27 September 2009
St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Pentecost 17 Vienna, VA
“How
Large is Your Millstone?”
Text:
Mark 9:38-50
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Lord would have us
be salt in this world. A preservative against the corruption of sin that is
decaying and rotting the world all around us. To be truth in a world of lies.
To be life in a world of death. To be light in a world of darkness. To be kindness
in a world of cruelty. To be merciful in a world of selfishness. To be love in
a world of indifference and hate. And so as Christians, we are not to be the
same as the world, but different.
But are we? In how we
think, in how we act, in how we speak, in what we desire? In all these things
and in all these ways, are we preserving the world, or is the world corrupting
us? Perhaps, like the people of Israel, our grumbling and complaining are signs
that all is not right with us. Perhaps we are jealous for the wrong things and
do not see the seriousness of our lack of contentment and the sins that brings
with it. And so we look back to Egypt with longing eyes, thinking that God’s
ways are not so good, are too hard, and that the world is offering something better.
But our Creator knows
the devastation of sin. All sin. The sin we so often don’t think twice about,
or consider not so bad, or even think harmless. We are wrong. It is better, Jesus says, to remove the parts
of our bodies that cause us to sin than to let those sins remain and continue.
It would be better to have a great
millstone hung around your neck and you be cast into the sea. We shudder at
such thoughts, but Jesus says these things are better than the alternative. Better
than being condemned for your sin and spending eternity apart from God, where
those body parts you saved here only
serve as food for the worm that does not die and the fire that is not quenched there.
And so these words of
Jesus should open our eyes today - not to despair, but to our need, and to the
One who came to meet our needs. For the One who speaks these words came not to
condemn us with them, but to save us from them. That what we deserve, we may not
receive, but instead live in that life that is better. A life that is whole and complete and unburdened by sin.
The life from above which Jesus has come down to give to you.
It is the life that you
need, for you are greatly burdened by sin. For how great is your millstone? I
know that it is very great indeed. For I know that mine is very great indeed.
But the depths of the sea into which you were cast is not a sea of condemnation
and death, but instead a sea of mercy; a sea of forgiveness; the sea of Holy
Baptism. For there is the water that Jesus has come to provide to deal with
your sin. There is the water in which Jesus Himself was baptized, that your
millstone might be hung around His neck instead of yours. And with your
millstone hung around His neck, that He be cast into the depths of sin, death,
and grave on the cross, that what you deserve you may not receive, but instead
live a new life.
And so like Jonah, who
was cast overboard for the peace of others and then swallowed by the great
fish, Jesus was cast into the depths for your peace and swallowed up by death.
But then also like Jonah, Jesus came forth three days later - a resurrection to
a new life. And in Holy Baptism, that is the resurrection and life that you too
receive. That in those waters your death become His death, and His life become
your life. That set free from the burden of your sin, you can live again. Not
in despair, but in freedom and peace and joy.
And with that new life,
to be salt in this world. Salt, for in your baptism, not only did you receive
the life of Jesus, you were also given His Spirit. Just as in the reading from
Numbers that we heard, when the Spirit was taken from Moses and placed upon the
others - and yet was not diminished! - so now has the Spirit of Christ been
given to you. To be the salt of life in
a dying world. For the life and Spirit of Christ now live in you.
What does such a life
look like? There is no one answer, but it can look as simple - as Jesus said -
as giving a cup of cold water to another. As simple as praying, speaking the
truth, forgiving. But though these may look simple, they are not easy. For
though our millstones have been removed in baptism, and though we were there
given a new life, our old hands and feet and eyes and tongues and hearts
remain, remnants of our old sinful flesh still clinging to us, and leading us
into sin. Leading us where we do not want to go.
Better to cut them off,
Jesus says, then to let them take you there. But better yet is to repent, and
receiving the cleansing forgiveness of Jesus, now offer your body and its parts
no longer to sin, but in service. That as we prayed in the collect, our Father
would mercifully direct and govern us by
[His] Holy Spirit that we may complete the works [He has] prepared for us to do.
To use our hands to help instead of to hurt. To use our feet to walk with those
in need. To use our eyes to look upon others in mercy. To use our tongues not
to gossip, but to forgive. And so be the
salt of love in a world where love is often in short supply.
And these things you
are now able to do for one very important reason: because your life now and your life forever have already been taken care of. You have the promises of
God in Christ that there is nothing more precious to Him than you; that He will
provide for you now and in the hour of your death. And so in Jesus, you are now
free - from your millstone of sin, and from death and hell, so that what
remains for you now is life. To live
as a child of God.
And so our prayer is
fulfilled. Just as Moses’ prayer for the Spirit to be poured out was fulfilled,
so too our prayer for the Spirit is fulfilled. For, as James told us today: “the
prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” And you
are righteous - not because of what you have done! - but because you have been
joined to Christ, the righteous one. He takes your prayers into His, even as we
make His prayer our own, and so we know our prayers are both heard and
answered. For Christ’s sake. So be bold in your prayers! Even, even when you
find yourself under the weight of the cross.
For as Jesus showed us,
the cross is not for evil but for good. It is to give us life. And so from the
cross flowed not only life-giving prayers from Jesus’ lips, but life-giving
blood from His veins, that the cup He now gives to us is not a cup of cold
water, but the cup of His blood, shed for
you for the forgiveness of your sins. That we feast no longer on the things
of sin and death, but eating His body and drinking His blood, we feast on life,
and so have life. For where there is
forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. For you. That you
may live. And living, be the salt of
light in a very dark and evil world.
And that is who you
are. Truly. For though you fail, your Saviour never fails. Though you fall, He
is here is raise you. And though you may not think you are much of a Christian,
and deserve to have that millstone back and all your body parts cut off, Jesus
says no. You are mine. And He is using you as His salt in this world, in
ways that you know, and in ways that you know not. And He is preserving you
with His forgiveness and life, until forgiveness is needed no more - on that
day when He takes you to Himself and to the life that never ends.
Dear brothers and
sisters in Christ, that day is coming. That great and awesome day. But until it
does, do not fear, do not lose hope, do not give up. Your Saviour is faithful.
And He will do it, for He has done it. Go in peace, you are free.
In the Name of the
Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God
which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.