September 30, 2018 – Mark 9:38-50
Mark 9:38-50
Deflections and Distractions
Lectionary 26B – September 30, 2018
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Remember the small child Jesus was holding last week?
The vulnerable one who Jesus identifies with so closely?
The one where when the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest among them,
Jesus takes small child and says, in the words of preacher Barbara Brown Taylor,
“Here: here is the greatest among you:
26 inches tall, limited vocabulary, unemployed, zero net worth, nobody. God’s agent.”
Remember that child?
Well – Jesus is still holding that child! A week later!
Okay: not really.
It’s just that today is a continuation of the conversation Jesus was having with the disciples about
true greatness and the true meaning of his ministry – and theirs.
What this means is that today’s conversation is a continuation of last week’s –
and you need to remember that!
Basically the disciples have been reprimanded by Jesus.
They have been arguing about who among them is the greatest and Jesus has little time for that!
The greatest among you is the one who serves, Jesus says!
The greatest among you is this child – this poor, vulnerable child,
because the vulnerable ones are to be the focus of our ministry not your greatness!
Well, maybe the disciples are embarrassed.
Maybe they know they have been caught focussing on things they shouldn’t,
like when you are overheard saying something embarrassing by
someone you really respect.
Maybe they realize they have fallen short of Jesus’ expectations of them.
Well: what do you do when you find yourself in such a situation?
When you’ve been caught doing or saying something you know you shouldn’t?
What is the oldest strategy in the book?
Deflection! Yes! Deflection!
The disciple John pipes up and in a classic case of deflection tries to totally change the subject.
Jesus has literally just finished telling them, “Whoever welcomes and cares for a vulnerable one such as this – it is as if they were welcoming and caring for me” when John blurts out:
Hey! Jesus! We saw someone who isn’t a follower of us healing and doing good stuff in your name without our authorization! We tried to stop him! Did we do good or what?”
Hahahahahaha! Classic deflection!
You get caught out doing something bad and so you shift the focus onto someone else
you think is doing something bad! Hahahahaha!
Well, Jesus is annoyed:
he quickly deals with the deflection and then returns them to the main point,
and when he returns to that main point you can hear the frustration in his voice.
First, he deals with the deflection and he says, “Don’t stop him!” Like: what is wrong with you?
And he gives three quick reasons why they should under no circumstances stop him.
First: because no one doing good stuff in my name will ever speak ill of me.
Second: because whoever is not against us is actually for us! Hello???
And third: because even if someone is not actually for us by simply offers us hospitality
they will be rewarded even for that!
By this point, Jesus is pretty riled up.
He has become impatient dealing with John’s stupid attempt at deflection and now,
now he returns to his main point from last week.
Only now he really ramps up his rhetoric!
He doesn’t want them to miss the point or be able to deflect after this!
He returns their attention to the little child he is still apparently holding in his arms and says,
“If any one of you gets in the way of helping one of these little ones because of your stupid
focus on being the greatest you would be better off dead!!” Whoa!
And then come the grisly images of hacked off limbs and torn out eyes.
If anything gets in the way of your helping and serving the vulnerable get rid of it!
That’s what he’s saying!
PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’S IMPORTANT!
he seems to be saying through his extreme language.
Don’t get bogged down in unimportant things!
FOCUS!!!!!!
What you say, what you do, the things you prioritize as my disciples
are a matter of life and death! (https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=1954)
So don’t get distracted! And don’t try and distract me!
And don’t deflect: own your mistakes and smarten up!
Your mistakes don’t have to define you – don’t let them!
At this point he could well say what he said to Peter a couple of weeks ago:
get behind me, Satan. You’re setting your mind on human things, not divine things.
This summer Anne and I met a mermaid.
Along with my sister and her husband we went to Great Falls Montana to the
Sip and Dip Tiki Lounge where mermaids swim in a pool behind the bar.
It was magical.
After the show, Anne saw a young woman with wet hair standing by the bar and she asked her,
“Are you a mermaid?”
And the young woman said, “Yes.”
And then Anne asked the question everybody in this room wanted her to ask:
“How do you become a mermaid?”
And the young woman – whose name is Alice, which is a wonderful mermaid name, said this:
When I was a small girl we used to visit my grandmother in Witchee-Watchee, Florida.
There is a theme park there that had mermaids.
My grandmother would always take me there to see them every time I visited and
from the time I was a small girl I always always wanted to be a mermaid.
All the way through elementary school and all the way through high school.
When I was getting close to graduating the high school guidance counselor pulled me into
his office and said, “Alice! You have to give up this crazy dream of being a mermaid!
you are never going to be a mermaid! Give up this crazy idea!!”
But I didn’t!
And here I am!
And then Alice added with a hint of defiance:
I wish that guidance counselor could see me now!
So: how do you get to be a mermaid? You don’t allow yourself to be distracted! Or deflected!
Which is exactly the same way you get to be a follower of Jesus.
You stay focussed.
The same way Jesus stays focussed on you – and all the vulnerable ones of this world.
The same way Jesus stays focussed on blessing, healing and freeing this world and
every person in it – by not getting distracted.
It’s why we worship the way we do, right?
It’s so we stay focussed.
We spend lots of time with the story of Jesus so we don’t get distracted.
We share the peace with one another so we don’t get distracted.
We practice sharing the manna of the bread and the wine so we stay focussed on our ministry of
manna-sharing.
We pray for the needs of the whole world so we don’t get distracted.
We confess our sins and get rid of them so we don’t get distracted by them.
We admit when we try to deflect – and let Jesus refocus us.
We try to focus on the main thing, week in and week out: what Jesus is doing through us
and through others to bless and heal and feed and set free and love this world.
Soon in the story Jesus will resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem where will die for
love of the whole world: all the vulnerable ones, and even for those who kill him and
try to deflect God’s loving scheme to mend the entire universe.
He will not allow himself to get distracted.
So what does this mean for you?
What does this mean for us?
What are the things you are distracted by?
Where do you try to deflect from what Jesus is calling you to?
Where as a community do we tend to get distracted? And what is God calling us to focus on?
What is God calling you to do, right now, as a follower of Jesus?
What is important enough for you to commit to?
Take a moment, and write down on the slip of paper you’ve been given two things.
Draw a line down the middle of the paper.
On one side, write down a distraction or a deflection.
On the other side write down something you or we as a community
are being called to focus on and commit to. Go ahead. Take a minute.
Now: let’s pray. “Loving and gracious God, we admit we get distracted from things you call us to: caring for the vulnerable of this world, caring for one another, and caring for this fragile earth. Re-focus us. Help us to keep our eyes fixed firmly on you, full of grace, as you move towards the cross focussed on the healing and blessing of all, as you still that little one and all the little ones of the world in your arms. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Together, we say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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