If Your Tongue Causes You to Stumble...

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21) - September 28, 2003

by The Rev. Bryan England, Deacon

- Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29
- Psalm 19 or 19:7-14
- James 4:7-5:6
- Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

(From The Lectionary Page)

I was drawn to this morning’s Gospel reading like a moth to a flame.  “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 go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”  In retrospect, I had to wonder about the mixed metaphor caused by the New Revised Standard translation; how one’s hand can cause one to stumble?  It sounds much less confusing in the King James Version, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off.”

Is Jesus to be taken literally here?  If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off?  If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off?  If your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out?  Every once in a while, we see newspaper accounts of some psychotic who takes this passage of scripture literally and begins to mutilate himself in an attempt to exorcise whatever demon is causing him to commit what ever sin he fancies himself guilty of.

But Jesus is using a Middle Eastern teaching tool in this passage – hyperbole, whereby the teacher overstates, exaggerates the example to make the lesson memorable.  Despite what the Bible literally says, Jesus does not advocate lopping off parts of our anatomies to avoid infractions of God’s law.  Jesus would prefer submission rather than mutilation.  “Submit yourselves therefore to God,” James says in the opening verse of our Epistle lesson.

But Jesus’ hyperbolic analogy is true.  It is better to enter life maimed than to have two hands and die.  This past spring we were all simultaneously inspired and appalled at the story of Aron Ralston, a young rock climber whose arm became trapped under a 1,000-pound boulder.  Over the next several days, he tried everything he could think of to free himself.  He tried to sling his rope over the boulder and lift it.  He tried chipping away at the rock with his pocketknife.  Finally, after he ran out of food and water, he realized the only way he could save his life was to amputate his arm with that same pocketknife.  I cannot conceive of the courage and determination that took.  I’m too squeamish to get a tattoo!  But Ralston amputated his forearm, then rappelled down the 60-foot cliff and hiked six miles to help.  Afterwards he said, “I’m not sure how I handled it.  I felt pain.  I coped with it.  I moved on.”

Jesus’ advise is true; if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.  But I would add even another clause to Jesus’ example.  I would add, “If your tongue causes you to stumble, cut it out.”

In our Old Testament lesson, everyone’s tongue is causing him or her to stumble.  Everyone is complaining, even whining about something.  The Children of Israel had run out of food.  They complained for days that Moses had led them into the desert to starve them to death.  In response, God provided manna for them, which would fall with the dew in the night.  The people would gather the manna every morning and make cakes of it, but apparently they were not into a vegan lifestyle.  “If only we had meat to eat,” they cried.

Moses, in turn, went and complained to God, “Why have you treated your servant so badly.”  Why have you saddled me with these people?  “I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.”

God told Moses to select 70 elders to assist Moses in administering the people.  When they had gathered at the tent of meeting, God took some of the spirit that rested on Moses and put it on the seventy elders, and they began to prophesy.

Curiously, two of the 70 elders had remained in the camp.  We aren’t told if they had just not gotten the word, or they didn’t know what time it was, or if they just chose not to go.  Despite their not being at the tent of meeting with the others, they, also, were filled with the spirit, and began to prophesy in the camp.  This was too much for Joshua, and he ran to Moses and cried, “My lord Moses, stop them!”  They’re not supposed to be doing that!

Moses responded, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”

Jesus was faced with a similar situation in today’s Gospel lesson.  John came to him with the report that someone outside the band of disciples was using Jesus’ name to cast out demons.  Jesus instructs the disciples to not stop him, saying that no one who does a deed of power I his name will soon be able to speak evil of him.  Then he concludes, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”  I can imagine Jesus saying, “We will have enough enemies.  There’s no need looking for more.”

I grew up in a war where the only way to identify the enemy was if they were actively shooting at you.  And there were enough of those that we didn’t have to go looking for others.  For all practical purposes whoever was not against us was for us.

Likewise the Church today has enough enemies.  We don’t need to seek out other enemies, especially in our midst.

I was initially attracted to the Episcopal Church a generation ago by the perceived grace with which a wide spectrum of people of different religious backgrounds, of different beliefs and practices, coexisted in the same Church and worshiped at the same altar.  Now I perceive that body is being broken, not by an external enemy, but by our own refusal to coexist in peace.

The Church has always been conflicted over a number of issues, but the focal point for all of these disagreements has become the election and ratification of Gene Robinson as the next Bishop of New Hampshire.  Everyone has an opinion, and these opinions threaten to sunder relations within the Anglican Communion, within the Episcopal Church, within dioceses, within parishes.  They even threaten relationships within families and circles of friends.

During three years as a member of my former diocese’s commission on ministry, I recommended the ordination of several gay men and lesbian women who were engaged in long term relationships.  On the other hand, our best friends in the Diocese of Iowa are on the verge of leaving the Church because of their fundamental and heart-felt objection to the Robinson election.  While my wife, Linda, has had numerous conversations with them, urging them to be moderate in their reactions to what has already happened, I have tried to remain silent.  I realize that I can’t discuss the issue with them dispassionately, and anything I would say would just make matters worse.  In all honesty, I have been less than successful in keeping my mouth shut.  If your tongue causes you to stumble, cut it out, or at least keep it silent until you can use it constructively rather than destructively.

In the chapter preceding today’s epistle lesson, James recognizes the power of our tongues.  “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits,” he writes, “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire.”

James continues, “For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”

Everyone I have talked with who was present at General Convention has remarked on the spirit with which the business of convention was done – the civility with which the debates were carried out, the prayerful introspection each delegate underwent, the restraint which was shown when one side prevailed over the other.  I suggest to you, there was the Spirit of God – not necessarily in the decision that was made, although I support it, but in how it was made.  With mutual respect and forbearance, as members of One Body, redeemed by the blood of One Christ.

Now is not the time for hyperbole in our communications with each other.  Too many people are posturing, seeking sound bytes in the press.  Now is the time for civility, collegiality, and discussion on both sides of the issue, to reach, if not agreement, then at least mutual respect and understanding.  Fr. James and Fr. Ben are leading sessions to accomplish just that.  I urge you to join in this process, and to come into it with open hearts and minds.  Or go to them in private.  You will find they are prepared to listen, to speak, and to pray with you.

After Aron Ralston recovered from his ordeal in the wilderness, he said, “I’m not sure how I handled it.  I felt pain.  I coped with it.  I moved on.”  With reliance on God’s Grace, and a little forbearance on our part, God’s Church will do the same.

Amen.