Mark 9:38-50
The Message & NASB Translations
John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.”
Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath slam me. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
“On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.
“If your hand or your foot gets in the way of your journey with God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owner of two hands and two feet stuck in the fires of Gehenna (Jerusalem’s constantly burning garbage dump.). And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of Gehenna.
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
REFLECTIONS:
Thoughts from Cory:
What a weird and wild passage.
Jesus’ closest friends are deciding who gets to be associated with Jesus (note: We still do that today) and then Jesus is talking about cutting off hands, plucking out eyes, and…salt.
Ok, Jesus.
There is a poem by Anne Carson, ‘Could I’, that starts with this line:
If you are not the free person you want to be, you must find a place to tell the truth about that. To tell how things go for you.
Sometimes, we are not free human beings because of the things we do to ourselves. Other times, we are not free because of what others do to us.
Who gets to be freed? Who is worthy of freedom?
What Jesus wants for us, what he is inviting us into, is a path of freedom. ‘Path’ and ‘freedom’ can seem contradictory for many of us. We often think of freedom as being able to do whatever we want. We are freed from boundaries and lines and constraints.
But the freedom that Jesus seems to be talking about is a less about being freed from something and more about being freed for something. Freedom, for Jesus, is being enabled and empowered to love. And he shows us how to live into that free life. We give cups of water to the thirsty. We tell the truth about our own lack of freedom. We forgive. We ask for forgiveness. We work for peace and justice.
For Jesus, if there is something that is preventing us from being free to love, it is better to do life without that thing.
Are you the free person you want to be?
Are there things in your life that are hindering you, or preventing you from being free?
Genesis, by Raye.
Raye is a British singer-songwriter who has written songs for Beyonce, Rihanna, and John Legend. She has struggled with body dysmorphia, addiction, an eating disorder, and anxiety. She credits her current freedom from many of those things to her faith. Genesis is a description of that journey into freedom.
The song contains some honest and explicit language.
PRACTICE:
Outward Mindset Application
Learn the objectives of three people that you affect at work. How can you do your work in a way that frees others to achieve their objectives?
Non-Violent Communication Question of the Week
Give people the space to speak freely to you.
Pathways toward Centeredness
Naturalist (Loving God Outdoors):
Pursue from the compulsive and demanding nature of always having to be “productive” and always obsessing over your “to-do list.”
Questions for Reflection
Are you the free person you want to be?
“Liturgy” refers to the habits and practices humans use to form community around shared values and meaning. At Church at the Park, we desire to be a community of practice, becoming people who see the world through the eyes of the marginalized, making meaning through the lens of pain and suffering, and committing ourselves to non-violence in a wounded world. This weekly email is intended to provide pathways of practice for becoming the type of people who embody these values.
Many of our reflections on each week's text come from other sources. If you're interested in reading more of what inspires us, here our our two favorite reflections.
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