"Scandal"

Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash

 The First United Presbyterian Church of Loveland

“Scandal”

Rev. Amy Morgan

September 26, 2021

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 

The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."

Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the LORD became very angry, and Moses was displeased.

 11 So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,' to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, 'Give us meat to eat!' 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. 15 If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once-- if I have found favor in your sight-- and do not let me see my misery."

 16 So the LORD said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you.

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. 26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.

 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." 28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!" 29 But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!"

Mark 9:38-50

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."

 39 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. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 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.

 42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. 49 "For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

“Open rebellion against Christ our King, and high treason against His sovereignty.” That is what Adam Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, labeled the ordination of three women as pastors. The ordination took place just before Mothers’ Day last May at Saddleback Church, the largest and most influential church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Also last May, a synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected the first openly transgender bishop. This was seen as scandalous to some Christians who reacted by claiming that the ELCA has invented a new religion altogether that doesn’t remotely resemble biblical Christianity.

Lest we be misled by thinking these contemporary scandals within the church are novel, let’s remember that over the centuries the church has been scandalized by the leadership of all kinds of people. In the first few centuries of Christianity, there was the scandal of those who had recanted their faith under threat of death and then proclaimed the gospel again when Roman authority was less hostile to Christians. Those who had not recanted asserted that those who had were not fit to lead the church. Some Christians rejected the leadership of others who believed the Holy Spirit only proceeded from the Father, and not the Father and the Son, accusing them of dividing up the Trinity. Throughout the Reformation, Christians burned each other at the stake for preaching and teaching that was inconsistent with whichever group happened to be in power. 

Christians have a long history of being scandalized by anyone who dares to preach the gospel, who has the audacity to invoke the name of Jesus Christ, outside the boundaries that have been determined by the structures of power and privilege they have established. And that history can be traced right back to Jesus’ own disciples, and even further, back to the time of Moses. 

Let’s start looking at both of these stories by examining what the problem is for the folks who are scandalized by unsanctioned ministry. Why would it be a problem for a couple of elders to prophesy in the camp, away from the tent of meeting and Moses and the larger group of elders? Why would it be a problem for someone not following Jesus to cast out demons in his name? 

There’s certainly a question of authority here. Moses has the authority, Jesus has the authority, and if these people prophesying and exorcising demons aren’t under the authority of these leaders, who do they answer to? Are they doing these things decently and in order? Are they following the rules? Are they on message? These are important concerns. I get that. I’m Presbyterian. 

But there’s something else going on under the surface in both stories. 

In the story from Numbers, it’s hinted at in a very short, almost throwaway phrase. It says that the 70 elders went out to the tent, and the spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they all prophesied. And then it says, “But they did not do so again.” Then the scene jumps to Eldad and Medad and their continuing prophetic abilities, out in the camp where all the Israelites can actually see and hear them. And so you have to wonder. When Joshua gets bent out of shape because these two guys are prophesying in the camp, is it because they are out of bounds? Or is it because they are succeeding where everyone else failed? The big, powerful prophetic episode was awesome. But it was a one-off, private event. Is there some jealousy that these guys are able to keep it going, especially out in public?

In the story from Mark, you have to have some context that we missed because the lectionary skips over the transfiguration. Because we gotta save that for Transfiguration Sunday. But at the end of that story is this little tacked-on episode that almost never gets any attention because we’re too focused on shiny Jesus on the mountain. 

When Jesus and his disciples come back down the mountain, there’s a man who has a son who is possessed by a demon. And the disciples are not able to cast it out. They have tried and failed. Jesus casts out the demon, and they move on. 

And lo and behold, John gets bent out of shape because someone is casting out demons – successfully – in Jesus’ name. And John isn’t bothered because they aren’t following Jesus. He complains that they aren’t following “us.” And so you gotta wonder. Is John upset that people are being healed without proper authorization from the disciples? Or is he jealous that this outlier is succeeding where Jesus’ disciples failed?

In both stories, the people with authority – Moses and Jesus – dismiss the complaints. Moses says, “good for them – I wish everyone would get up and prophesy!” And Jesus says, “look, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If people want to cast out demons in his name, or support the work of the disciples, that’s awesome. If they aren’t part of the in-crowd, no big. They’re doing something. Let them do it. 

But then Jesus launches into what is arguably the most graphic, violent speech of his entire ministry. And it isn’t aimed at those who aren’t following him, those trying to use his name to help people. It’s not even aimed at his favorite target, the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees. Instead, it’s addressed directly to the inner circle of his own followers. 

And this makes perfect sense. Jesus spends a good part of his ministry railing against religious leaders who have led people astray, who have been hypocritical and self-righteous. How much more important is it to him, then, that his own followers don’t fall into the same pattern of abuse of authority and toxic self-righteousness? 

In just four verses, Jesus uses this word, skandalizo, three times. The NRSV translates it as “cause to stumble,” but as you can hear, it is related to the English word “scandalize.” That has a very different connotation that “stumble.” He’s warning his disciples of the extremely serious consequences of scandal. Scandal can cause those who are new to the faith to fall away. That is the primary concern for Jesus. So if any part of you causes you to create a scandal that might jeopardize someone else’s faith in Jesus, go to any extreme necessary, no matter how painful, to get rid of that toxic element so that you aren’t creating a living hell. 

The modern church really shies away from this passage because, well, it deals with demons and hell and all sorts of things we don’t quite know what to do with. And it is so extreme and creates such incredible stakes for those in leadership. I mean, we all understand that even church leaders are only human, and we really don’t want to see pastors gouging their eyes out or chopping off their hands. That would just be barbaric. 

So let’s maybe assume for a moment that Jesus isn’t speaking literally here. For the most part, Jesus teaches in metaphor and parable, and so it makes sense to cast this passage in the same genre. And if we look at it that way, what we hear Jesus talking about is the self-sacrifice required of those who would be his disciples. Not just leaders in the church, but everyone who wants to follow him needs to be aware of the stakes. 

As followers of Jesus, our scandals have consequences, not just for us, but for all those who are exposed to that scandal. This is clear in the very public scandals of church leaders over the last several decades, from televangelists pilfering for their own profits to megachurch pastors hiring prostitutes, to pedophile priest being protected by the church. 

The church is scandalized by ordaining female pastors or transgender bishops, but those same churches and leaders are happy to overlook, underplay, forgive, or excuse all kinds of other scandals in the church. Predatory pastors can be rehabilitated, but there’s no cure for gender. Abusive leaders are protected and insulated, but LGBTQ leaders are exposed. Misuse of church funds can be explained and excused, but the scandal of breaking with established norms and structures of power is unforgiveable. 

Look, leadership is hard. Discipleship is hard. Moses gets to the point where he’d rather die than have to keep leading God’s whiney people. I know some pastors who are getting there. The disciples are disheartened by Jesus’ sermons about suffering and death, they are worn out from travel, and they’re probably feeling pretty ineffective. 

Jesus gets that this is hard. Jesus knows we’re going to fail. He encourages us to do the hard thing, to remove the things in our lives that are going to scandalize people and cause them to reject the faith. And he lets us know what will happen if we don’t do that. We will create a living hell. 

Jesus talks about two kinds of fire in this passage – the fire of hell and the fire of sanctification. In Greek, the word for “fire” is “pur.” Both kinds of fire are pur. And Jesus says that “everyone will be salted with fire.” This is a really strange thing to say. How is someone salted with fire? That’s exactly what is says in Greek. 

When Jesus’ disciples heard about something being “salted,” their minds would immediately jump to preservation. There was a rabbinic saying that if the salt fell off the meat, you should just throw it away. 

So what they are hearing is that everyone will be preserved by fire. That process of purification, which can be painful and awful, is also the thing that will preserve them, make them worth saving. 

No one will get thrown out like meat without salt. Everyone will mess up at some point, create a scandal, and need purification. 

So maybe what we need is what Jesus teaches at the conclusion of this passage: be at peace with each other. We can be scandalized by who is leading the church, who is prophesying and casting out demons. Or we can realize that we all need purification, we all will be salted by fire at some point, and be at peace with each other. 

Perhaps if we can do that, there will be fewer people scandalized by the church, fewer people turned away from the hypocrisy of church leaders, the judgementalism of disciples of Jesus. Perhaps we will be able to prophesy in the camp, out where people are living their lives and really need to hear a word of hope. Perhaps this will happen, not because we have cut off our limbs or silenced the unsanctioned voices but because God is gracious and merciful and salts us all with fire so that we can be distilled down to the peace of Christ, in ourselves and for others. 

Amen.