said, “He must increase, I must decrease.” And Moses himself said, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them.” In other words, sometimes we need to catch up with just how full to overflowing the fullness of God is in the world. God calls us to be pleasantly surprised by his activity through unlikely sources. Maybe we could show a bit of self-deprecating humor and say, “I am one of those unlikely sources.”

Cure Your children’s warring madness; Bend our pride to Your control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage Lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal,
Lest we miss Your Kingdom’s goal. (from the hymn "God of Grace and God of Glory")