Numbers 11:25-29

The fourth book of the bible is called the book of Numbers because in describing the wanderings of the people in the Sinai Desert, it gives two census reports.) Moses had complained to God about the difficulties in governing so many people. In response, God directed Moses to gather 70 elders around the meeting tent to receive a share in the administrative burdens. Today's passage picks it up from there.

James 5:1-6

Today we conclude our series of five readings from the letter of James. A major concern in this letter is social justice. Today, the author delivers a blistering attack, reminiscent of some of the Old Testament prophets.

Mark 9, 38-43

Bishop Untener's Homily 

In our tradition, we don't pick the readings for Sundays. Or for that matter, weekdays. They are assigned. There is something good about that. It forces us to be a full gospel Church. Otherwise, we who preach or plan liturgies would simply pick our favorite passages, and a lot of the Gospel would be left out. For example, today's Gospel. This passage would be an unlikely choice for any liturgy.

But passages like this force us to "go where we might not otherwise have gone." They force us to think new thoughts rather than re-hash old ones. They force us to recognize that the truths we hold are far greater than our own personal grasp of them.

As an aside ...I sometimes wonder how different funeral homilies would be if we simply took the readings of the day and let them speak to us, rather than choosing readings that tend to say what we want to hear. Or, how different wedding homilies would be if we simply took the readings of the day. I'm not necessarily suggesting that we do that, but it does make one think and, on the whole, maybe it would be a good idea. At ordinations we take the readings of the day. And today we're doing the same for the commissioning of lay ministers. There is something good about this.

In this particular passage from Mark, there is a great contrast. On the one hand we see Jesus show great tolerance, even tenderness. He says that the disciples should not try to stop the person who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, even if he isn't a follower of Jesus. And then he says that if someone gives just a cup of water to one of the disciples, they will receive a reward.

Then in the next sentence Mark has him talking about people being thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck for giving scandal. He goes on to say that if our hand or foot causes us to sin, we should cut it off ... or if it is our eye that causes sin, pluck it out.

On the one hand tolerance, tenderness... and on the other hand, severity. Actually we have this "on the one hand, and on the other hand" in the Gospels as a whole. In some places Jesus says things such as...

• "Come to me, you who are weary and find life burdensome… for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
• To the criminal on the cross, after just a few words, he promises paradise that very day.
• He tells parables like the prodigal son, the lost sheep... parables of tender mercy.

Then in other places we have Jesus saying things such as...

• If you love your father or mother more than me you aren't worthy of me. 
• He tells the rich young man he's got to leave everything to follow Him. 
• He tells us we've got to suffer and pick up our cross, and walk in his footsteps.

What do we learn from this? We learn that we are daughters and sons of God, made in the image of God, and the Lord has great expectations of us. That is a compliment. The Lord thinks more of us than we do. He knows what we can do with God's grace, and he calls us to great things.

But the Lord knows that we are human, and the Lord has great mercy when we fail.

In other words, the Lord opens his arms full and wide in expectations ...and opens his arms just as full and wide in mercy.

We in ministry have to do both. One without the other will not do - arms wide in expectations, but narrow in mercy... or arms narrow in expectations, but wide in mercy. It's easier to do one or the other, but we have to do both. Each of us might have our own inclination to lean one way or the other, depending on our personality type… where we are on the Enneagram or the Myers-Briggs.

What we in ministry always have to remember is that ministry is not simply making use of our own inclinations. Ministry is ultimately a matter of letting the Lord work through us. It is not my inclination that prevails. It is always a sense of the graced presence of the Lord in me. I act on the Lord's behalf, not my own. Some in ministry will have to swallow hard and be more demanding than they might otherwise be. Others will have to swallow hard and be more merciful. We have to do both, and we see both in the Gospel - arms wide in expectations, and arms just as wide in mercy.

We don't pick and choose this or that part of the Gospel. We are a full Gospel Church. And we are full Gospel ministers.

May the Lord who has begun this good work in you, sustain you along the way, and bring you to its fulfillment.

Originally given on October1, 2000 for Commissioning of Lay Ministers