Martin Luther, Neenah
Mark 9:38-50
4 October 2015
Pentecost 19, ILCW B
It’s time for a self-ectomy
Julius Caesar is perhaps the most famous Roman there is. We have a calendar and a month
in our calendar still named after him. But why was he so well known? He was a statesman,
general, and author. He dominated Roman politics in the decades before his death. He was chiefly
responsible for turning the Republic of Rome into the Roman Empire. And every emperor after
adopted the title of Caesar. As a general, he was a genius. He fought and won many battles,
especially in Western and Northern Europe. He was the first Roman general to cross the Rhine
River. He was the first Roman general to cross the English Channel. And he wrote about it, and
every second-year Latin student still reads the accounts of his victories in Caesar’s own words.
Caesar should be Rome’s greatest hero, but what happened? He grew too powerful. The
Senate ordered him to step down. Instead he marched with his army into Italy which ultimately led
to his becoming “dictator for life.” But soon after, Roman senators assassinated Caesar. Why, after
all the good he had done for Rome? Ambition! Caesar was too ambitious, they charged. When his
ambition served Rome, everyone was happy. But when his ambition seemed to serve himself
instead, it became a bad thing.
The disciples struggle with this concept in our Gospel today. Too often we wrestle with
these things too. Jesus helps us sort out where that line is today. When does self start to
overshadow service? Jesus speaks in startling terms about this problem. He teaches, “It’s time for
a self-ectomy.”
John asks Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we
told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” To understand what he meant, we might want to
widen our gaze to what had happened before his question. The disciples had tried to drive a demon
out of little boy. They failed, and an argument broke out between them and the teachers of the law.
Of course, Jesus came to their rescue and used it as a teaching moment. But then shortly after we
find the disciples arguing about who is the greatest. They still had much to learn.
It may be in the spirit of learning John asks this question. He had just heard Jesus rebuke
selfishness. He thought about this earlier encounter. Had they done right? Were they being selfish
or just zealous for Jesus? It seemed they may not have really done what Jesus would have wanted.
And Jesus confirms his fears when he says, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a miracle in
my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. Even ordinary and everyday
things done in my name, that is from a heart of faith, are a cause for joy, no matter who does them.
Give thanks for that, and be careful not to give rise to envy or let personal ambition cloud your view
of such an act.”
Then Jesus turns the conversation in a surprising direction: “If anyone causes one of these
little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large
millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand
causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands
to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if
your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God
with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.”
Jesus is making the point: the important thing is humble service to the glory of God in line
with his Word. How important is that truth? Jesus says, “Whatever would cause you to sin,
whatever would prevent you from pursuing that goal, get rid of it! Even if it is part of your own
body, a hand, a foot, an eye, get rid of it! If your hand is doing sinful things, if your feet are taking
you down the path of sin, if your eye looks longingly at sinful opportunities, don’t let them! And
don’t dare lead anyone else to sin either!” Is Jesus telling us to start hurting ourselves? No, but he
is saying this is exactly how important this truth is. Eternal life and death is on the line.
Isn’t that the point Jesus is driving home with this striking picture? If it means losing a
small part of self to enter heaven, wouldn’t that be a good deal? But would any of us think to
amputate a limb if it got in the way of our entry into heaven, or even more than that: our service to
one another? No, but that’s what Jesus is asking us to consider: maybe it’s time for a self-ectomy.
A medical procedure that ends in –ectomy means something is being cut out or cut off. An
appendectomy means your appendix has been taken out. But how is a self-ectomy even possible?
But isn’t self the problem for all of us? Think about this situation with the disciples. John
was starting to understand the problem they had caused for that man who was driving out demons in
Jesus’ name. But the bigger problem was in themselves. It wasn’t so much what they done but why
they had done it. Was it to push themselves forward? They all wanted to be the greatest! Was it
out of envy and jealousy? They hadn’t been able to drive out demons like this man was. Why
didn’t he join with them and follow Jesus, maybe even follow them as they led those who wanted to
follow Jesus?
Self, that sinful nature, intrudes into even the good we try to do. We notice that too. How
quick we can be to trample others to get our way! Too often, we want to look down on those who
don’t understand as much of God’s Word or who struggle with a sin we don’t find so tempting.
Too often our ambition is for my glory, rather than “to God alone be the glory!” How tempting it is
for us to exchange an eternal kingdom for pleasures of the moment here! But such an exchange
must pay its final bill in hell, “where ‘the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
That’s cause for a self-ectomy, isn’t it?
So how do we do that? Do we start cutting away hands and feet and eyes? No, that’s not
what Jesus is saying. And it wouldn’t really do any good, would it? Where would the cutting stop?
It wouldn’t, until we reached our heart where all desire comes from and our mind where all memory
of those sinful desires live! That’s where the root of self lives. The hand and foot and eye and any
other body part are just tools the selfish heart uses to carry out its desires.
But how can we survive a self-ectomy? Such a procedure is beyond our skill, but it’s
absolutely necessary. For that we must turn to a specialist. Who can take a heart hardened by
selfishness and transform it into one that can feel and love and serve to God’s glory? It has to take a
miracle! But thankfully here we see One who doesn’t just allow “miracles in his name,” but he is
himself the author of every miracle. He has promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Jesus is the one who can perform this self-ectomy for us. He cuts away the sinful heart
which seeks only to serve self. He cuts away the desires to turn everything for its own benefit. He
cuts away the ambition for self at the expense of others. But Jesus doesn’t just take away the sin
and selfishness. He replaces it with his own righteousness. He has planted in your heart his own
perfection, earned through his years of life and ministry in this world.
So what does this mean for us? Jesus must continue his healing work in us. He continues to
cut away our sins, each and every day again. He renews that righteousness within us each day. He
points us to our Baptism. Drown that sinful self in those waters, and drink again the refreshing
draught of righteousness. Remember the new self Jesus has given you. This new self has strength
to battle the old. It has ambition, but its ambition always is to serve Jesus. It places glory where it
belongs and doesn’t desire any for itself. Rather than stomp on others, it strives to serve. That
service doesn’t seek its own benefit and gain. Instead we seek to help those who struggle to serve
Jesus with us.
Help us to do that, Jesus! Help us to be eager to receive that self-ectomy from your skilled
hand, daily again and again! Keep cutting away at our sinful self, until we don’t need it anymore!
But when that day comes, we will be with you in heaven. Refresh us with that knowledge and with
the strength to keep serving you to the benefit of others and to your glory! Amen.