Mark 9: 30-41 (NRSV)
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." John said to him, "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.
One of the things that makes my Partner Jason such a wonderful guy is his love of the Muppets. Jason has experience with puppets. He has made quite a few of them himself. Jason does a lot of knitting and he has skillfully created a number of exquisite looking puppets. One reason that his attraction to the Muppets is so great is that when life gets a little too serious and reality hits us in the face just a little too hard, the Muppets take reality and anything serious and makes it into a wonderful comedy. There are always some great meanings behind what they do. But one thing about the Muppets is that there is no vegetable, candle stick, wall, or anything that might at some point wake up and start moving or talking. Just when you think you've seen the last item come to life and begin a conversation, something else comes out of no where and adds a whole other dimension to the last surprise.
The Gospel today gives us a few different dimensional looks at Jesus. Jesus is God's perfect revelation who is about to go to Jerusalem to face his passion, death and resurrection. Jesus is telling his disciples about what he is about to do, but they do not understand.
Then Jesus gets into a conversation with them about who must be first and last, and then picks up a child. Jesus tells the disciples to welcome children in his name. Jesus reminds us in this Gospel that we are servants in his name. As we work through the reading of this Gospel it should become clear that Jesus wants the Church to be a welcoming place. Jesus has come to set free those who find themselves with no one to accept and love them. Just like the Church of today, the religion of Jesus' time has found every excuse imaginable to decide who they just cannot accept. Rather than be open and accepting, the Church can be a place where hearts grow cold and there is hypocrisy. People in the Church can talk out of both sides of their mouths and contradict the teachings of Christ and the Gospel. This is precisely why we have and need the Sacraments that remind us that no matter how wicked we are, God loves us and wants us to come back to God.
The health care debate and the issue of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people has proven to present many Christians in a light that suggests that violence is a way to get what they want. When I hear stories of Teabaggers threatening gun violence if health care reform were to pass in the US House of Representatives which it did, I cannot help but ask, just where do such people think such violence is the will of God? When I hear of so called Christian folks like the Attorney General of Virginia and several other right wing States preparing to sue over health care reform passing, I have to ask the question just where are the minds of such people? Politics in the name of God has become more important that the 45,000 people who will die because they do not have health care. Keeping health care away from those people because of a political agenda is more important that serving the poor, the sick and the helpless so to give them a chance to live, heal and find wholeness in their lives.
Our own State of Minnesota has been battling this same problem. Last year Gov. Tim Pawlenty of the State of Minnesota cut the budget that provided health care for people who are unemployed or the poorest of the poor. This year, our State Legislature passed another bill that would have reinstated General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) in Minnesota, and while Pawlenty was at the CPAC in February, he vetoed the bill in his hotel room in Washington, DC. When does giving the poorest children and families medical care become more important than a political parties agenda?
Though I am happy to hear that the Health Care Reform passed in the House, I am extremely concerned that the LGBT Provisions that would have provided Tax Equtiy for Health Plan Beneficiaries and the Early Treatment for HIV Act were not included in the reconciliation bill. In addition the unbelievable assault on women's rights in this bill was just unacceptable. When people who are still considered second class citizens by most are used as bargaining pieces to passing legislation, there can be nothing acceptable about the outcomes. It is a way for the ends to justify the means.
Jesus Christ calls on the Church to be a place where everyone is welcome and can find salvation in God's unconditional love. Jesus is concerned about everyone's health care and ability to care for themselves and the poor and neglected in our communities. Violence is never the will of God. God can make use of the consequences of violence, but it is never the will of God.
As we continue our journey of Lent into Holy Week let us all pray with sincerity for our nation and the Church. Let us ask Almighty God to reform our hearts to be concerned about those who are left on the margins of society, even if that means us. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to move on hearts that have grown cold, violent and loveless. May our nation and the Church become that place where we do offer a glass of water in the name of the God of love, and do so with hearts open to welcome everyone who comes seeking God.
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).
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