Go
to Hell?
Bures
1.10.06
Mark 9:38-50
Many years ago my boss was a man 20 years older than me. He wasn’t an easy man to work for. He was rude, arrogant, moody, insolent and aggressive. He was a womaniser and pretty much an alcoholic. But somehow the two of us got along fine. For some reason he seemed to have a soft spot for me and I admired him enormously for his intellect. He had a great brain. If ever I had a problem I knew exactly how to approach him. “Tom,” I would say, “I don’t think there’s an answer to this.” He loved a challenge and, of course, his superior intellect would click into gear. His mind would always work in a peculiar way. He would turn a problem on its head, or go to a possible solution and look back at the problem from there. Like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. As he did so, very often the answer would become obvious.
The same can be true of the Christian message. If we look at our lives from the future looking back, rather than from the present, we can often get a much clearer picture. This comes out very vividly in our gospel reading today.
In this passage Jesus said there would be judgement for all of us after death. So, using my friend Tom’s logic, let’s be very brave and take a retrospective look back at our lives – viewing them from the perspective of judgement. Let’s look down the other end of the telescope.
First the background. In Mark chapter 9 the disciples are having a rollercoaster ride. They have seen Jesus do the “impossible” – make the blind see, walk on water and feed thousands from 5 tiny bread rolls and a couple of sardines.
Later he took Peter, James and John to a high mountain. His clothes became dazzling white and a voice from a cloud announced “This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him.”
They came down the mountain to find that the other disciples had tried and failed to heal a demon-possessed boy. Jesus said that what was lacking was prayer and fasting. Then he commanded the evil spirit to come out of the boy and it did, with an ear-splitting shriek.
Having seen both their own failures and the power and ability of Jesus they still managed to fall into one of the classic human errors. They argued among themselves about who was the greatest.
It’s against this background that
Jesus gave them one of his severest warnings about sin: “If your hand or foot
or eye leads you into sin, get rid of it.”
Jesus didn’t mean this literally. He was just pointing out how serious
sin is. And the threat of ignoring his words is extremely serious. Jesus is the
one who taught us about hell or “gehenna”, as he called it. The earthly Gehenna
was a brilliant visual aid. It was in fact a deep valley outside the
So first we have the background. Secondly, contemplating judgement and hell crystallises our thoughts.
One of the major reasons I became a Christian was that I was afraid of what would happen after I died. Where would I go if I fell under a bus one day in the City? Jesus certainly taught that if we were determined to go our own way in this world we would face severe judgement in the next. If we sing with Frank Sinatra “I did it my way” we will sing a much sadder and more painful song when we die. Jesus’ teaching is full of warnings on judgement.
A vicar who was new in his parish decided to bring in a friend of his to do a mission for 5 nights in his church. The vicar said to his friend, “Please go easy on these people. Don’t speak on judgement. I don’t want any Billy Graham preaching here.” “Don’t worry,” said his friend. “I’m going to speak on John 3:16 every night” On the Monday night he preached on “God so loved the world”. Tuesday on “That he gave his only Son”. Wednesday on “Whoever believes in him”. On Thursday he announced his text…. then he turned to the vicar and asked “Can I carry on, please?”…… “Should not perish”. Jesus’ teaching on earth is riddled with warnings of perishing, of judgement.
I’m sure you remember the story he told of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell. The rich man was in so much pain that he begged to go back to earth to warn his family about what the future held for them. Imagine if he came to Bures. He would be knocking on all the doors of the village. How urgent would be his warnings. How desperately he would beg us to be rescued. Contemplating judgement and hell crystallises our thoughts.
Thirdly the rescue. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of the heavenly conversation that must have taken place between Jesus and his father many thousands of years ago. “My son, those people are relying on the sacrifice of bulls and goats to be saved. I want you to go to earth to be the perfect sacrifice for them once for all”. Being the perfect son, despite the pain, he obeyed. It had to be done and he did it. In doing so he defeated death. He went to hell, that horrible, stinking, burning, rotting place that he described as “gehenna”. He rose again – you could almost say, “smelling of roses”.
If we are brave enough to look at judgement and hell, then we see Jesus in a fresh light. He wants to rescue us from the prospect of hell but so many of us don’t believe we need to be rescued. Imagine a boat sinks, a man is struggling in the water. A helicopter lowers a rope to rescue him. He sees the rope, keeps his hands down and ignores it. Imagine a burning house. A fireman braves the flames to rescue a man trapped inside. When he reaches him the man says, “Thanks, but I think I’ll stay here and just burn to death”. Jesus, by what he did on the Cross, has the power to rescue us. He offers each one of us a new start, a new life and the promise of heaven.
What he did the church can’t do. What he did religion can’t do. What he did Judaism couldn’t do.
When we come to church it’s not because we’re religious. In fact, in a way, we’re celebrating the end of all religion. If we have accepted Jesus’ rescue package we simply meet together here to rejoice in what he’s done for us, to help one another and to sing his praise. When we come up to the communion table, as we will later, all we are doing is saying “Thank you, Lord, for rescuing me”.
Fourthly a warning.
It’s all too easy for those who’ve been rescued to take their rescue for granted. Jesus gives us the power to live for him but there are banana skins on the way. We’ll be tempted at our weakest points. Jesus said, “Cut out those weak points – those points in your life that make you sin”.
A church not far from here has been run very successfully by a male married vicar. He’s been helped by a married lady curate. It’s been a thriving ministry. The curate had an unhappy marriage with a husband who was deeply depressed. In running the church the vicar and curate spent many hours working together. Eventually, unfortunately, they found comfort in each others’arms. They’ve both resigned. The church now has no leadership at all. Two families are devastated. Untold damage has been dome to the Christian message in the town and the whole diocese.
Jesus warned about the eye, the foot and the hand. The eye sees something or someone and is attracted. The foot enables us to move towards that attraction and the hand reaches out to touch that attraction. If any one of these had been cut out how much pain would have been saved in that church.
The rescued life can be a tough and long haul. I’m full of admiration for those who keep going year after year in the Christian life, serving the church, their neighbours and the community.
You may have seen in this week’s Suffolk Free Press two stars of our choir who have both given over 25 years service. Ivy and Laura must have been tempted on many Friday nights to miss choir practice but they’ve kept going all these years and the church is much the better for it.
Fifthly, and lastly, a blessing. And that blessing comes in a curious form. Jesus says that, as rescued people, we are to be like salt. In those days salt was used for two main reasons. First as a disinfectant. Main drainage was not a feature of First Century Jerusalem. Human waste was dumped at the bottom of the garden. Salt was put on it to disinfect it. Second as a fertiliser. Salt is rich in potash which helps the growth of plants.
One thing has always mystified me about this passage. Jesus talks about salt losing its saltiness. How can salt not be salty? Salt is salt. But what happened was that dishonest grocers would mix sand with the salt. Some poor woman would buy a bag, get it home and discover it was mainly sand. It would be no good for disinfectant or fertiliser. She could then only throw it out on the street where it would be trodden underfoot.
If we have been rescued by Jesus, he doesn’t just drop us and leave us on our own. He leaves us his Holy Spirit, whom he described as salt. He disinfects and fertilises. If a group of people are enjoying a dirty joke and a Christian joins them it’s amazing how quickly the conversation will stop. That’s the power of disinfectant. A Christian’s presence in a group should also help people to feel kindly to one another. That’s the power of fertiliser. The Holy Spirit has the power to disinfect and fertilise.
Today is the first service in which Mary is presiding over communion. Mary, we all rejoice that you are now a full-blown minister of the Church of England. As I’ve studied these passages during the week, a verse from the first reading keeps coming back to me, which I believe is meant for you.
“If one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins”.
Mary, we pray that you will turn many from the error of their ways and produce a rich harvest in your ministry.
My friend Tom is still alive. He’s now 75. He’s still bombastic, still drinks too much, still likes to think he can chase women. But I’ll always be grateful to him for helping me to look at things from a different angle.
Looking down the wrong end of the telescope we see Jesus in a new light. That crystallises our thoughts. He is kind enough to warn us of the future. We see him as the great rescuer. He not only rescues us but he gives us the salt of the Holy Spirit so that we can produce a harvest for him in our lives.