Plucky
Esther 7, 9; Mark 9:38-50

October 1, 2006


Some titles should be explained for the benefit of public health. A friend told me about the T-shirts he saw on sale in Beijing a few years ago, where it was obvious that the command of North American English idiom was not that high. One T-shirt having to do with the accomplishment of climbing the Great Wall: “I’m a Plucky Hero!” Never quite seen those two words back to back before.

To be plucky is to be brave and spirited, utilizing one’s brains and wits more than one’s brawn, always I have sensed with a kind of light touch. Samson could never have been accused of being plucky. Perhaps David was plucky with Goliath, but he was definitely unplucky after that. Now Esther, is she not the model of a plucky heroine? She used no brawn, raised no sword, rushed into no battle, but she risked her life by her words and her relationships to save her people from a diabolical genocide.

It’s a lot easier to admire Esther because her courage is not based in her brute strength. Few of us have that movie star superhero power, but most of us can be plucky, although I need to warn you, it usually takes more courage to be plucky.

But, was Jesus plucky? I doubt many would attach that label to him. On one hand, he had the power of Almighty God coursing through his veins, rather unpluckily; yet on the other hand, his ultimate strength was his weakness, expressed on the cross. There is no light touch in these episodes read this morning, for this God Spell, this Gospel and Good News is serious business.

Out of thin air, John comes to Jesus complaining. “We saw a man casting out demons in your name and we told him to cut it out because he wasn’t following our group.” Now that is news, different news. Jesus’ ministry had reached such renown that now there were imitators, good ones. Apparently, this fellow that John and the others caught doing Jesus things was good. Even though he had never been a known quantity, he obviously had learned well by osmosis, being able to cast out demons, not the easiest of Jesus’ tasks. But he did not have a union card, he was not certified, and we all know that today unless you are certified by a recognized and certified institution, nothing you do is considered valid or even legal and ethical. The United Church of Canada Manual has pages and pages distributed throughout the whole book on how to be correctly certified and processed.

Jesus wasn’t bothered with certification. Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of praise. “If he thinks enough of us to use our name, then we’ve got a convert. And if he has really healed someone, then he’s working on our side. In fact, by healing someone he has joined our club.” Jesus was on a roll, “Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice” (The Message).

I may be stepping over the line a little, but I’ll take that risk. Jesus was going so far to say that if someone gives you water, food, clothing, hospitality, dignity, freedom in the name of Moses, then he’s all right. If someone gives you water in the name of Allah and rescues you from dehydration, then he’s on God’s side. If he gives you food in the name of Buddha and prevents you from starving, then he is part of the divine creation of this world. And if he or she gives you clothing on behalf of human dignity, then let God sort out the affiliation business. They’re doing the same beautiful gracious thing. It is crazy to stop them, and if you stop them, are you trying to stop God too?

Jesus can hardly be more open than this. This is the way we appreciate him best as the one who includes as many people as possible in the kingdom. However, there is a “but” to the continuation of Jesus’ comments. By now you probably know that there are almost always “buts” in what Jesus says, and this is one of the biggest “buts”, a rather jarring string of disturbing instructions.

It’s all good when you are helping someone in the flow of your faith, but heaven help you if you start messing around with one of the little ones and dragging them down. “Little ones” aren’t exclusively children - it implies all those people, most of us here, who have very little power, who are just beginning in the faith and are easily distracted, dissuaded, and deluded, those who because of their physical and mental vulnerability are not able to defend themselves adequately.

Jesus lets loose and his imagination takes a dark turn of language. Millstones around the neck, cutting off hands and feet, plucking out eyes (a more gruesome use of “plucky”), we wonder if this is the same Jesus. Few passages have bothered people more than this one, for it is hard to get away from the literal brutality and sadism depicted here. You have to read and listen to all the words, though.

Jesus never tells anybody to do any of these terrible mutilating and suicidal things. “It would be better if...” is a brutally honest, yet metaphorical way of describing the really terrible bind you have placed your soul in by being the bully and cause of harm to other people who cannot protect themselves. Many ethnic cultures are known for certain earthy expressions and style of imagery in their less than elegant language - French, Ukranian, Hungarian, Cree, Scottish, Irish - all utter oaths with enthusiastic and colourful gusto. The Semitic tendency is to exaggerate, often wildly, the punch line of any argument. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Oh, I know we get the main point, but do you know how many trees have lost their lives to try to answer and imagine how the camel got through the needle!

Jesus’ language has actually been ignored and pushed off into the margins by those who insist upon taking it literally. There is a tone of anger and impatience in all that cutting off and plucking out to which we have to listen carefully for what Jesus is really saying.

What does a person mean to say when he uses an explicative, an oath, when she swears? They are attempting to say that something is really really bad or terribly important - the situation is so critical that it goes beyond one’s vocabulary to express precisely. So, four letter words are useful in expressing the passion involved in the inexpressible. Jesus exaggerates his metaphors, “It would have been better...,” to declare that this is a serious matter in which one has to be seriously committed to serving the needs of “the little ones” and never take advantage of their vulnerability.

Yet, what plucks at me is that what Jesus requires of us is so little - a cup of water for the kingdom! Frankly, you have to expend a lot more energy, time, and connivance to lead one of the little ones astray. Doing evil is harder work than doing good. That is the Gospel, the really exaggerated Good News!

Why do we focus so much on the problems of doing evil, of extreme hand wrenching over severed hands and plucked out eyes, and not upon the simple cups of water that require only love for you to give? If we are serious about making the Good News a reality, then we need to spend serious time on the cups of water and dishing out the meals, handing out the coats, listening to the soul of a troubled neighbour, speaking up and speaking out against the oppression of a little one. Don’t worry, evil will find its way to you, you aren’t living in Paradise yet. But we don’t have to give evil any room, don’t have to allow it any time to grow. Allow your plucky courage to fill in all the spaces, and keep your arms and feet and eyes intact.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan