Sin isn't in the hand

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loved you with his very life. Amen.

In the past we’ve talked about the lectionary, like what it is and how it works. If you don’t know that word, “lectionary” that’s the thing that determines the readings for the week. So like, on the back of your service folder are three readings, and they are chosen by the lectionary.

The people who put it together are absolutely brilliant. To be fair, sometimes the lectionary has it’s problems, but times like today, it’s just amazing, and it opens to us a greater understanding of scripture but placing two stories, from two different points in history, in this case separated by 1000’s of years, and seeing these two accounts side by side sets up this brilliant juxtaposition of the text.

So like, today, it’s a beautiful thing. We have this Old Testament passage about Moses. In this passage Moses is completely overwhelmed. Like, so overwhelmed. Some scholars estimate that the number of people who left in the exodus was in the millions, while smaller estimates are in the hundreds of thousands, either way it’s a lot of people.

And Moses? He is mediator for all of them. So like, if you have a disagreement with your neighbor like, “hey, that’s my sheep, give it back!” and they are all like, “No.. this one is mine, see it has white fur, like that one” and you get to fighting, Moses is the guy who decides. But he is one man for a huge nation to care for. So, as expected, he is tired.

So God tells Moses to appoint some other guys, some other elders, some me, to help in this word. So he does. Then God invites all of these men to have a meal with him. A very special honor indeed. But of the 72 invited, 2 cannot make it, for whatever reason. Maybe, maybe their wives were sick and they were needed at home. Who knows. But what happens is that being near by to God, literally, causes these 72 men to prophecy! Kind of like a Pentecost thing.

But remember, Eldad and Medad weren’t there! But the prophesied anyway. This causes a commotion and Joshua runs to tell Moses and says, “Hey, these guys here are doing the thing and they were there to able to do that stop them!” And then Moses replies. And we will talk about his reply in a moment.

We have a similar event take place to what happened with Moses, Eldad, Medad in our gospel lesson today. Today, in our reading from Mark, the 12 disciples encounter a man who is casting out demons in Jesus name. This is like, Eldad and Medad prophesying. Last week, in our gospel reading we see the 12 disciples attempt to cast out a demon from boy who was oppressed. They were unable to do it and Jesus tells them, “This kind can only be driven out by prayer.” This week, we see someone casting out demons, and it’s not one of the 12, it’s this nameless man! Then the text goes on to describe how they react.

So the lectionay sets up theses two storied in contrast. We have these situations of these messengers for God, Moses and the 12 disciples, and how they have someone else seemingly doing their job. Let’s take a look at their reactions.

When Moses learns of this news, that these men, Eldad and Medad are filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesying, he is overjoyed! Joshua is concerned about it, but not Moses! He is excited that there are more people able to do God’s work. He’s like, “Joshua, what’s your concern here? Are you jealous for my sake? This is awesome! I wish everyone would have the Holy Spirit like they do, I wish we all could prophecy!” Moses sees God’s work not as a thing to give status, not to make his own name great, but rather he sees God’s work as God making God’s name great and furthering God’s kingdom.

And standing in opposition to this we see the disciples, who take the exact opposite approach. As Moses was excited that God would use more people to do his work, the disciples, are well, not. The disciples come to Jesus and say, “Jesus, tell this guy to stop casting out demons in your name, he is not following US” Did you catch that when it was read a little bit ago. He is not following US.

It’s not that he’s not following Jesus, he’s not following the disciples either. The disciples are jealous over their status of greatness. Like, Mark is clear about this. Verse 38 follows verse 37, and in last week’s text, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest of them. Just before this event takes place, the disciples are trying to see who has the most glory, respect, honor, authority, whatever. Is is Peter, is it John, is it Levi? Who? They argue about who is most important and then they are unable to cast out a demon.

Then this upstart comes along and does what they can’t! Clearly, this guy, who isn’t even a follower of them, of Jesus AND his disciples, should not be able to do something that they are unable to do!

And they are jealous,if you were with us last week, we talked about the foolishness of jealousy in great detail, so I’m not going to preach that sermon again. There is one more detail that stands out. And that is Jesus response.

Jesus says something that at first glance seems like it’s out of left field, but when you pause and meditate on it, Jesus response is so, very profound, but it really confronts and challenges the disciples, and even us today.

Here’s what I mean. Jesus first tells this thing about the cup of cool water. Keep in mind, most of Israel is a desert, so a cup of cool water is super nice on a hot day. And Jesus is teaching that even something so small, given by anyone is still a good thing. Even if an enemy give you cool water, it’s still cool water. So even if this guy is an enemy and hes casting out demons, the demon is still being cast out, and that’s a good thing. Don’t stop that.

But what’s the deal with all this talk of hell (Jesus mentions it 3 times in this text) and hacking off body parts? In this drastic shift we go from, “It’s good to cast out demons” to “if your hand causes you sin, cut it off?”

Here’s the deal: Does your hand cause you to sin? Does your eye cause you to sin? Does it, do they? Is your hand the cause of your sinfulness? Sure, your hands are used to commit sin, from striking someone, to stealing, and our eyes are used to commit sins too from cheating on a test at school to looking at things on the internet you shouldn’t be looking at, but while our members are part of the sinning process,are they the cause of your sins?

No. Your hand’s don’t cause you to sin, and neither do your eyes. We read this passage and we think about the absurdity of cutting of a limb to stop sinning. The absurd part isn’t that you would do it, that you would cut of a hand, the absurd part is that doing that won’t cure your sin! If you didn’t have a hand, you’d be jealous about someone who did! If only it were so easy to stop sinning as cutting of a hand or foot or belly button or whatever. To stop sinning is so much more challenging.

Jesus teaches us that our sinfulness is way deeper than merely an action. That we aren’t good people who do bad things from time to time, but rather our very natures, our hearts are corrupted by sin, and we are sinful people who do sinful things. The disciples looked to actions, actions of hands and feet and words spoken as a sign of greatness. Jesus says, No! That’s not what makes you great! Your actions are sinful!

The only way to get rid of sin is through Jesus, he’s the only one who can change your heart, can cleanse you and get to the root cause of sin. Jesus is the only one who can give you access to the father, to life everlasting. Jesus told his disciples what it would take to make this happen, how he, would go to Jerusalem, be arrested, tried, suffer, die, and then rise again. These actions are what makes you truly great. Your greatness isn’t found in you or what you do, it’s found in God and what God does for you!

Eldad and Medad were notable, not for who they were, but for what God did for them. The nameless man was great, not for what he did, but for what God did for him. So it goes for the disciples. Not great for who they are, but because of who Jesus is. Who is the greatest among them? Jesus.

So it is with you. You have been made great, not for what your hand and eyes do, but for who Jesus is and what he has done for you. Jesus has made you great because he has addressed the cause of sin in you. You have been made great because Jesus, the greatest man to ever live, humbled himself to die in your place, to offer up his pure actions for your sinful ones and exchange hell for heaven. He would be cut off, he would go to hell in your place, in instead he gives to you forgiveness, life, and a place at God’s side in the new creation.

This is greatness! This is salvation, this is the work of God for you to make you new, to redeem you! Jesus makes a new heart and gives life to you because of his nature as God, because loves you!

So when we leave here today, let us leave with this in mind. Our greatness isn’t tied to anything in the world, it’s not about hands or eyes, it’s not even about prophecying like eldad or medad. It’s about Christ and what he has done. Amen.