Stumbling blocks. September 27, 2021. The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

Mark 9:39-50

“Yeah, but…” I’m not particularly fond of that phrase. It’s often used when someone wants to passively dismiss what was just said in order to deflect the attention elsewhere. Like back in the day when my kids were young I would often hear this, “Yeah, but…” Like when I would make a request. “Please take off your muddy shoes before coming into the house.” “Yeah, but…” would come the quick reply, “brother didn’t do it!” Or to another, I’d ask to clear the table and then I’d hear, “Yeah, but… sister is not doing anything to help!” And it’s not just a strategy employed by kids. Most of us are prone to use it when we feel called out in one way or another. As we age, we may refine our approach, but the aim remains the same, that is, deflect negative attention by directing it towards someone else. 

Like in our gospel reading. It is a continuation of last week’s reading. Jesus has just discovered that his disciples have been bickering among themselves over who is greatest. And he calls them out about it. Ok, guys, listen up, if you really want to be the best, here’s the path. Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Jesus exposes the disciples’ misguided desire for status and ranking. It must have been pretty uncomfortable which is likely why the “Yeah, but” strategy is deployed.  “Yeah, but...” says the disciple John...we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us. Obviously, the hope is to turn the conversation away from the ways that they might be falling short and direct it towards this other guy who's been casting out demons. But Jesus doesn’t take the bait. The other guy is not the issue here. In fact, Jesus declares, whoever is not against us is for us. And with that, once again Jesus insists on pushing the boundaries, erasing the lines we draw between us and them, and enlarging the circle.

One of the key ways that boundary lines get erased and circles become larger is by taking our critical eye off of the “other guy” and what we think - or really, what we know! - is his problem and instead, looking honestly at ourselves with an eye toward how we might be creating stumbling blocks in our world. Jesus uses this language of “stumbling blocks” to call us to do some self-reflection. Now stumbling blocks are obstacles that get in people’s way and trip them up. Simply put, they are anything that makes life and faith harder than it has to be. And Jesus’ concern here is twofold: First, whether we are a stumbling block for another, especially those who have less power, less privilege, and are more vulnerable than we are - the least of these. And secondly, whether we create stumbling blocks for ourselves. ” Because as much as we’d like to think that the problems of this world, the stumbling blocks that make life harder, are all outside of us, many, if not most, are actually found within. And here are just a few: anger, fear, judgement, our need to compare ourselves to others, our need to be right, our unwillingness to listen, the assumption that we know best, pride, gossip, addiction. These, and a thousand other things like them are stumbling blocks that cause us and others to trip and sometimes even fall.

And that’s not all. Because stumbling blocks don’t just exist in individuals. Many manifest themselves in the way communities and groups operate, on a systemic level. Like in the ways that our legal system can sometimes be a stumbling block to justice for all. Or how governmental policies can create obstacles that make things harder for some to thrive. Even the Church can be a stumbling block to some who come seeking love and acceptance and find rejection and judgement instead. Like it or not, we are all parts of various systems that cause others to stumble.

Which makes it so tempting to respond with some type of, “Yeah, but…” “Yeah, but... what about the other guy, or the other group, or the other country… they are all much worse than we are!” But that’s not the issue today. In this moment Jesus calls us to stay with the hard and uncomfortable work of self-examination. And he’s dead serious about it. You can hear it in the images he uses: drowning by millstone, amputation of body parts, unquenchable fire, hell, the worm that never dies. We aren’t to take these words literally, but we are to take them seriously. And that begins with looking at ourselves and not at each other.

Yet even when we do there is no quick fix. The other day a parishioner came to me asking for prayer because she knew she was full of judgement. Specifically, she confessed, she thought everyone who chose not to get the Covid-19 vaccine was basically a “selfish idiot.” So we talked and prayed and held up to God her critical spirit along with desire that everyone be safe and protected and all the complexity that the issue holds. Now, I haven’t checked, but I suspect she still wrestles with this issue. That her judgement didn’t just disappear with a prayer. Even so, such surrender to God in humble self-awareness is the first step to dismantling stumbling blocks we create in our lives, in the lives of others, and in the world.

Because try as we may, this is not work we can do on our own. Living a Christian life is not something you do as much as something that gets done to you. As we recognize the ways we struggle and stumble and cause others to struggle and stumble too, our call is to give God permission to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. That is, to clear the path of all that is getting in the way so that boundary lines are erased and the circle is made bigger which allows all of us to experience what it’s like to fully love and be loved. So that with God’s help, those stumbling blocks may one day become building blocks of love and grace and mercy and we can truly be, in the words of Jesus, at peace with one another.