I saw a tv show where someone came home upset because “They are not having fun right.” He had planned the fun and games and they had other ideas, so he came home in a huff, they are not having fun right.

John, “Jesus, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We sent him away because he was not one of us.” They are not having fun right. They are not part of us.

Not one of us. This person doing good, healing in ways we could not, we sent him away. He wasn’t in our group.

If they are healing in my name, they are a part of us.

What causes us to exclude those we do not see fit to be “us”. For one thing what if they are doing what we were not able to do? Just a few verses before this, the disciples, came down from the mount of transfiguration and could not cast out demons from someone. And now this outsider is doing it and succeeding. So maybe we want to exclude someone who can do what we could not.

What if instead of lamenting the inadequacies we embraced the gifts others bring to the table?

Can be Confident and still wrong – Excuse me while I interrupt your expertise with my confidence.

Movie – Dear Evan Hansen, …. Movie, teenagers with the teenage anxieties. Some are feeling alone. When one student named that in front of the whole student body it went viral. It has twists and turns and painful material – yet it shows the love parents have for their children and the depths they will go to show it. Also it is sung. Not in a polished musical kind of way, but they sing their thoughts as they walk the halls and feel invisible. Or the parents sing the thoughts they are having. One mother sang to her child about when her husband ,the boys dad ,left she knew she would have gaps and not always get it right and she said and she didn’t and doesn’t and will not – in other words she made mistakes then and is still and will again. Yet one thing was clear she loved him. It is a movie that touches us. Partly because if there was ever a time when tribes started it was teenage years. Clicks we called them. Groups here and there. They have names, not sure what the current names may be like jocks, nerds, goth, the list goes on. Different groups with a common pain. It is a movie that reminds us we are more connected than we think. We are more in need than we realize. And we are not alone.

What if when we want to exclude and we, like John, say we are leaving them out because they are not part of our tribe, we instead admit we are inadequate and need each other.

We are in a culture that hasn’t learned since Jesus day. IF anything, we have become more divided. And I am talking about within our religion, within the Christian faith.

Even within families. I got a call from a dear friend who is a pastor and his wife is a teacher. They have a son, 48 years old. He has started listening to only certain Christian stations, or Facebook feeds and he told his parents they are of the devil and are hell bound and he will no longer talk to them. They were shocked. The mother said, “I am sorry you feel this way. We do not feel this way and we will always love you.” I do not know how his son can be so cruel in the name of God.
But he is not the only one.

The text goes much more harsh as it continues.

Stumbling block – a snare, to entrap – how might we attempt to entrap?

Stumbling ourselves —- let others lift us up and carry on in the gaps we have in our lives.

Cut off — this is when I see no one taking the Bible literally. We don’t cut off body parts. We are intact. And please don’t cut off body parts literally, this is a metaphor. The Bible is full of Metaphor. I take the Bible literally – oh, so when Jesus said he is bread, you think he is made of wheat? When he is the door, he has hinges, when he is living what he is only h2O? When he is the lamb of God, he has wool and baas? We understand metaphor. This is hyperbole as well as metaphor. We take the Bible much too seriously to take it literally.

Salt doesn’t lose its DNA – it is metaphor. IT might lose its effectiveness.

We know we are still being salt when we live in peace with each other.

Sometimes those on the outside are doing good. Those who do not speak like us. Yes, many languages are touching lives in the name of God and finding healing. Some do not act like us. They have different traditions. They may seem strange and not one of us.

Jesus in Mark’s gospel praises those who give a Christian a cup of water – to you! You in the church. In Matthew’s gospel it is about encouraging giving the gift of a cup of cold water. Here, he is saying those who give to you, the church members a small gift even of water will receive their reward.

When the disciples earlier in this chapter in Mark, could not remove, could not perform the exorcism – Jesus said this only works through prayer. James today reminds us of the power of prayer.
Sick? Pray. I was with someone dying this week and he chose to be with his family and not hooked up to machines and isolated and sedated in the hospital. Why? Because he has faith and he wanted to be with his family in that peaceful transition.
Are there any among you joyful? Sing!!

Prayer can change us and this in turn and change the world. This is an important time to be the church. We can have a different voice. A voice that is not divisive. A voice that embraces the different people who heal and care and are a part of the good of the world in a different way from us.

Yes, there are consequences if we entrap others or cause others to fall because of our action or inaction.

We can be the salt on a wound that heals. Salve and salvation comes from the same root word.
Let us be the salt that heals the world.

Tikkun Olam – repair the world

The first step might be to swallow our pride and admit we need community. We need to acknowledge where we are inadequate or where others step in a do good when we did not.

To welcome those in who we called other.

Who is for us?
Jesus’ answer:

anyone
who extends a helping hand,
who shelters the homeless,
who cares for the earth,
who feeds the hungry,
teaches the ignorant,
stands for justice,
gives
a cup of water
in my name
is all for us,

and belongs to me.

Jesus,
all we want
is to belong to you.

This week church lets think about how we can be a different voice from the world of division and derision and exclusion. Where is good happening? Lets embrace those doing it as part of us.