The gospel lesson from Mark we have before us this morning has so much in it, so much that we could talk about that it is hard to see how everything fits together. It is a challenging portion of scripture to understand and follow and learn from.
There are teachings of Jesus here that could cause confusion to the hearer- or give the impression that there are works to do such as all in self sacrifice, that we are tasked with in which to which earn our salvation.
But Jesus is not teaching that salvation comes through the right amount of personal sacrifice. A closer look at the scripture helps us to see that our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection gives us an identity of living in Jesus’ name- and a purifying role ,just like the salt that Jesus uses as an illustration of the impact of the Christian’s life in the world.
When it is hard to see the big picture our Collect Prayer comes in handy. In this prayer today we prayed to the Lord for direction and guidance to complete the works God has called us to do. Complete the works, finish strong, get results.
Football season has started and a big emphasis of any team at the start of a season is to make the most of opportunities when they are before you. If you are in the red zone, you need to get touchdowns for at least a good percentage of trips. Settling for field goals time after time does not get you very far.
How do we complete the works God has given us to do? We have a big box in the narthex to play a role as one of 16 boxes which will be collected from churches in our area by Lutheran High and delivered by a semi truck, providing much needed supplies to a relief site of a sister church in Louisiana.
We also can identify the works before us in terms of teaching our young people the Christian Faith, and building the community in Christ in our congregation that will help our church to be healthy and vibrant in faith and works of love to one another and those in our neighborhood.
Completing the works God gives us to do is a challenge, but it is also a gift and a privilege. When the Lord assigns works for us to complete- we can see this as a gift. Completing the works we are given is all about God’s mercy and grace to us.
So how do we finish strong, with these gifts of works to complete? How do we overcome the potential result of many incomplete tasks? That takes us back to our gospel reading where we hear Jesus speaks about doing things in His name. “For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”
In Confirmation class we have been talking about what it means to Hallow God’s name ,and the power of God’s name. We confessed in the Introit: “Your name of LORD endures forever, Your renown O LORD throughout all ages.” We can only finish strong or find completion when we are living to do all things in the name of our God. When we live as new creations in Christ.
I mentioned the gospel reading can be hard to follow. However, everything Jesus is teaching is all about whether someone is in His name or is fighting against His name. The gospel reading begins with almost a repeat of our Old Testament reading from Numbers 11 where Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp but not specifically in the tent of meeting with the seventy men who were appointed as elders. The disciples find a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus. This man is not one of the disciples, like Eldad and Medad, he is on the outside of the immediate circle of the disciples.
The disciples reaction is to stop him, because he is an outsider. Jesus points out that although he is not on the inside, although he may not truly understand who Jesus is, he is certainly not against Jesus. He is the farthest thing from a persecutor of the church.
Jesus then talks about temptations to sin in a way that illustrates what is against his name. Specifically causing a child or a novice in the faith to sin, that is what it looks like to be against Jesus. Jesus points out it is better to think in terms of self limits and sacrifice than to let sin drive ourselves or others against the name of Jesus.
Whether it is what we see or covet or what ill thought through path we walk, or what we take with our hand- we are better off cutting those things out of our lives. This is like the drug addict realizing the need to throw a phone into a trash compactor, in order to leave behind all of the numbers and contacts that cause trouble. But of course, the real root of the sin is not with the eye or the foot or the hand, but with our heart.
We cannot remove our own heart to keep us from sinning. We need God’s help, we need the cleansing power of God’s Word to curb the evil in our heart.
Jesus talks about the good of entering the kingdom of heaven crippled, lame, and half blind. This is a stark and unpleasant message, but it gets the point home- even if we are humbled in a way that seems unappealing, entering the kingdom of heaven is that which is of ultimate importance.
We are humbled by God’s Word so that we can be holy and pure in His Name. Jesus summarizes this humbling process with the phrase ‘salted with fire.’ In the Concordia Commentary Dr. Voelz expounds on the meaning of being salted with fire. “These words seem to mean that everyone will have fire applied to him that functions like the application of salt.” Specifically the purgative function of salt, stopping and limiting putrefaction. (decaying or rotting of organic material)
The force of what Jesus is saying is defined by Voelz as follows: ‘Everyone will have fire applied that will prevent the flourishing of that which is bad or destructive, that is everything that is not congruent with the reign and rule of God in Christ. In other words, whatever holds us back, whatever does not belong, God roots out and destroys for our benefit.
In 1Corinthians chapter 3:12-14 “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood , grass, straw the work of each will become manifest, for the day will make it clear, because by fire it is revealed. And the fire will test what sort of work each has done for approval. If the work of someone will remain- that which he has built- he will get reward. If the work of someone will be burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but in this way, as through fire.
It seems the fire of the law burns up what is unhelpful in us, and what is left is a person who walks with Jesus and lives in the name of Jesus. Next Jesus directs the focus of the work of salt as not just a fire that humbles us and purifies us, but as an agent that works against the corruption and leavening of the whole world. Only when the sin within is burned away, can the evil in the world next be addressed.
Specifically, it is worth asking what evil in the world is the church to slow and stop- in this agent of change role as the salt of the world? The church is to curb any teaching that leads people in the world to pride, false idolatry and false worship.
If the fire of salt curbs all the sin in the believer that gets in the way of our following Jesus, then the role of the church in the world is to prevent people from the decay of their sin, to salt them with the protection of God’s Word and God’s truth, as they try and live as gods unto themselves.
We as the church are called to the good works of speaking strongly and boldly against whatever are the most popular teachings of the day. We see that there is no shortage of evil and false teaching in the world. Only Jesus has the power to fight back the evil of the world, and we are refined in our faith to abide in Jesus, and stand as Jesus against evil.
This is the good work prepared for us as the church. We praise the lord for all of his gifts to us, and we look to the Lord in faith as He leads us to do mighty works in His name. Amen.