One of the great things about new converts to Christianity is their enthusiasm for their new found faith. It's a pity really that we seem to lose it as we go on in the Christian life, because the new convert seems to have an energy and enthusiasm that's contagious. One of the things that drives that enthusiasm is the realisation that they've been brought into a privileged relationship with God the Father; that they've been adopted as one of his children, and they can now experience the peace that only he can give.
	But at the same time there's a danger in this discovery, and that is, that as they look around they start to notice that others don't have the same enthusiasm. Even though others may have been Christians longer, they don't seem to be excited by the gospel. I remember a young couple in a church we used to go to, who were on fire for the Lord. They sang louder than everyone else, they praised the Lord, they told their friends about him, they were totally committed to him. But they were worried about the rest of the congregation who didn't seem to share this overt enthusiasm. So they started to give us pep talks about being more enthusiastic in our worship, about raising our hands when we sang, raising our voices when we said the responses, and so forth.
	Well, the result of all this wasn't what they were hoping for. Rather than getting the congregation excited, all they did was to create a sense of guilt in the minds of those who found that sort of expression of worship difficult. Some people even began to doubt their own faith. Why weren't they enthusiastic like this other couple if they really believed the gospel?
	What this couple had forgotten was that different people respond to God in different ways and that God gives different gifts to different people. They thought that what they'd been given was the norm, and therefore everyone else should follow it.
	This is not unlike the situation the disciples found themselves in, in today's passage. They'd seen someone driving out demons in Jesus' name but this person wasn't one of them. I was going to say he wasn't one of Jesus' followers, but of course that would be to make the same mistake as the disciples. What we're told is that he wasn't one of them. That's the important point isn't it? He didn't fit into their definition of a follower of Christ. He wasn't one of their group. So they'd told him to stop. But, they'd got it wrong. Surprise, surprise! "No," Jesus says, "Don't stop him. If he does a miracle in my name then he can't oppose you for speaking in my name. No, anyone who isn't against us is for us."
	What the disciples had missed is the very thing that Jesus is trying to teach them as he heads for Jerusalem. Have a look at verse 31: (Mark 9:31 NRSV) "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he meant. This teaching that he gives them through the rest of this chapter is all predicated on this statement. The Messiah has come, not to conquer the enemies of Israel, but to die and three days later to rise again. Rather than being warmly received he would be opposed and, in the end, killed. If they thought they were following the anointed king of Israel, they needed to understand what that entailed.
	He's already begun to teach them, in the previous chapter, along with the crowds, that it entailed the way of the cross, of carrying your cross as you went along. And that meant that you could expect opposition.
	But they didn't understand. The depth of their misunderstanding is shown by their conversation as they go down the road towards Capernaum. They begin to discuss who is the greatest among them. Now, I guess that was a natural topic of conversation, considering that Jesus had just taken Peter, James and John with him up the mountain of transfiguration. That would seem to imply some sort of hierarchy among the disciples wouldn't it? So too, might Jesus words to Peter, after he confesses him to be the Christ. As Matthew records it, Jesus tells Peter, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Plenty of people have interpreted that as giving Peter a status above the rest of the disciples, so we can hardly blame them for having this discussion can we? But Jesus is very worried about it. So much so that he sits down, calls the 12 over to him and speaks to them about it.
	This is a serious matter. It's the classic family meeting. Did you ever have those? When there was some serious issue that needed to be discussed by the whole family? Everyone would gather around the dining room table and Dad or Mum would raise the issue then everyone would have their say? Well, it might depend on how old you are. If you're from an earlier generation it might just have been Father who had a say, with perhaps Mother backing him up. Well, that's the feel of this account. Jesus calls them over and speaks to them. What he says is the opposite of what they would have thought, and, may I say, it's the opposite of what we generally think, at least deep down in our subconscious. If anyone wants to be first, that is, important, in the Kingdom of God, they actually have to be last. Now just think about the people you would have said were important in the Church at present. Either in the larger Church or in our local Church. // Are they the people who are up front or are they ones who put themselves last. My guess is they're the ones who are up front. The archbishops and bishops, the vicars and churchwardens, the leaders. And how do you rise to such a position? Well, too often, it's by putting yourself forward; by being on the right committees; by speaking up and being heard. That's in stark contrast to the way Jesus suggests. If you want to be first, you must be the very last. Why? Because that's what the Messiah did. He came not to conquer but to be conquered. To be put to death by those who opposed him. But as history would prove, being last doesn't always last; not if God is the judge. The Messiah came as a servant, but by his service won a great victory over sin and death.
	Just to illustrate his point, Jesus takes a little child and stands him in the middle of their circle and says "if you welcome a little child like this, you welcome me, and if you welcome me, you welcome not just me but the one who sent me." Now we lose some of the force of this illustration with our 20th century attitude to children. To us it comes naturally to welcome a little child into our midst. We rejoice greatly when someone has a new baby, we love to have children in our services. But in Jesus' day, children had a very lowly place in society. Even the children of the master were treated the same as the slaves' children. That is, they were of no account at all. It wasn't even the Victorian attitude that children should be seen but not heard. Rather children shouldn't be seen at all. So Jesus is suggesting something quite radical here. Yet let's remember that the way Jesus came to earth was as a little child. Not only did he welcome little children, but he chose that form in which to appear on earth.
	Now what's the point of this illustration of Jesus? It isn't just that we should be nice to children, along with their pets and all of God's creatures. No, it's that in the Kingdom of God, it's not the great who matter, it's not your status that God looks at. No, every person is equally important. In fact the least important take on a special importance, because they're the test of whether you've really joined the Kingdom or are just standing on the threshold. It's as we welcome and accept the least important people that we show that we welcome and accept Jesus, and the Father who sent him.
	I guess what Jesus is saying is that in this new Kingdom that he's bringing in things are different. Categories are turned on their heads. Status goes out the window. You have to rethink how you relate to other people. That applies equally to the situation we started with. The man who was driving out demons in Jesus name didn't fit into their category of a follower. But in the economy of the Kingdom, they couldn't afford to reject anyone who accepted the name of Jesus. The way of the cross was difficult enough. Within a few years they'd find themselves at odds with most of the community, so they needed to stay on side with whoever they could. In fact in the context of the way of the cross, there are only 2 categories - those who oppose you and those who are on your side.
	I guess the same is true today, at a time when Christians form a minority in our society. We mightn't like it but that's the case. The number of people who are in Church on any given Sunday in Australia at the moment is something like 10% of the population. So we can't afford to scoff or turn our noses up at any group who calls on the name of Christ. Mind you, we might not agree with some of their methods or their doctrine and we might well advise our friends to steer clear of some of them, and we might be disappointed or embarrassed at the failings of some of them to follow Christ faithfully, but we have to be very careful about rejecting them as fellow followers of Christ.
	I don't know if many of you watched that show last week on the ABC, called First Wednesday. The topic under discussion was "What is the future of the Church?" and, apart from what was said by the 3 church representatives, one of the striking things about the show was the great diversity of people there, claiming to have an allegiance to Christ. Now half of them I'd probably disagree with if it came to a discussion of theology, but, apart from the Hare Krishnas, they all appeared to believe in Jesus Christ. Now that's an exciting thing isn't it? That people from all sorts of backgrounds and nationalities and traditions believe in Christ, and believe that there's a future for his Church. It goes against everything the popular media portrays, a point that was well made by our own archbishop. It goes against the mainstream of society, but these people were willing to stand up on national television and proclaim their faith in Jesus.
	So be careful when you're discussing the latest heretical sect, or that television evangelist that you can't stand, to remember that Jesus calls all sorts of people into his Kingdom. And remember that even if they're not genuine in their profession of faith, that at least if they've professed Jesus' name, they can't in the next breath turn to criticise you for your faith in Christ. Now I know there'll be someone who's thinking, yes but what about when they do something that brings Christ's name into disrepute? Well, I think the answer to that may be that if you can't do anything about it then it's better to leave it to God to deal with how his name is used. That at least is what I think Jesus had in mind here. The problem for us is to make sure that nothing we do brings Christ's name into disrepute.
	That at least is the import of the last few verses of the chapter. Since he has the child standing there in front of him he decides to use him as a further example. He says "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for them to have a large millstone tied around their neck and be cast into the sea." Then he goes on to suggest that if you find the temptation to sin is too much for you it's better to do radical surgery on yourself than to let it continue. It's like someone with a tumour. If you let it go it'll just continue to eat away at you until it kills you. Better to cut it out and live than to avoid the surgery and risk death.
	He isn't talking about literal self-mutilation as some people have understood him to mean. But he's saying that the temptation to sin is an important issue for the Christian who's travelling the way of the Cross. There are many pitfalls along the way and drastic measures are needed to avoid them. It's all too easy to wander off the path if you're not careful.
	You see, the dangers of the path aren't just in the fact that you'll meet opposition. There are also the dangers that come from within, that lead us astray in the first place. If we fail to live up to the requirements of the kingdom then we're in trouble. The little one here isn't just a child, but one who's young in the faith. It might include, for example, this man they've just mentioned who's been healing in Jesus' name. It may be that his healing is part of his path to saving faith in Jesus. So what he needs is not to be prohibited but to be introduced to the real person of Jesus.
	Jesus sums all of this up with the phrase, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other." Salt is a purifying agent. It combats decay. So what he's saying is to be sure that the decay that's natural in all of us, the tendency to go our own way rather than God's, is overcome. Keep yourselves inwardly pure, particularly in the way you think about other's. That way you'll be at peace with each other. Don't worry about status or importance. Don't worry about whether the other person has their theology exactly right. Avoid the temptation to think that we have the right answers or that we're on the right track and others haven't quite got it right. Rather live at peace with all those who acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
	Let me sum all of this up by saying we need to shape our discipleship by the shadow of the cross. That is, let the shadow of the cross, and all that that implies, shape how we respond to our circumstances and particularly those we come across who claim to be Christians. Let's be sure that the salt of the gospel holds its saltiness throughout our lives, that we never stop allowing ourselves to be purified by what it teaches us, with the result that we live at peace with ourselves and with each other.

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