Sermon Preached at Trinity Church, Newport; Sunday September 27th 2015

The Reverend Alan Neale; Are You Serious?

In her wonderful and utterly surprising novel, Double Bind, Chris Bohjalian writes this: The
expression double bind had a clinical origin [suggesting] that a particular brand of bad parenting
could inadvertently spawn schizophrenia. Essentially, it meant consistently offering a child a series
of contradictory messages: telling him you loved him while turning away in disgust. Telling him you
needed to go to sleep when you really wanted him out of your hair. Asking him to kiss you good
night and then telling him offensively he has bad breath. Over a long period of time a child
would develop an unreal world of his own.
The Double Bind. Any reflective disciple of Christ, any thoughtful reader of the Gospels, finds
him/herself in a double bind when it comes to Mark Chapter Nine, the Gospel for today. Even the
self-preening fundamentalist literalist stops here (as with other verses but thats for another time).
The loving, gracious, accepting, forgiving, understanding Jesus suddenly (apparently without
warning) careens into us with verses about the probably necessity for self-mutilation and
amputation if your hand offend cut it off; if your foot offend cut it off; if your eye offend
pluck it out.
Everything within us wants to cry out Jesus, Are You Serious?.
(Yard Sale Offers!!! Are you serious?.)
The Hatchery was established in New York in 2007. The concept was to provide entrepreneurs
with five minutes to present their idea to a panel of seasoned investors. One wit quipped Think of
it as American Idol meets Venture Capital. The five minute presentation is entitled Are You
Serious.
In less than five minutes Jesus hurls at us a staggeringly unexpected lightning bolt from an
otherwise loving serene sky Jesus, Are You Serious?.
(Youre better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the
fire of hell Message Translation.)
Origen took Jesus seriously, literally! One of my favorite early church fathers (he was a Christian
scholar and theologian of the third century AD), Origen castrated himself so that he would be less
likely to stray from the kingdom! This was also the man who was so moved by the irresistible love
of God that he imagined even the demons being eventually reconciled to God! Now, theres a
double bind!
Earlier in Mark chapter nine Jesus has met with the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration,
healed the sick and hugged the child. Now, verses 42-48, Jesus speaks with different tone, sharper
intensity, quickened emphasis, almost aggressive challenge. Here is vividly pictured the enormity of
inflicting spiritual injury upon others and upon ourselves. With considerable vehemence Jesus
reflects on the peril of spiritually harming others and others; the intensity of his words is measure
of the enormity of his warning!
(A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text The Reverend Tom Carson.
Interpret a Scripture by the Scripture Martin Luther.)

In the whole light of Scripture, given all I know, have experienced of our loving heavenly Father, I
am unable to believe that entrance into the kingdom depends upon the possible need for selfmutilation and amputation. But I believe that Jesus wants me stop and think, pause and consider
that at times my enjoyment, experience of the Kingdom of God is fearfully fragile, terribly
tenuous maybe even now in this sacred place! Is this not the same for you? Bill Wilson writes to
fellow addicts, What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our
"spiritual condition" (AA BB p.85).
The day begins with exposure to, awareness of Gods creative power all is fresh, new, good,
wholesome, full of promise but then (aargh) something is done, something said and that precious
experience seems snatched from us in a nano-second, in the blinking of an eye!
A pattern, patterns, of behavior are stealing from me an experience of the Kingdom of God the
work of my hands is causing me to stumble, will I desist and be saved?
A plan, plans, are likely to prevent me from an experience of the Kingdom of God the work of
my feet will cause me to stumble, will I desist and be saved?
An attitude, perspective, understanding of another person (a particular situation) is snatching from
me the precious experience of the Kingdom of God the work of my eyes is causing me to
stumble, will I desist and be saved?
Am I to amputate, maim and blind myself? Jesus, are you serious? Yes for here is holy ground ,
here we nurture or neglect our spiritual lives, the deepest psyche within us that affords and makes
possible life in all its fullness, in all its abundance.
Ultimately, basically, fundamentally these challenging and perturbing verses in Mark chapter nine,
from the lips of our loving Lord Jesus these verses, before ever they prompt me to ask Jesus, Are
You Serious? actually come from a question Jesus asks of me, of you?
Alan, are you serious about your spiritual life, your discipleship, you breathing the atmosphere of
the kingdom of God day by day, moment by moment?.
Years ago a parishioner described her relationship as in life-support mode, it needed the paddles
to jolt it back into life.
You can imagine, you have seen it on television or right before your eyes, a patient is losing their
grip on life and, a Code Blue is announced, and professionals rush to save a life with defibrillation
pads or paddles in hand. These discomforting verses are Code Blues from Jesus, trying to jolt us
back into spiritual vitality.
How you and I respond to the needs of our physical body is, of course, important but we know
that this has a limited shelf-life!
The way we respond to the needs of our spiritual lives has timeless, eternal consequences! We
neglect, ignore, disregard, overlook opportunities for worship, prayer, study, service at our peril.
With such verses Jesus forces us halt, pay attention, and he asks, Are You Serious?.