Pentecost 17 Mark 9

One of the benefits of our Lutheran School is the many lessons that are learned through out the day and through out the week. Our students are, to be sure, treated with a top notch education. They are taught (and taught well) their lessons of the general academic subjects. Our students can read and write add and subtract with the best of them.
In addition to that, however, our St Paul students are taught valuable lessons from the scriptures. They are taught to honor God through their life and conduct, to honor each other as fellow members of the body of Christ and they are taught that their salvation is accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These lessons are valuable beyond compare. They are lessons learned as they are taught and passed along by the teachers.
Teachers teach. It is what they do and Jesus, the Rabbi, the teacher, is no different. Jesus' ministry on earth was comprised of healing and acts of divine power, but the major component of his ministry was his teaching. Jesus taught his disciples, he taught the crowds, and then, when he gave his final commission to his disciples to go out and “make disciples”, this commission included the instruction that they teach, so that the teaching that He began would continue to go on in His name by those who carried His name. Teaching was an essential part of the work and ministry of Jesus.
And so here in our text we see that Jesus is teaching. He is doing what teachers do. In the preceding verses, Mark tells us that Jesus sat down to teach – he took the posture that teachers of his day assumed while they were teaching. The teaching began in our lesson from last week; it continues this week. We would-be disciples, that is to say, we who would be students of the great teacher, would do well to hear these lessons and apply them.
Jesus teaches us to regard the unity that we have in His name.
In our text, The disciples reported to Jesus that they had attempted to silence one who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Their reason? This one did not have the proper credentials as one of the 12 disciples.
The man in question was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. He was a believer in Christ. He had heard the lessons of the teacher and he had applied those lessons – he was working to further the kingdom of God among the strongholds of the devil through the teaching and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This was good. This is exactly what God would have each Christian to do. Satan is set back on his heals when the name of Jesus is preached and proclaimed in faith. Satan deals in lies. He clouds and confuses the truth and so when the truth is taught he cannot tolerate such things and he runs away. This man was a believer. He was one who heard the true teaching of Jesus and he applied it where it needed to be applied.
The error of the disciples was that they assumed that the truth was their truth. That they owned it, that they had rights and claims upon it to authorize who could speak it and who could not. They had no such ownership. Jesus gives his church to be stewards of His truth. We may make use of it and give it out where it needs to be given. Like charities that provide food to the hungry – the church gives the Gospel and the forgiveness of Jesus where there is need, we preach the Gospel where sinners are hungry to hear it. But it is not our Gospel. We do not own it, we do not possess it. When Christians act as though the Gospel is theirs to control, they had stopped being stewards and have claimed ownership of something that is not theirs. May we be preserved from this sin.
[These days it is popular to make the opposite error. People in our own context want to assume that anyone who says the name Jesus is automatically a disciple of Jesus. We aught to remember Jesus' warning: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name... and will deceive many.” There are and will be many false teachers. Christian need to be discerning.]
Lest we only hear the command partially, let us also understand that when Christ gives to us his name he expects us to bear it. We are to be his witnesses. When we say nothing because, as we tell ourselves, “I have not been properly trained or authorized”, keep in mind that you bear the name of Jesus. You were baptized by Him into his name. It is your duty to bear witness to that name. This is included in the lesson given by the teacher.
The teacher goes on, the lessons continue...
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great mill stone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
With this lesson, Jesus our Teacher, gives to us the command that we watch closely and carefully those things that we are teaching.
Again, it our Christian duty to bear witness to the name of Jesus. While this can happen anywhere, the primary place is in the Christian home. Parents are to be teachers for their children. Fathers and mothers are to instruct their children in the Christian faith.
Parents – put the Word of God in the hands and in the hearts of your children. Often, the only prayer that is said in the home is the meal prayer. Make sure there are morning prayers and evening prayers. Read the scriptures, the Psalms. Teach your children to pray the Lords Prayer, to confess the Apostle's Creed. Teach them the Catechism. Make sure you have a hymnal at home and teach them to sing the faith through the songs of faith. These things are all the building blocks of the Christian faith. Lay down a firm foundation for your children.
Parents, be aware that the example you set is so important for your children. Be aware of what you do, but also be aware of what you do not do. If you do not regularly go to church and make that a priority, if you don't attend bible class, if you don't take time for family prayer or for personal prayer, by your example you are teaching them lessons about the importance of the Christian faith. Remember the words of Jesus – if you lead one of these little ones into sin, you would be better off to have a mill stone tied around your neck and have it thrown into the sea. That is a stern warning. Pay attention to that warning.
And this brings us to our final lesson: Jesus' teaching about those traps that cause us to sin. Your hand, your foot, your eye that causes you to sin. Jesus speaks in the extreme – you would be better off loosing your hand, your foot, your eye rather than sustaining the temptation and loosing your soul in hell. The trouble is, however, cutting off your hand or your foot, or gouging out your eye won't preserve you from temptation. Jesus teaches us that sin and temptation don't come from our hands, our feet, or from our eyes – these temptations lure us in because our hands, our feet and our eyes are all connected to our hearts. Even if we did cut off a hand or any other part of the body, we would still have our sin filled hearts to contend with. What we need to do is repent of the sin that lives in your heart.
So beware of those traps. Those temptations. There will temptation for your hand to take or to touch those things that are not yours. There will be those temptations for your feet, to go to those places that will trap you in sin. And then there are the temptations for your eyes, so that, even if you don't go, even if you don't take, even if you don't touch, simply looking with your eyes will entrap you. Beware of those things.
Jesus, our teacher, offers to us these lessons. These lessons that pertain to him, our relationship to him and to his name. He has given to us his name so that we might be his disciples. He desires that we bear His name as we go into the whole world, as we teach and instruct our children and as we wrestle with our own sinful self that is tempted by the world. And in the classroom of our Great Teacher we have not applied these lessons! We have neglected His teaching and we have failed our exams. We have not earned a passing grade.
Thanks be to God for the love and the forgiveness of our Teacher.
These days, when we evaluate students, we do it according to test scores and academic achievement tests. In order to push students to the necessary levels we apply standards so that they learn and so that they make the grade and perform at their highest level.
Jesus does not do that with us. In spite of our poor performance, Jesus does not fail us, in spite of our bad behavior Jesus does not expel us. Instead Jesus forgives us. Jesus does not count our sins against us. He himself takes personal responsibility for our error and he suffers the consequences for our bad behavior. Jesus takes the full brunt of the wrath of God on himself and he pays for each and every one of our sins.
Jesus takes responsibility for the times that we have failed to speak his name and give a witness for the hope that we have in Christ. Jesus takes responsibility for the poor example we have set, for those times that we have neglected his word or those times that our example has led others away from His Word. For those times that we have given in to temptations, he has cover those sins as well.
Our hands have reached out for those things that are not ours so Jesus gave his hands to be pierced with nails. Our feet have taken us to those places where we should not have gone so the feet of Jesus were fastened to a cross with a spike. Our eyes have coveted and lusted after those things that God has given to others so his eyes were wet with the blood that ran down his face from the crown of thorns placed upon his brow. Because of our sin and because of our failures, Jesus has died for us. He has suffered for us. He has paid the penalty for our sin.
Jesus our divine teacher has given to us His Word for our instruction. He has made himself our teacher so that we learn and then in turn teach, pointing others to Him. Learning from his great example and having been set free from our sin, let us apply these lessons and let us be teachers and examples of righteousness in our homes and in our lives.
Amen.