Upside-Down Kingdom 2

Get two groups (DO NOT CALL THEM TEAMS) of adults, younger teens, kids to “build the tallest freestanding tower you can using the supplies I’ve provided” during the intermission.

Its interesting how territorial people can be sometimes. Almost no matter what the project is, no matter the directions, we tend to assume and “us vs them” situation that doesn’t really help progress, doesn’t really help us grow or accomplish the task. Instead, it just serves to keep us on opposite sides of whatever fence we’re racing to build at that point. We see ourselves in different locations, either physically or ideologically or whatever, and make the mistake of turning those locations into teams, opponents to overcome instead of people with which to collaborate. If you think back to the instructions I gave, I never called the groups teams, never told them it was a competition, and never said there would be a winner or loser. I gave them supplies and told them to build the largest tower they could. The only thing remotely close I did was place them in two groups in two slightly different locations. They received a singular instruction- build the largest tower- I didn’t even give them to plural “towers.” And yet, our collective competitive nature, the desire to win blocked out the ability to see, to hear, and to plan, and instead of pooling resources and working together, the assumption was made that it was an “us vs them” scenario and away they went. I didn’t even do anything particularly manipulative- I just took a guess at how they’d respond to the instructions- an expectation based on years of experience and multiple times doing this activity , and assumed rightly that expectations and a desire to win would do the rest.

This mindset, the “of course its a competition and I want to win” mindset still causes us to miss out on all sorts of opportunities to collaborate with others and celebrate the work others do either because we are afraid that they are competition or are embarrassed that we didn’t think of it or do it first. Today’s passage deals directly with that struggle, one familiar to the closest followers of Jesus. The teaching today is a continuation of last week’s passage, and we pick up Jesus’ response to their shortsightedness about power, place, and the purpose of Jesus.

The New Revised Standard Version Another Exorcist

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

I’m not going to spend a ton of time on these verses right now, except to remind you what has just happened before this moment. Mark records all of this as a string of teaching from Jesus to the disciples following their argument about their own greatness, and who among them had the most of it. So Jesus finishes telling them that, and John responds by telling Jesus a story about how they still don’t get it. So again, Jesus comes back to service, right? In the preceeding passage, its hospitality in the form of welcome. Here its hospitality in the form of service- If they’re not against us, they’re for us- Man doesn’t that open up the door to who deserves welcome and hospitality- to be treated as if they belong. And its not even a call to big, publically pronounced service on some grand scale that earns that place of belonging. Instead, its something as simple as sharing a cup of water. Ultimately what matters isn’t so much what is done, though service is the expectation. Instead, its whose name its done in. Jesus keeps going.

The New Revised Standard Version Temptations to Sin

42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

The New Revised Standard Version Temptations to Sin

42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Interestingly, in this context, the idea of a stumbling block is spelled out in a way that we often don’t grasp. Last week, we looked at the beginning of this teaching. Jesus has come off the road from traveling with his disciples and engaged with an argument the disciples were having on the road about which of them was the greatest, the most important, the Jesus posse MVP. So Jesus begins to rearrange their understanding of greatness by reminding them that greatness isn’t measured in power, or size of influence, or authority, or any of the earth-bound standards they were using, but instead by hospitality, by welcome, extended to those who are completely powerless. And here, Jesus comes back to that point- John and some other disciples have just tried to stop someone who was doing the work of Jesus in the name of Jesus, right? “We saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t one of us.” Jesus responds perfectly, essentially saying, “Why? Its not about which group a person is a part of, its about the service that person renders! Are you not listening? Don’t stop someone extending the hospitality of God in my name- they’re doing my work whether or not they’re a part of this particular circle.” And then, Jesus goes back to the idea before John spoke out. Its like John was trying to make some claim to power and was offended that others outside their circle would have it, right? You’ve got to remember there are moments when the disciples try to cast out demons and can’t, and here’s someone not part of their tiny group, THE group closest to Jesus, able to do what they can’t. For these guys who are, at this moment, very focused on their own power and authority, its threatening to the extreme. And Jesus calls their actions, in defense of their own authority and power, a stumbling block. Jesus isn’t simply firing off some hypothetical situation that involved someone causing a child to stumble in pursuit of God- He’s looking at his followers and calling their lack of welcome the stumbling block that could cause those like this child, those who have no power or authority, those completely dependent on others.