Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Psalm 124
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
The PC(USA) Book of Confessions makes up half of the denomination’s constitution. Along with the Book of Order, these documents help us understand who we are and how we work together to be the church. To continue with my recent “political” trend, these documents help us work together in “the arena where conscience and control meet, where ethics and power collide, and where we must work out the tentative and uneasy compromises that make it possible for us to live together.” For us, to live together as the Body of Christ.
This is what the Book of Confessions says about itself in the introduction:
The creeds, confessions, and catechisms of The Book of Confessions are both historical and contemporary. Each emerged in a particular time and place in response to a particular situation.
This is important, the documents in “The Book of Confessions are both historical and contemporary.” They were written in a specific time and place in history and theology. For example, the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds were written in a time when defining who God is and how the three persons of God are described meant something. These were issues that raged from the first through the eighth century when these creeds were first contemplated and ultimately finalized. That makes them historical. They are contemporary because even though the urgency of these issues is long in our past, they still mean something to us.
Continuing from the introduction:
Thus, each confessional document should be respected in its historical particularity; none should be altered to conform to current theological, ethical, or linguistic norms. The confessions are not confined to the past, however; they do not simply express what the church was, what it used to believe, and what it once resolved to do. The confessions address the church’s current faith and life, declaring contemporary conviction and action.
Of course that’s not completely true. For example, there are some things in the 16th and 17th century confessions and catechisms that the introduction says “contain condemnations or derogatory characterizations of the Roman Catholic Church.” In fact, Chapters XXII, XXV, and XXIX of the Westminster Confession of Faith have been amended to remove anachronous and offensive language.
This is explained by another note saying “While these statements emerged from substantial doctrinal disputes, they reflect 16th and 17th century polemics. (Polemics, who says that anymore?) Their condemnations and characterizations of the Catholic Church are not the position of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and are not applicable to current relationships between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Catholic Church.”[1] These polemics have a little asterisk so the reader will know which is which.
I say these things because something the confessions do is help us understand our roots and our beliefs. They help us understand who we are in our faith. They also help us understand the exact opposite; they help us understand who we are not. The anti-Catholic polemics in the Westminster Standards are one example. Many other examples are found in the Second Helvetic Confession where we decry the heresies of the Manichaeans, Valentinians, Marcionites, Jews, Mohammedans, Monarchians, Novatians, Praxeas, Patripassians, Anthropomorphites; and the followers of Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Aëtius, Macedonius, Arius, and that takes us to the end of Chapter III of XXX. Let’s just say the guy who wrote this confession[2] had a grip on who we aren’t.
Esther’s story begins with who she was. She was the Queen of King Ahasuerus, ruler over one-hundred-twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia . Now, Esther was not the first Queen. When Vashti, Ahasuerus’ first queen, refused him she was removed from her royal place. Through twists and turns that make stories like this wonderful to tell and hear Esther becomes queen.
She had a secret too. She was a Jew.
Haman is mentioned in our story and he’s the villain. Esther’s uncle and guardian Mordecai failed to bow to the King’s gods and idols. This ticked Haman off. He hatches a plot to hang Mordecai and sell all of the Jews into death—not slavery, but death. Our reading is the thrilling climax of how Esther thwarts Haman’s plan. The ending includes Haman’s fate, hanging on a gallows 75 feet high, a gallows he himself had built for his mortal enemy Mordecai.
Mordecai was just a thorn in Haman’s side, a thorn he thought he had plucked. Haman thought he was big stuff because Queen Esther invited him to a banquet. He thought it was a case of us and them until he discovered that he was them. Ahasuerus made it known that as for him and his house, Esther was Queen and her family was safe.
Ahasuerus made it known that Queen Esther and her people were “us” and not “them”.
I love that story! It’s a story of adoption. It’s a story of love. It’s a story of risk and reward. We need to remember that not only was there no guarantee that Esther’s ploy would work, there was no guarantee Ahasuerus would even consider hearing her plea. It’s a story of having nothing to lose. It’s a story of big risk and big reward. There would be no bailout if Esther failed. It’s a story of knowing who you are and finding your role in the grand scheme of things.
Mark teaches this lesson too. Our reading from last week shares an embarrassing moment for the disciples. Walking through the Judean countryside they begin to argue with one another about who was greatest. Jesus asks what they were arguing about then he hears the answer every parent hears from the back seat after asking “What did you say?” “Nothing!”
So Jesus tells the disciples and all who will listen today that to be first you must be last and servant of all. He presents a child; one of the weakest members of the household to show whoever welcomes a child like this welcomes him and the Father who sent him. This is quite a change from what they knew. It’s different from what we know too.
So John, sounding like a “Son of Thunder” comes crying out to Jesus, like a little sister tattling on her older brother, “We saw a man driving out demons in your name and told him to stop because he was not one of us.”
What did he want? A cookie? Nanny-nanny-pooh-pooh. Well, this is not what Jesus would say is it?
Jesus tells the truth. This guy can’t do a miracle in the name of the Lord in one breath and curse him in the next. No, he’s not a part of our inner circle. He’s not one of you, but he is still one of us. And whoever is not against us is for us.
By the way, he doesn't say “anyone who is not for us is against us.” No, if they’re not for us they’re not a part of the community; but I can’t say they’re our enemies, not based on this. What he does say is those who are not against us are for us.
Usually we believe that whoever is not for us is against us. But Jesus does not say that. Jesus says “Whoever gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to me will not lose their reward.” Whoever blesses you because you are a part of the body of Christ will not lose their reward.
Jesus says people will have to make a decision, they can choose to be a blessing or not. It’s not enough to just say, “I believe” or even “I don’t believe.” We have to do something with our belief before it becomes meaningful. If we do nothing with our faith we might as well believe nothing. But when we respond to Christ and those who Christ sends, even if it’s just with a cup of water (which in ancient Palestine wasn’t always a small thing), we will not lose our reward.
Beware though; if we cause a little one who believes to sin then our reward will not be grace and peace. We might as well be tied to a millstone, one so big that it needs a beast of burden to roll it over the grain. We might as well be tied to that rock and sent to the bottom of the sea. If drowning in the sea is the good news, the bad news must be horrible.
Remember too, if the hand causes us to sin and it is better to amputate than to face the unquenchable fire where “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched,” imagine how awful our fate will be if we cause one of Christ’s little ones to sin. Most folks say amputation is an exaggeration Jesus uses to make a point, but compared to worms, and fire; it’s not so bad. Now that’s a scary point.
By the way, if you are unsure about what I just said, particularly the part about “if they are not for us they are against us” not being the same as “if they are not against us they are for us” I understand. All our lives we have been told we have to consciously make a decision; the kind that we say with our tongues. I think Jesus is telling us we are called to act and our actions speak louder than words.
If you want more let me remind you that there is no mention of God by name in the book of Esther. So let me ask you this, can this be a Godly story without the mention of God; only the mention of God’s people, those who keep his commandments? Not only do I say yes, but the people who set our canon of scripture think so, including the writers and editors of Westminster Confession of Faith, which lists the books of the Bible.
As for who these little ones are? Jesus is purposely evasive on this. Last week we read that Jesus brought a child before them. This child represented lack of strength, power, and status. This week we hear about “little ones.” Surely this child would be a “little one,” but there are others. Jesus did not use the same word for “child” and “little one.” The “little ones” are more than children. They are new believers. They are the weak. They are the elderly. They are the people we talked about last week without power.
It’s not going out on a limb to say that the Jews who had been sentenced to die in Esther’s story were “little ones,” the ones without political power (well, known political power) who were sentenced to become victims on Haman’s whim. But this does not happen. Haman dies after plunging to his death on his own gallows. This is a turn of fate worthy of Mark 9:42-48.
Last week I asked “where’s the joy?” It was a good question. Last weeks sermon had a lot of important stuff, but darn little joy. This week, well, there are warnings in our reading from Mark. There are some consequences to the truth found in Esther. But there is a more wonderful truth than warnings and woes.
Last week I said, “The disciples thought they and Jesus were ‘us’ and the rest of the world was ‘them.’” John makes this boo-boo again! (If you ever thought you have a lot to learn, just imagine what John felt like right then.) It’s not us and them. We are us. All of us are us. Those who follow and serve Christ are “us.” Those who serve the people who serve Christ are “us.” Whoever is not against us is for us! Whoever gives you a cup of water in Christ’s name will not lose their reward!
Jesus came to save us all. He did not come for us to leave them. He came for all of us. This is why he came, not for some but for all. Now it’s up to us to respond to God’s invitation in Christ. Jesus didn’t come to leave behind any of the creation he came to redeem; and come he did.
God came into this world, fully human and fully divine—more divine than we can imagine and because of sin more human than we will ever be—and he came to invite us to join him in love and peace. Jesus calls us to join in full relationship with him. Only through relationship will our lives be what he wants and expects from his disciples.
I mentioned our Constitution in the beginning of today’s sermon, what I failed to say is something that should go without saying, yet must be said. There is one document that rises above our Constitution, and that is Holy Scripture; the full testimony of the Old and New Testaments which is the Word of our faith. The person of Jesus Christ is the fullest measure of that faith ever known on this earth, God’s special revelation to us. He joined us and he wants us to join him. Now there’s the joy.
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