Proper 21 B
Millstones and Bone Saws
Mark 9:38-50
27 September 2015 – Redeemer
Millstones and bone saws. Jesus’ words aren’t hard to understand, they are simply unbelievable. A parent who baptizes a child and then makes everything or anything more important to that child than being raised in the Lord’s house to hear the Lord’s Word – millstone in the middle of the Mississippi. Not hard to understand, but really? That’s what should happen? A man who cheats on his taxes or his customers, a woman who covets her neighbor’s house, a teenage boy whose feet carry him into some den of iniquity – which will it be? Right or left hand? Foot? Eye? These are some of the hardest words out of Jesus’ mouth – millstones and bone saws. What shall we do with them? Explain them away. Preach on a different text. They are words of Jesus, so we will hear them, study them, and believe them.
These words of Jesus are as unbelievable as the words He spoke in last weeks reading from Mark 9, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” (Mark 9:31, ESV) Those words are very clear, but you’ll remember the 12 couldn’t believe them. They didn’t understand them and were afraid to ask what they meant. Well, they meant what they meant – Jesus, the son of man, God Himself was going to die.
These two texts stand in stark contrast. One tells you what Jesus did to save the twelve and to save you from sin. The other text tells you what you must do to save yourself if you think you can make yourself presentable to God.
Jesus in these two hard texts is contrasting the two religions in the world (and there are only two – don’t pay attention to the all the signs and polls and surveys). There are two religions – the one where God does the work in Christ to save you from your sins and the one where you must work to stop sinning and make yourself presentable to whatever God you plan to meet on judgment day. It’s either you or Jesus and its either success or failure. It’s either life or death. It’s either Jesus being cut off in death on the cross or you hoping that you can cut out your own sinning.
Jesus is teaching the twelve the way of His Kingdom. He teaches with a millstone. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin. That isn’t the greatest translation – the word used is not sin, but rather trap. The picture is setting a trap with bait that will then kill the victim. Remember – Jesus is talking about the Kingdom – what would entrap a little child and kill them? Not teaching a child about his or her sins. Not pointing a little child away from himself and toward Jesus. What sins do little children fight against? The same that grownups fight against. Selfishness, pride, their own importance. The parent who ignores those sins, who does not speak of Christ’s death for sinners to his or her children – that parent sets a deadly trap. For that is the religion of human works and since that leads to the death of the child it would be better if such a teacher suffered the millstone.
Then Jesus moves on to one of the harshest sermons He delivers in the New Testament. And remember, remember, remember – there are only two religions – one is about Jesus’ death and resurrection, His being cut off to pay for your sins. The other is that you must cut out sinning – all of it, always, and make yourself presentable to the Lord. Jesus preaches this sermon to you if you want to stop sinning on your own.
If you want to live, based on what you do, then you simply cannot sin. God is holy and if you want to be in His presence you need to be nothing less than holy. That’s what Scripture says. So if your hand causes you to sin – you’d better get rid of that hand. Better to enter into life crippled than with two hands (and your sin) to go to hell. If your feet lead you to sin – you’d better cut one off, better to enter life lame, than with two feet to be thrown into hell. By now you’ve probably guessed that what Jesus is asking is hyperbole. It’s a grand exaggeration, because it won’t work. Even with one hand you could still sin. Even with one foot you would drag and crawl your way into sinful situations. Even if you removed your hands and feet you would still sin because you would covet other people’s hands and feet. See Jesus is getting tothe heart of the problem which is the problem – your heart. Your sin isn’t something in your hands or feet or eyes – it is in your heart. So what would you have to cut out to stop sinning? Your heart – the only way to stop sinning is to die, but that still won’t get you into life.
You see’ Jesus harsh words were preached to cure the twelve of their own greatness. When Jesus said, “If your eye causes you to sin,” he wanted Matthew to think “Yeh, that’s me, my eyes still causs me to sin” so that when he said, “Pluck it out” Matthew would grimace and say, “No way.” He wanted Matthew to confess that even with no eyes he would still covet and with no hands Judah could still steal and with no feet Peter would spout sinful words. He wanted them to confess there was nothing, not a single good thing about themselves. Because then they could understand and believe what Jesus had begun teaching them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
The only way to stop sinning is to die, but that won’t undo your sin or save you. That’s why Jesus died for you, in your place, with your sin. The only way to live is to be forgiven and Jesus’ death forgives your sins. The only way for your hands, feet, and eyes to have a hope of not sinning is for you to get a new heart – one that desires God’s will and fights against your sinful desires. And that new heart, the heart of Christ, is given to you in baptism, when you are given the benefits of His death and resurrection, and faith in His forgiveness. Right after this sermon we will will sing and pray with the Psalmist, “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.” That’s baptism talk, that’s Jesus talk, that’s the Holy Spirit changing you not by lopping off your limbs, but by giving you a new heart – a heart that believes Jesus, trusts Jesus, clings to His death and resurrection.
The Christian’s heart is affected by the Christian faith – the faith which teaches that you could cut until you died and God still would not be pleased with you. Only God can forgive sin. And He did by making Christ the sinner in your place – the Son of Man – that is what Jesus calls Himself in Mark’s Gospel – a man, like you, he has your eyes, your hands, your feet – Mary counted his ten little piggies when he was born. And in the grand mystery of grace and love – God the Father gave Jesus the sin of your heart. Somehow in those messy waters of His own baptism Jesus became a sinner – He became you. And then He was ready to be cut off from the land of the living. Jesus is true man to hang in your place, suffer in your place, be damned in your place. How do you put an end to sin? Kill the sinner. And the sinner is killed when Jesus dies at the cross. We know sin is gone, because Christ rose from the dead.
Salvation is not achieved by millstones and bone saws, but by Son of Man being delivered over to sinful men, killed, and three days later rising again. That’s the religion that works, because God does all the work to stop sin in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
26 September 2015 anno Domini