Hell As Wasting One's Life

18  Pentecost Cycle B Proper 21 September 30, 2012

Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29  Ps 19

James 4:7-12        Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

 Lectionary Link

  In Mark’s Gospel, the writer goes to great pain to show how immature and unenlightened the 12 disciples were when they walked with Jesus.  In a sense these unenlightened disciples are straw men for the writer to show what people were like before and after the post-resurrection experience and the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit.  The early church knew what the 12 disciples minus Judas had become; but they weren’t always heroes and martyrs.  They were sometimes clueless when they walked with Jesus. In a real sense, the disciples only became truly aware and informed after Jesus was gone.  So the intent of the Gospel is show how even the believing disciples had to go through repentance and growth in life.  The Gospels highlight that repentance and growth are the natural process of spiritual life.

  In the Gospel of Mark, we have been reviewing some of the pre-resurrection  behavior of the 12 disciples:  Peter confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, but he was ignorant of what that meant.  The disciples argued about who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  The disciples offended Jesus when they tried to keep children away from him.  And what were our keystone cops up to in the Gospel for today?

 They were seized with rivalry and jealousy.  Someone else was casting out demons and doing good works and it wasn’t officially sanctioned by them. Like tattling little children the disciples went to Jesus and said: They’re casting out demons, we told them to stop, and they didn’t obey.  They didn’t follow us. And what did Jesus say?  “Whoever is not against us is for us.”  Guys, you’re wasting your time picking the wrong battles.

  The pages of Church history are full of this kind of rivalry.  We can get very jealous by the good deeds that are done by people of other religious groups or denominations.  Why was this good deed not cleared by me in advance?  Imagine other people doing something good and not getting my sanction first!  Somehow the good deed can’t really be good unless it is sanctioned by someone on our side.  This only goes to show you that adults can behave in very childish ways.  It also shows how truth and defining good can end up being about more administration and party loyalty than about the actual benefit to people.

  I think what Jesus was trying to say to his disciples is that rivalry is just wasted energy.  Rivalry is also counter-productive; it can offend and turn people off to the Gospel.  If we preach the Gospel without Gospel behavior then our behavior will turn people off to our message.  Jesus had very harsh words for those who were stumbling-blocks; those who did not perform the Gospel and thereby kept others from knowing the benefit of the Gospel for their lives.

  And then we have the exaggerated language of Jesus:  If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.  If your foot causes you stumble, cut it off.  If your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out.  This sounds very severe and barbaric but such shocking language is often found from the lips of Jesus.  It reminds me of something my father used to say to me very often: “Cut it out Phil.”  And I never took that in a literal way.  “Cut it out, simply means, stop it!  I wonder if the origin of this phrase isn’t from the Gospel?

  The Gospel lesson is also a warning about wasting our lives.   What is rivalry and jealousy?  It is essentially a waste of the energy of our lives that could be used better elsewhere.

  The literally meaning of the word hell is waste!  Gehenna is one of the New Testament Greek word for hell, along with Hades and Tartarus.   Actually, it is a Hebrew word for a location that is transliterated in Greek.  Gehenna refers to the garbage dump near Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom.  It was where the animal carcasses were disposed of and burned.  It was a despised place because of all of the purity code legislation against touching dead things and human waste.  So the most literal, and in my mind, the most shocking meaning of hell is “waste.”

  The sad thing in life is to be given the energy of life and to use what we’ve been given in ways that harm others and ourselves.  That is horror of waste.  In the strongest terms possible, Jesus was saying, “Don’t waste our lives.  Don’t waste our energy on petty rivalry.  Eyes, hands, feet: Seeing, working and living are symbolic of the human vocation.  If our work does not honor God and serve people and fulfill our lives; then we need to stop it.  If the way we see life (our doing nothing about our state of ignorance), does not honor God and help us make wise decision for ourselves and others; then we are acting as though we are blind.  If our life’s path, the way in which we walk, does not honor God and take us to excellence; not walking at all would at least not take us in a bad direction.  It is better not to walk at all, than to cause harm to others.  While all of this sounds very harsh, it really shows the belief that Jesus has in the human capacity to take corrective action.  One of the aims of the Gospel is to promote repentance.  Jesus believed in the power of the individual to repent.  I think that Jesus was more optimistic about the human ability to repent than either St. Paul or Martin Luther.  The belief in repentance is an optimism about what a person can do when energized by God’s Spirit.

  The words of Jesus indicate that corrective behavior is not always easy.  Cut it off.  Tear it out.  These are radical term, because sometimes behavior can only be changed by beginning a total fast from a previous behavior.  In AA, alcoholics know that sobriety is achieved only by never taking another drink.  It requires a total fast from alcohol to restore order to their lives.  Addictive behaviors sometimes require a total fast to prevent something from becoming the controlling idol of life.

  The message of the Gospel today is a challenge about waste.  Are we wasting our lives?  With petty rivalry?  With the misuse of any human capacity or ability?

  Jesus calls us to repentance, and if that means a radical fast, to change addicting and destructive behavior, then we are commanded by Christ to do it.

  Jesus only commanded what he believed was possible.  And he believed that we can transform wasted lives into fruitful and productive lives that both please God and serve the people in our lives.

  Hell-fire and brimstone preachers; don’t be afraid of their hot air.  But be very provoked by the literal meaning of hell as expounded by Jesus of Nazareth.  Hell is waste.  Jesus confronts us about wasting our lives.  And he provoked us to do something about it, because he believes that we can. By turning to him, we can find the Spirit as the higher power within us to help us reclaim every area of our lives that have been affected by wasteful behavior.

  Let the shocking language of Jesus be for us a message of hope for us that we can reclaim our lives from all effects of wasteful behavior.  Salt has several purposes in life but if those purposes are never discovered then salt cannot express its purpose.  Each person has a God-purpose in life and each of us need to find our God-purpose.  If we find our God purpose in life we will be like salt.  We will help to preserve life and we will help to make life much tastier. May the words of Jesus help each of us to find our God-purpose in life.  Amen.