The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost - September 30

Fall Pruning
Mark 9:38-50

The Gospel from Mark appointed for today reminded me of this passage from John’s Gospel: Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). I’ll come back to that.

First, let’s work our way through today’s Gospel. It starts with the disciples acting rather adolescent, ratting on someone else who was healing in Jesus’ Name. They came to Jesus bragging about how they had tried to stop the interloper because he was not one of them.

Whether they were doing it intentionally or not, what they were doing was trying to limit the healing work of Christ in the world. And Jesus reprimands them. Anyone who is not against us is for us. Acting on behalf of Christ is commendable. No matter who is doing it.

And Jesus goes on to say that offering water (refreshment) to those acting on behalf of Christ will also bring its own reward. It is good to offer refreshment and support to anyone who is acting in Jesus’ name.

And, conversely, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me…” well, the consequences will be dire.

The “little ones” Jesus refers to here may be children, as I mentioned last week. Or they may be people new to faith.

So far, Jesus is talking to the disciples about the growth of faith in others. And he says, don’t do anything to impede that growth. He is also talking about others beyond the circle of disciples doing the work of Christ. Again he says, nurture and support everything done in the Name of Christ; don’t impede it.

Then we get to what I think of as the real Halloween part of the Gospel, full of images of people presumably bloodied, stumbling around missing all sorts of body parts. The gore of this passage is very vivid. Don’t let your children read the Bible!

“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…” If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.

A couple of modern commentators I read referred to Jesus’ hyperbole in this passage. He couldn’t have meant this literally; he was using hyperbole to make a point. So what was his point? What did he mean?

A well-established trend of commentary interprets this passage in Mark as a call to self-denial to avoid sin and eternal damnation. For example, Matthew Henry was a 17th century English Presbyterian minister, known particularly for his commentary on the entire Bible. First, he titles this specific portion of Mark, “Pain to be preferred to sin.” He writes: “Surely it is beyond compare better to undergo all possible pain, hardship, and self-denial here, and to be happy for ever hereafter, than to enjoy all kinds of worldly pleasure for a season, and to be miserable for ever.” It is “beyond compare” better to endure pain in this life in order to achieve happiness in eternal life.

The Greek word translated throughout this passage as “causes you to stumble” is our word scandalize. Modern translators shy away from that direct translation, I suspect, because scandal has come to have such sensational, “National Inquirer” sorts of overtones in contemporary usage. The King James translated it, “if your hand offends you…” “If you eye offends you…” And that’s the basic meaning of scandalize. But in this case the question is whether your own hand offends you.

Jesus’ challenge to the disciples and us is this: You who bear the name of Christ, you who strive to be the Body of Christ, are there parts of your life that are “offensive” to you? As a Christian, are there parts of your own life that are offensive to you?

Prune them out. And now I’m back to the passage from John. Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit”

Jesus seems to like the pruning metaphor. He uses it in this passage from John and elsewhere in his teaching. I like pruning as a metaphor. Pruning is less about self-denial in order to achieve eternal bliss in the future, not that there is anything wrong with thinking about that. Pruning, though, is about improving health and growth now in this life. It’s about cleaning out the dead wood. Pruning out, clearing out the parts of our lives that are not alive with Christ. In order that the better parts of lives may bear greater fruit. The fruits of life in Christ are things like healing, hope, wonder, peace, renewal, reconciliation. Who would not want those more abundantly? Prune out the parts of your life that are dead to Christ so that the parts that are alive with Christ can bear greater fruit.

In my own experience it’s really pretty easy to tell which is which.

So prune your life. And pruning is not the same thing as just simplifying. Simplifying may or may not help. Pruning is selective. We are not called literally to pluck out an eye. Rather prune out those things that you watch with your eyes that are life-numbing or denigrate the holiness of life. We do not need to actually cut off a hand. But do prune out the things you do with your hand that are destructive or wasteful of God’s creation. We are not called to cut off a foot. Instead prune out all of the useless places in life your feet take you!

Jesus doesn't say anything about plucking out your heart or your mind, but I expect there are some things there that need pruning, too.  Harbored resentments, uncharitable thoughts, sins repressed and unconfessed.

And I’d like to stretch the pruning metaphor just a little further. There are several reasons that gardeners might prune a plant. Certainly the most important within my context today is to promote growth and health.

But gardeners also prune to improve the appearance of a plant. And that’s worth thinking about. If we prune our lives, our appearance may show forth the Gospel more clearly to the world. A pruned life may better display the love and light of the Gospel for others to see.

Sometimes gardeners prune or thin one plant so that other plants can grow… so that other plants can receive the light and nutrients they need to grow and flourish. Remember that in the early part of today’s Gospel, Jesus is concerned with how the disciples’ actions might limit or impede the Christian growth of life of other people. I don’t have specific examples in mind, but maybe the dead wood in your life or my life is not only limiting our own Christian flourishing but also crowding out or blocking the Christian growth of others.

So think about pruning your life. Prune out the dead wood. So that the fruit of a life in Christ may grow more and more abundantly in your life and in the world around you.