Esther 7:1-6,9-10,9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5: 13-20; Mark 9: 38-50

Fascinating Gospel reading didn’t you think? Just such strong and challenging words. There was no sitting on the sidelines and just going through the motions with Jesus this morning. NO. Strong, clear, direct, right to the point. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. If your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out… Wow this is not half hearted commitment at all. Do you think he meant it? Do you think he wanted his followers to be this determined to limp and be bandaged up to see and welcome the Kingdom of God in their midst? He did, of that there is no doubt… but not literally. He didn’t expect us to lose a hand or a foot or an eye but he did expect us to give all that we have and all that we are to the furtherment of the Kingdom in this world. To knock us off a course that only nods in agreement to his words of Blessed are the poor or Blessed are the meek and instead cuts deeply and directly to the core of what life is all about. To push aside all those things that are just fluff and get real and get grounded in God’s designs for lives.

And of course this got me thinking… for without a doubt there are those things that we all need to cut off from our lives that get in the way of who we truly are or what we truly desire or what God truly wants of us. What are some of the things that need to be cut off from us? Perhaps not literally but the things that weigh us down that need to be cut free. That anger that bubbles to the surface over some seemingly small and insignificant event. That movement away from taking time to pray during the day. That desire to control the things that we cannot control. Those snide comments that we offer a situation that would be better left unsaid. Those things that we need to forgive about ourselves but that we never really do. Those moments when we are all alone and have a little time to think and we ponder what we really want out of life… and yet we follow a different path. Why we get so caught up in things that we actually are not that interested in but just seems the thing to do. Those things that we continue to nag at ourselves about that keep telling us that we are not good enough or strong enough or young enough or… well if you know the voice you know what I mean. You will have your own list but Jesus is clearly interested in us cutting off those things that get in the way of us being Kingdom people and challenges us to take on those that bring us closer to God and God’s light in this world.

Ted Loder phrases it this way in the prayer poem I am in Need of… What? See if it rings true for you.

Well, God,
I made it through another sweet-sour time,
And here I am,
Nibbled
Frazzled
Puzzled, awed
And in need of… of what?
A chuckle, maybe,
A revolution begun with a belly laugh,
A Bronx cheer in the face of the onslaughts of disaster and death itself.
Such is my need;
And this is my wonder:
Are you really as humourless,
As grimly serious as I have made you out to be?
Or do aardvarks and monkeys.
Bullfrogs and platypuses,
Puppies and porpoises, and people perhaps,
Reveal the comic side of your grace, the playful side of your love?
Tickle me into giggling down the wailing walls of my endless grievances.
And trip up my waddling pomposities.

Lord of laughter, as of tears,
Shake me awake
And teach me to laugh at myself, at my black-draped solemnity,
Over my petty preoccupation with success and failure,
Through all the hurt and adversity
Until my laughter lures me deep
Beneath the terrors without names,
Beneath the questions without answers,
Beneath the pain without relief;
Lures me deep to the love in me unused
To the strength unspent
To the courage untapped
To the dream unrisked,
To the beauty unexpressed;
All the way down to the inescapable bottom,
To the awareness that I must get on
With being who I am as fully as I can,
As unflinchingly as I can, as accurately as I can,
Which is to say, as gracefully, as powerfully , as faithfully
As you created me to be.

For Jesus, faith was not something on the periphery of life, it was life. For Jesus, a spiritual life was not something only talked about it was something that guided any and all actions. For Jesus, a connection with God was not something read about in books or seen in a video no, it was a bridge to every aspect of life and to living. And so when he says cut off your hand or your foot or your eye he was meaning that faith in God, knowledge of the Kingdom of God, was the basis of all things and nothing should get in the way of it.

Today at the 10:00 service in particular we are honouring St. Francis with the blessing of pets. But we will also hear more about the story of Francis’ life. A life in which he gave up his wealth, his status, his family, his possessions, his career to care for the poor and to live the Kingdom of God in his time. He gave it all up for he believed that these things blocked his view of the kingdom in his midst.

When we look at the world of today and are concerned about war, poverty, refugees, violence, environmental degradation, and a whole host of other things, what is our faith in the kingdom calling us to do? How are we to react? What are we called to do? Some say it is very confusing to know what to do and how to respond but it doesn’t seem to be for Jesus. If your hand is in the way of this cut it off, or your foot cut that off too or your eye then tear it out. Don’t get caught up in excuses get on with living the way the Kingdom demands: one of love and compassion. We are called to deepen our search for the Kingdom even in our world of today pushing aside all those things that get in the way not with violence but a deep exploration of who we are and who God is calling us to be.