The Readings
The First Reading
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
The king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me-- that is my petition-- and the lives of my people-- that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
The Gospel
Mark 9:38-50
John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
The Sermon
Lets
look first at the Book of Esther. It is a story of a woman who hid
her Jewish identity and became queen and by doing so saved her people
from extinction. That is the short version. The story itself is full
of palace intrigue and barbarism and all of the stuff of stories you
might expect of people living twenty five hundred years ago. The
underlying message is that Esther bravely stayed true to her people.
She was loyal to her heritage, her Jewishness.
In the
reading from Mark we hear of loyalty as well. The apostles are upset
that there is an interloper. Someone is casting out demons in Jesus
name. The problem for them is that this man in not a part of the
inner circle. He is not one of them.
Jesus
quickly let them know that they had missed the point. Jesus was
looking at the bigger picture. At this time in his ministry he saw
his message growing beyond the inner circle. Jesus was painting with
a wide brush. He told them, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a
deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of
me. Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Jesus
was not excluding people, he wanted to reach everyone. His message of
inclusiveness from two thousand years ago is just as important for us
today.
As I
move about in the community I frequently meet people who ask me what
religion I am. I know what they really want to know is what
denomination I am a part of but I answer their question by saying
that I am Christian. I usually follow my response up with the
question, “ Do you mean what denomination?” They always say yes
and then I tell them I am an Episcopalian.
Christians
are followers of Jesus and his message. They could be Lutherans,
Roman Catholic, Baptists, Methodists or non-denominational. You and I
are one of them. We may have different ways of expressing our faith
and that is OK. Jesus gave his disciples an important lesson that
those who follow him and his message of love are a part of him and he
is a part of them. Jesus was casting a very wide net and I am happy
to be caught in that net.
Blessings.
Fr.
Fred
No comments:
Post a Comment