Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 21B, September 27, 2015; The Rev Pamela L. Werntz

O God of our redemption, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

This morning we have just heard a part of the great story of Queen Esther, beautiful, brave, patient and smart, who used her position and her gifts, and risked her own life on behalf of her people. Esther’s name appears more times than any other woman in the Bible, and she speaks more than any named women except for Judith. She is the ideal against which Herodius, in the Christian testament of the Bible, was compared and was found to have utterly missed the mark, when a king, intoxicated by wine and the beauty of a woman, offered to do anything she wanted. Queen Herodius coached her daughter to ask for murder. Queen Esther asked that all of her people be saved from scheduled massacre. The Feast of Purim, which celebrates Queen Esther’s courage, compassion and creativity, is observed by Jews each year at the end of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) with celebrations that include presents for people who are poor, and gifts of food for all.

Some years ago, noticing the calendar concurrence of Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday) for Christians and Purim for Jews, the Emmanuel Center board began to plan a party for Emmanuel Church and Central Reform Temple. Someone suggested that we call it Fat Esther, but our sensitive and sensible Rabbi nixed the name. (womp womp) And he was right, of course. Poking fun at a hero like Esther (whether she was fat or thin or somewhere in between) tears at her integrity, and diminishes our esteem for the quality of her leadership and, what Joan Chittester calls, her “friendship” which, when emulated rather than mocked, can change a war-torn world and bring peace. [1]

In our last reading from James for more than a year, we hear the conclusion of what is probably the earliest surviving text of the Second Testament, in which the author exhorts the community about the mighty power of prayer for healing. Regrettably, this teaching has so often gotten misused as a measuring stick for the faith of any who are suffering. The Greek words that are employed by James to write about saving, raising, and healing are very broad, wide-ranging words, rather than other available words that are more precisely or narrowly defined. Saving means restoring hope, rescuing, protecting, sheltering. Raising means encouraging and supporting. Healing means restoring well-being from weakness: physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, economic weakness, disrepute, dishonor, and demoralization. James knows that not all suffering is the result of sin. He writes, also if, even if sin results in suffering, confession is encouraged and forgiveness is promised for any sins that have caused suffering [2] James is echoing the promise of Yom Kippur, the Day of At-one-ness with the Divine, that the gates of heaven are wide open. Prayer is powerful, and the Love of God wins out every time.

And finally, from the Gospel of Mark, we hear Jesus reminding his followers about salt. Everyone – everyone will be salted with fire. (Other ancient manuscript copies of Mark say that everyone will be salted with salt.) Salt is good and this fire is good. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can it season? Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace in one another. That’s one of my favorite lines in the Gospel of Mark. Have salt in yourselves, Jesus said. I can think of at least eight reasons that salt would be a good thing to have in ourselves. (Eight is a good biblical number that means more than enough! Dayenu!) I don’t know if Jesus was thinking of one or all of these. But listen to what I could come up with.

• Salt was used as currency – as a form of money, an element of transactional value.
• Salt has medicinal qualities – it’s used in healing.
• Salt has preservative qualities. Without refrigeration, salt is a good way to preserve food.
• Salt has seasoning qualities – it enhances flavor.
• Salt has cleansing or purifying qualities.
• Salt was considered to be a portent against evil forces. People still throw salt over their left shoulder to keep the devil at bay.
• Salt was a sign of permanence – eating salt with someone in Biblical times meant you were bound to them in loyalty – in a covenant of friendship.
• Salt thrown into a kiln when pots are being fired will change and beautify the surfaces of the vessels in ways that are unpredictable and can’t be completely controlled. Oooh so hard for people like me to submit to unpredictable and uncontrolled beauty!

Whether Jesus was thinking of just one or several or all of these reasons, what he was saying was have value in yourselves and everyone else. Keep peace with one another.

In Mark’s story, you might recall, the disciples have just been arguing amongst themselves about who is greater. Jesus has said, whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all. Now a random person has been casting out demons in Jesus’ name and the disciples come to Jesus to put a stop to it. Someone who isn’t even one of Jesus’ followers, isn’t one of the “in” group, is casting out demons in his name – and they think, that’s gotta stop. John tells Jesus, “You can’t let just anybody use your good name as their authority. You’ve got to have some standards Jesus!”

And Jesus’ response? He says, don’t stop him – whoever is not against us is for us. Once again, it’s opposite day with Jesus. The saying usually goes, whoever is not for us is against us. But with Jesus, it’s whoever is not against us is for us! With Jesus, it’s not about tests of identification or of membership. The disciples may still not get it, but Jesus has actually learned something from his encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman. He has learned that God’s healing grace is bigger and deeper and wider than you thought – don’t try to place restrictions on it, or on people who are delivering it.

And then right away – without missing a beat, Jesus reminds his disciples that they need others – they depend on those with whom they minister for the basic necessities of life. Boy, that’s a hard one isn’t it? “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you carry the name of the Anointed, I swear to you, such a person certainly won’t go unrewarded!” Whoever assists you will be honored in God’s name. Here’s a lesson for any of you who’d prefer to not be on the receiving end of help from people who you are trying to help! Jesus is teaching here about mutual ministry.

Then Jesus admonishes them by saying, “Don’t you put stumbling blocks in the way of beginner seekers.” (That’s what “little ones” means in the Gospels. It could be a reference to the one casting out demons or a reference to the ones offering water – that’s not clear.) “Don’t scandalize people who are doing good deeds even if they are not following Jesus the way you are or you think they should. Don’t try to stop someone who is offering to care for you when you think you don’t need their help.” One of the things that people who like to give often forget is that giving and receiving are as connected as breathing in and breathing out. It’s quite deadly to do one without the other for very long.

This reading from Mark suggests just how highly we should regard a relationship with the Holy One. Jesus uses pretty strong language to say that if any part of us gets in the way of a relationship with the Divine, get rid of it – it’s not worth it. It’s clear to me that the examples Jesus gives about getting rid of a body part that causes someone to trip someone else up are not to be taken literally. Whatever gets in the way of a relationship with God, let it go. It would be better to live into the realm of God without some part of ourselves, than to live in the burning trash heap outside of the city walls, a garbage dump place called Gehenna, here translated as hell. By the way, you might think, based on the pop culture notions of Christianity, that hell is a pretty big issue for Jesus or a pretty big issue in the New Testament. It’s not. There’s really not that much talk about the place where rubbish was gathered and burned as a metaphor for separation from God. Most of the talk of hell comes after the New Testament was written, in the imaginations of later Christians. Remember that the Apostle Paul, argues eloquently that nothing whatsoever can separate us from the love of God.

Everyone will be salted with fire. Everyone will be salted with salt. Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace with one another. Notice that Jesus is saying to the group – have value in yourselves – plural. You are all valuable, he is reminding them – those of you in the “in” group, those outside the group, all. Remember that. Hold on to it. Have value in yourselves, have healing and preservative qualities, have the spice of life in yourselves, have cleansing and protective qualities — have distinctive character, Jesus is saying, and keep peace with one another. Keeping peace means more than just keeping one’s mouth shut. Keeping peace – shalom – is much deeper, much more profound than keeping quiet. To be clear, it’s not keeping peace at the expense of valuing oneself or one’s community. And it’s not valuing oneself or one’s community so much that peace cannot be kept. It’s “both/and” as they say. It’s carrying the tension of knowing that each one is so beautiful and so valuable – this community is so beautiful and so valuable – that conflicts that arise must be resolved. Being at peace is not about avoiding conflicts, it’s about resolving conflicts that inevitably arise in community. So I think what Jesus is saying, translated into our vernacular, is “everyone is beautiful in unpredictable ways, so hold the salt and pass the peace.”

Artist and writer Jan Richardson has written a short poem called “Blessing of Salt and Fire.” It goes like this:

 

And so, in this season,
may we give ourselves
to the fire
that shows us
what is elemental
and sacramental,
that reveals what remains
after all that does not have
substance or savor
falls away.

May we turn
our eyes
our ears
our hands
to the beauty
for which we were formed
and bear with grace
the patterns
that blossom upon us
who live salted
and singed. [3]

← Back to sermons page