Preaching Paths 29 September2024

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

Mark scholars agree: today’s gospel lection, Mark 9:38-50, presents interpretive challenges.* John’s question about an “unauthorized” exorcist, as well as Jesus’ reply, seem at first glance far removed from our experience; yet they prompt us to think more deeply about the freedom of God’s liberating power to flow beyond the church into the wider world. More problematic are vv 43-50. The hyperbolic (and frankly, grotesque) apocalyptic language of vv 43-48 is challenging preaching material for even the most experienced preachers. Reframing it within the context of the journey toward Jerusalem and the crisis awaiting there can help us grapple with it. Finally, the sayings involving fire and salt (vv 49-50) remain obscure; but OT clues are suggestive for metaphorical interpretation.

Reminding ourselves of the narrative context of these verses is crucial. Jesus has recently predicted his passion a second time (9:30-32); his disciples neither understand nor ask questions. Immediately after our text (10:1), Jesus will turn toward Judea and Jerusalem. We are poised between these two moments. The disciples flounder. Self-absorbed, they jockey for status among themselves (vv 33-34). Neglecting to pray, they fail to deliver a demon-possessed child (9:14-29), yet are quick to interfere when another exorcist, recognizing Jesus’ authority, invokes Jesus’ name to (successfully) deliver the possessed. They cannot or will not grasp the inverted power structure of the reign of God, where to serve is greatness, and welcoming a child is welcoming not only Jesus, but the One who sent him. Centuries later, we too struggle to grasp these most basic realities.

A sermon based on the first section of today’s reading (vv 38-41) would be timely in many of our churches. When others who “are not following us” (v. 38) undertake the work of healing and liberation in Jesus’ name, we readily criticize—often on theological grounds. We need to hear that we are not the appointed guardians and managers of the healing, liberating power of God.  The sovereign freedom of Jesus’ liberating authority leaps the bounds of our cozy theological enclaves.

The violent, hyperbolic language of vv 43-48 has to be handled with care. It is the fraught language one uses in a critical moment. The parent who never raises her voice to her child will scream “STOP!!” to keep him from running into the path of a speeding car. Jesus has shared, repeatedly, what awaits in Jerusalem. His disciples don’t understand, nor do they seem to want to (9:32). They don’t realize that the reign of God is so dangerous that the Empire will stop at nothing. The disciples’ self-absorption is not simply regrettable; it is dangerous. It will lead them not to the gates of the kingdom of God, but to the fires of Gehenna (“hell,” NRSV). Gehenna refers to the Hinnom valley, historically a place of human sacrifice, and in Jewish apocalyptic, a place of unquenchable fire and final judgment. With crisis on the horizon, Jesus admonishes them in vivid, apocalyptic language.

The full meaning of vv 49-50 remains obscure. We do know that fire and salt were both connected with sacrifice, an act of self-giving on the part of the worshiper. Leviticus 2:13 specifies that salt must accompany every sacrifice. Now, Jesus bids us give ourselves over to the reign of God. This will cost us. It may burn like fire, sting like salt. Yet we entrust ourselves to Jesus, following ever deeper into that new reality where the “little” are protected, the servant of all is “greatest” of all, every act of mercy in Jesus’ name counts, and the “salt” of peace preserves and hallows our common life.