St. Mark 9:38-50
Dearly beloved,
Have you done the biblical thing yet? Jesus says if your eye
causes you to sin, then pluck it out. If your hand causes you to sin, then
cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, then cut it off. A quick scan
of the pews would indicate to me, that Jesus is not saying to literally do
these things. Jesus is speaking symbolically. Thankfully, for your sakes,
you have understood this.
Let us add to this symbolic word play a bit. Jesus is
speaking to the twelve disciples. Therefore, Jesus is teaching them about
the church. Jesus is also talking about morality. The church, which
springs forth from Christ’s death and resurrection, becomes the body of
Christ. Jesus is in fact instructing the disciples into what the new life
in Christ will be like after Jesus raises Himself up from the dead.
Fast forwarding a bit, we come to St. Paul in Romans 12:4-5.
St. Paul speaks regarding the church: “For as in one body we have many
members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though
many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” To
the Corinthians, St. Paul adds to this theological thought: He speaks of the
church as the body of Christ with many members. St. Paul says that some are
hands, some ears, some eyes, some noses, etc. They all function for the
good of the whole.
This is the church. To translate St. Paul’s thought, we
have all been placed into Christ’s body. We are meant to serve in whatever
capacity the Lord has placed us. The glory goes not to the individual. If
a person serves in the church, it is best done quietly and unassumingly
because it is meant to be good for the church as a whole. So, when Jesus is
talking to the disciples about cutting off the eye if it sins, He is
preparing these disciples to lead and govern the church as apostles.
Jesus is, in a cryptic way, teaching them about the office
of the keys. If one member sins, it threatens to throw the entire body out
of balance. Jesus is saying that if the individual member, in this case the
eye, the hand or the foot, sins and becomes a portal for sin to enter the
entire body, then it is better for that member to be removed. It is better,
Jesus says, to enter into life with one eye, than to enter into hell with
two eyes where the fire is never quenched and the worm does not die. This
is what we call good “ecclesiology.”
This is a tough gospel because when we reflect on it, we are
also thinking about ourselves as those individual members of the body, the
church. The thought about the church can be applied to our own lives! Take
King David as an example. King David walks out onto his porch and sees a
beautiful woman bathing. The eye sinneth. King David should have known. He
should have repented and asked God to remove that wicked use of his eyes. This
would be the spiritual way of plucking out the eye—being aware of the evil
use of the eye and asking God to help him use it only for holy purposes.
But the eye was the portal into the body, leading to even
deeper sins for David. For, David called the woman over, got her pregnant,
sent her home, found out she was with child, tried to cover it up by having
her husband sleep with her, and when that failed, ended by having her
husband, Uriah, killed on the battlefield by the hand of another. By not
guarding the use of the eye, King David’s entire being was plagued and
consumed by sin. Beware, my friends, of letting sin into your life. It can
take over your entire being and life.
The revelation of Jesus Christ through the prophets,
apostles, and Jesus Himself, are to convey to you the way of salvation. It
is because your members are liable to be used for unholy purposes that Jesus
went to the cross. Only Jesus Christ used His body and life entirely for
holy purposes, yet He exchanged your sin for His righteousness on the cross.
But there is more. Chapter nine of St. Mark ends,
interestingly enough, by His reminding us of saltiness. Jesus says to the
disciples, “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the
salt has lost it saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves,
and be at peace with one another.” Jesus is talking about the church, the
body of Christ. It sounds, at a cursory reading, as if it is law—telling
you how to do things. However, in Jesus fashion, it is much deeper than
that.
It was a part of Levitical law in the Old Testament that all
grain offerings had to have salt. God says “You shall not let the salt of
the covenant with your God be lacking from your grain offerings; with all
your offerings you shall offer salt”(Leviticus 2:13). This wasn’t because
salt was a preservative. It was regarded in the Old Testament as a
“covenant of salt.” The covenant of salt was shared between God and His
people for a theological reason. The “covenant of salt” that was added to
the grain offering and given to God expressed the permanence of the Lord’s
covenant with its giver, and it also symbolized the perpetuation of God’s
delight in that person.
In addition, the use of a family’s salt at a meal meant more
than it does for us today. When two groups came together to eat, if salt
was used, it was the sign of kinship and love, a tight bond between two
people or groups of people. This can be seen in the Old Testament, as well,
where Ezra 4:14 points out that the allies of the Persian king speak about
themselves as people who had tasted the salt of the palace. It was an honor
and brought together a relationship of peace.
All of this is at play when Jesus speaks of the church as
being salty. St. Mark 9 ends by telling the disciples, the twelve, those
who will lead and govern the church, to “have salt in yourselves, and be at
peace with one another.” When Jesus says this, He is referring to the
covenant of salt. Jesus brings forth a new covenant, a new testament. This
is the Lord’s Supper. Your saltiness, your kinship is shared by Jesus and
given to you in the sacrament. In addition, your kinship is shared with all
who receive the sacrament.
When we partake of the Lord’s body and blood, Jesus is
sharing His love with us and we have this bond between us and fellow
Christians who also partake from the altar, as well. Jesus is trying to
teach us that we really are one in this gospel. We are one with Jesus and
we are one with one another. A covenant, or testament, brings forth
something very precious. For you it brings forth redemption and holiness. For
you, Christ’s new covenant, or, testament borne on the cross brings the new
life of salvation and you have been brought into it.
You are participants. You are God’s beloved children
because of what Jesus has done. You are given the saltiness of distinction,
kinship and love from God. The church rejoices in it and it is around this
altar, beholding Christ, that the church finds her salvation and the
saltiness of a holy existence. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
