“Gatekeepers for Christ”

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 29, 2024

Gate to a pasture

James 5:13-20

Mark 9:38-50

Children’s Message:

Today, one of the things Jesus says is that we shouldn’t get in the way of children experiencing God. So, let me ask you—where do you belong in this congregation? In the Sanctuary? Where should you NOT go?

Actually, you belong in every part of this place. So, let’s take a little tour around some of the most important parts of our space.

 Baptismal Font: You were baptized in this font or a font like it. This is probably one of the first places you went when you came to church. Do you remember that day?

 Pulpit: What happens here? Are you allowed to read or do prayers from this pulpit? YES!

 Altar: What happens here? This table is much like the one you have at home. We place a meal on it. Here, that meal is Jesus so that we can take him into our bodies. He strengthens us and helps our faith grow. He makes us a community. Every Sunday, we set the table. And then we make sure everyone has something to eat. Who gets to serve the meal? ANYONE can serve. Who can eat the meal? EVERYONE can eat.

 Congregation: This is the part you know the best. We sing and pray together. We listen. We pass the peace. You belong in every part of this place and this people. ALL of you.

 Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for welcoming me as your child. Help me show that welcome to ALL your dear children. Amen.

Message:

Many of you won’t be surprised to learn that I’m what you might call a ‘control freak.’ I rearrange the dishes in the dish washer after Mark puts them in. I call the shots in flower placement for funerals. I want certain things done in certain ways. It gets worse when I’m feeling anxious. When our new dishwasher started leaking, my first instinct was: I need to go through all the clutter, vacuum the carpet, dust in the crevices, scrub the bathroom. At the bottom of it all, what I really want is to control my environment so that something else doesn’t go wrong.

What actually happens, however, is that I create additional work for myself. A lot of additional work. Sometimes, it’s important that I manage things. But usually, I should let it go. I don’t need to be a gatekeeper for every task in my life. Now, if you have any great ideas for how to do that…keep it to yourself. 😊

In truth, gatekeeping serves a very valuable function. It sets standards that help community. Doctors, teachers, pastors, cops, engineers, pilots—we are expected to master a set of skills and knowledge so that we don’t do harm when we are meant to help. One tends to trust a doctor with a medical degree over what we used to call a ‘snake-oil salesman.’ You’re no longer going to go to the barber to have your teeth pulled. Gatekeeping ensures safety and establishes accountability.

But gatekeeping can become weaponized. People who have passed the standards can grow into a sense of power that becomes hurtful. Law enforcement and political leaders who consider themselves above the law. Teachers who bully their classrooms. Pastors who demean and belittle parishioners.

And there are self-appointed gate-keepers—those who claim a power that is not rightfully theirs in order to people with less power. The neighborhood watcher to gets into everyone’s business, calling cops on individuals who ‘look’ like they ‘don’t belong.’ People who manufacture stories that stereotype whole groups of people. Those who ask people to move out of ‘their pew’ on Sunday morning.

And there are those who act as gatekeepers to the truth. Those who ban books they don’t agree with, who deny the integrity of elections, who ignore science, who lie about immigrants, who create distrust of anyone who is different.

Earlier in the chapter of Mark’s gospel account, Jesus had taken three disciples to the top of a mountain where Elijah and Moses were revealed and Jesus was transfigured. When the came back down, there was a crowd, and the rest of the disciples were discouraged. A child with an unclean spirit had been brought to them, and they couldn’t heal the child. Jesus healed that child, leaving the disciples frustrated and ashamed.

Soon after, Jesus continued to tell them how he would be arrested, beaten, killed, and resurrected—which, of course, they didn’t understand. On the road to Capernaum, they began arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus responded that ‘whoever wants to be first must be last,’ and taking a child he said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

This context is important, because immediately after that is when John starts complaining about someone else doing acts of power in Jesus’ name. In fact, the man was casting out demons—the very thing the disciples had failed to do while Jesus was on the mountaintop. And now, someone else is doing it, and he’s doing it in Jesus’ name! The disciples wanted to be gatekeepers. “This guy isn’t one of us. Tell him to stand down until he’s trained correctly—until he joins our group.”

But Jesus isn’t interested in having gatekeepers. He’s not interested in people vying for power. He’s not interested in who is greater. These are all stumbling blocks to the vulnerable. This man had healed people with demons! Celebrate the miracle! Stop getting in the way! Stop thinking you know who Jesus would accept or kick out—who Jesus approves of and who he condemns. If someone isn’t against us—or perhaps, we might say, if someone isn’t putting stumbling blocks in the paths of the vulnerable but, instead, is removing them—then they are doing the work of God.

But beware. Gatekeepers to the kingdom are always the ones getting in the way of the Spirit—impeding the faith of the ‘little ones.’ At this point, Jesus goes really dark, talking about dismemberment as a way of keeping oneself spiritually intact. He takes it this far because he knows the stakes are high. He knows what deep and lasting damage gatekeepers can do to vulnerable people. He knows that what ‘insiders’ say can incite violence, bigotry, hate, war, lynchings, mobs, and more.

And he knows just how much it will hurt as we cut away the things we once held precious—the familiar things we cling to even as they kill us and others. He knows letting go of how we have understood him and scripture can be as painful as cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye. But his love for the vulnerable in our midst is that important. And he knows that regaining the trust of those vulnerable little ones will be a long and challenging road for the church and its people—but one that we absolutely need to take if we are to truly call ourselves followers of Christ.

And Jesus knows that gatekeepers and control freaks are, much like his first disciples, ultimately responding to fear. We are afraid. We are afraid of being taken advantage of. We are afraid of not measuring up. We are afraid of being seen as fools. We are afraid of losing what little we have. We are afraid of what happens when we get to the cross and come face to face with what we have done to the God we love in our haste to protect the very same God.

We are afraid that if we lose control, the worst will happen. But, dear friends, it already has. This is the great mystery of faith—Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ will come again. In baptism, we too have died to all that we might fear so that, with Christ, we are now raised again from the dead and given new life. We’ve already been to the grave, thanks be to God. And we are being brought beyond it, thanks be to God.

So instead of living lives of faith under the shadow of fear, we are brought into the light. There is only one gatekeeper, and we are not it. Christ is the gatekeeper, and the doors are indeed wide open.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE