Space Junk
Mark 9:38-50
9/28/2003
It’s no bigger than a single grain of sand. But it packs as much energy as a bowling ball traveling 60 miles per hour. Space junk.
Floating around the earth is a vast cloud of garbage, including bits of metal and computer chips from hundreds of exploded rocket boosters and satellites. There has always been a chance that the space shuttle or its crew would be lost to a strike by orbital garbage.
In fact, early investigations of the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia focused on a piece of space junk, among other possibilities. Ever since space debris has accumulated, NASA has worried about it, and has included the danger in its calculations. In the case of Columbia, NASA’s Final Readiness Review declared there was 1 chance in 370 that either the crew or the orbiter would be lost because of an impact by space junk — a figure well within NASA’s standard safety limits.
What makes this garbage so dangerous is the space shuttle’s incredible speed in orbit — an average of 17,000 miles per hour. At that speed, a strike by debris the size of a pea is comparable to being struck on Earth by a 600-pound safe traveling 60 miles per hour.
That’s a cataclysmic, cosmic collision! Fortunately, NASA has done whatever it can to minimize the risk of a debris strike in orbit, including turning the shuttle around so that the crew compartment is protected by the tail.
So…….what kind of “space junk” do we leave behind as we move through our daily activities? What is the deadly impact of our everyday words and deeds?
This is what Jesus is driving home in this disturbing discussion with his disciples. (READ MARK 9: 38-50)
As the lesson begins, the disciple John peevishly reports that an outsider has been using the name of Jesus without permission. “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us” (Mark 9:38).
You can imagine John holding up his hand in front of Jesus, expecting a high-five.
But Jesus shakes his head in disagreement. “Don’t stop him,” he orders; “for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us” (vv. 39-40).
The disciples are shocked by this. After all, they are the chosen few, the ultimate insiders, the faithful followers, the top 12, the best and the brightest, the Lord’s own Dream Team. They have made a significant sacrifice to hit the road and follow him, and now Jesus is saying, “Whoever is not against us is for us??”
Selectivity. It will derail discipleship and dilute the meaning of the kingdom every time. John and the others see themselves as the only chosen ones, the gatekeepers of the gospel, guardians of faith and practice, protectors of theology and ethics. Our way or the highway.
We do the same thing today when we refuse to participate in worthy causes because they might be affiliated with a group we condemn, such as ABATE, the motorcyclists who were in town a week ago and we don’t feel comfortable with people “like that,” different from us. We do the same today when we criticize others for doing something differently, it’s not the way we’re used to.
But what does Jesus say? “Whoever is not against us is for us.” We should never be more selective than Jesus himself. Now, he’s not saying that being indifferent or neutral toward him is as good as being committed. In Matthew 12:30 he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” Although that sounds like he is saying either is okay, he’s really saying that you can’t be neutral about him. It’s just not possible. What that says for us is that not all of Christ’s followers will look like us or belong to the same groups. Some may have body piercings. Some may drink beer. Some will have tattoos. But all those who are on Jesus’ side will have the same goal of building up the kingdom of God. We must not let our differences separate us.
What about those times we are insensitive — especially being insensitive to the emotional and spiritual needs of others. (SHORT PAUSE) In 1965, during the first American space walk, the Gemini 4 astronaut Edward White lost a glove.
For a month, the glove stayed in orbit, flying with a speed of thousands of miles per hour. Edward White’s misplaced glove became the most dangerous garment in history.
While most of us don’t tend to lose gloves in space, we do drop pieces of dangerous debris that can become a stumbling block to others. We don’t like the music in church, we’re critical of the way so-and-so is raising her kids, we complain about the pastor doing this or NOT doing that, we’re more likely to criticize than affirm.
Every insensitive word out of our mouths is a flying piece of verbal debris—stumbling blocks-- that discourages and undermines others.
Incidently, a stumbling block is not just anything that causes someone to be offended ....
It is not a stumbling block for a man to have long hair and a pony tail, if the people who are offended by this are not tempted to have a pony tail themselves, and in doing so violate their beliefs.
It cannot be a stumbling block when a woman is offended at a man’s beard, unless she is tempted to grow a beard and in doing so would violate her beliefs. It is not a stumbling block when a man is offended at a woman nursing a baby in public, since he is presumably not going to be tempted to start nursing a baby.
The church people who are most offended by wine drinking would typically never be tempted to drink wine in the first place. Drinking alcohol may be a stumbling block, but not to those offended by it, but rather it is a stumbling block to those who may imitate this action. They might not be able to handle it, so it would do them damage, become addictive and lead them into sin.
And there are other issues. Being selective to the point of exclusion and insensitivity are bad enough. But there’s more. The apostle Paul addresses the problems frequently in his letters. He calls it impurity, lust, greed, idolatry, anger, malice, slander, filthy language. All of this stuff not only causes our own spiritual life to cave in on us, but it can seriously damage those around us.
So perhaps you’re thinking: I’m not in that category! Like I’ve said before, if that’s the case, just nudge the person sitting next to you and say, “Hey! Wake up! She’s preaching something you need to hear!”
It doesn’t take much to inflict damage. And Jesus has harsh words for those of us who do: “It would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown unto the sea.” (9:43).
Jesus says this in the context of the excuses we offer when we’ve been throwing our junk around.
We excuse ourselves, saying that “It wasn’t really me, it was my hand that wronged someone.”
Or we say, “It wasn’t really me, it was my feet that took me places I should not have gone.”
Or we say, “It wasn’t really me, it was my eyes that saw things they shouldn’t have seen.”
Jesus uses our own cockamamie blame-shifting to damn us.
“If,” he says, “on the basis of your own testimony, your hand, foot or eye is the true cause of the evil you do, then it would be better to sever your hand, cut off your foot, poke out the offending eye — than to spend an eternity in hell.”
Of course, Jesus knows this is stupid. It is not our body parts that lead us to sin, but a defective spiritual center — our hearts — that is at the core of things. We don’t need a series of amputations, we need a heart transplant, and only then can we live clean lives, free of the debris and junk that continually harms ourselves and those around us. Remember David, the guy who wrote many of the Psalms? David knew exactly when he needed a heart transplant, right after he committed adultery with his best friend’s wife and then had his best friend killed so David could keep her. When he realized what he had done, which was sinned against God, he wrote: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
David doesn’t say, “Change the way I behave.” He says, “Change my heart. Make me a clean heart and put a new and right spirit within me.” It’s not that how we behave is unimportant. It’s just that we’ve got to start with our hearts. We can go through all the right motions without our heart being right, but if the heart is right, everything else will fall into place.
That’s why in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “I don’t want you to sit back all proud just because you’ve never murdered anyone. I want to know what’s in your heart. And I don’t want you to think you’re somebody special just because you’ve never committed adultery. Let’s take a look at what’s in your heart.”
It has to begin by purifying our hearts. And we are not God, so we cannot “create,” we can’t purify our own hearts. Only God can purify our hearts, removing our space junk.
As we fly through each day, at home or at work or at school, traveling at speeds that often threaten to spin us out of control, let’s be careful about what we spew into the space around us.
Let’s try to be inclusive of others, as Jesus was, and sensitive to the emotional and spiritual needs of the people around us.
PLEASE PRAY WITH ME:
Father, We come from full and empty lives, searching for you to give meaning and purpose to our lives. Too many times we forget that it is only you, Lord, who can do that. Help us remember who comforts us in sorrow and heals us in our pain. Let us always give our hearts to you. Amen.
BENEDICTION:
Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Only then will your bodies and souls be relieved from all the desires and cravings shaped by this world. Go now, bearing good fruit in your lives. Amen.
Sources: Smith, R. Jeffrey. “Talk of tile problem was brief: Outside review of situation wasn’t requested,” The Washington Post, February 6, 2003, A1. —Randy Alcorn, “A stumbling block: What it is and what it isn’t,” Eternal Perspective Ministries Web Site, epm.org/stumble.html. Retrieved March 28, 2003. Used by permission of Randy Alcorn.
