St. John Lutheran Church

Mark 9:38-50

“It’s better to enter heaven…”

Grace mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

One of my favorite kinds of ice cream growing up was the Klondike Choco-Taco made by Klondike. They seem pretty hard to find these days. Klondike has had a history of commercials that center around doing something to earn their ice cream. One of those campaigns centered on  the theme of doing something for 5 seconds to earn glory. One of the commercials is a man dancing in the “dance circle” for 5 seconds, another is a man watching a “chick flick” for 5 seconds, other commercials have a man sharing his grill for 5 seconds or riding a mechanical taco for 5 seconds…my least favorite…is a man “truly listening” to his wife for…5 seconds. Just 5 seconds to glory.

What would you do for a Klondike bar? Well…probably not much. The standards don’t seem to be very high. But what would you do… to see the Cubs or Sox win another World Series? What would you do to get a winning lottery ticket worth millions of dollars? What would you do for an average yield of over 200 bushel an acre of corn? What would you do to get a higher paying job, a bigger house, a new car, or some other item you really, really want? What would you do to save your child, your parent or spouse?

Those aren’t easy questions to answer. For many the answer to those questions are: I would do anything…or everything. The problem is that often our “anything or everything” is very sinful. We live by the old adage “the ends justify the means.” We would do anything and everything…even things that are unpopular, hurtful, sinful…if the end result is what we want.

We have been influenced by society. We are willing to lie if it gets us ahead. We would let others take the blame to avoid the consequences of our actions. We will cheat if it helps us to win. We would kill and even murder to save the ones we love. Whether its keeping all the change given us when we pay our bill even though they gave us back too much, or keeping the money we saw someone drop out of their pocket unknowingly…to hurting others for your own benefit. We would even murder to get what we want. Do you not think that happens? How do you explain children willingly breaking into cars for change in a church parking lot or teens killing other teens for their new Nike Air-Jordans? The ends justify the means. It is engrained into our society…hence the reason we vote for our preferred politician regardless of the things they promise…even though we know they are saying anything to be elected.

What would you do for 5 seconds to receive the glory of a Klondike bar…? No… rather… what would you do for an eternity in heaven? Anything? Everything? If the ends justify the means…what would you do to save yourself and your loved ones? God’s law requires you to be perfect. You cannot buy or cheat or lie or bribe or steal your way into heaven. In fact there is nothing you can do. What we are able to do is cause others to fall away from faith or to fall away from our own faith.

   “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell  where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” (John 9:42-48)

Truly it is better to die violently than to lead a believer away from saving faith in Christ. It is better to do away with anything that causes us to sin and lose salvation than to give in to sin and be damned to hell. While most would agree with this figuratively…it is also true literally. It would literally be better to cut your eyes out, cut your hands off, or lose other limbs than to be damned to hell. That sounds horrendous, painful, and sickening…but nothing in this world is worth having if the price of keeping it is forfeiting heaven.

We are in dire straits. We cannot do anything to enter heaven…and all the sin that we do can cause us and those we love to lose heaven. Where is our hope? Our hope is in a Father that gave up His innocent Son to death. Our hope is found outside of ourselves…our hope is found in Christ. We are sinful people in need of forgiveness…and that forgiveness is found in Christ.

   “Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”(Mark 9:49-50) Everyone will be salted, that is, purified by fire. You and I, all Christians, have been purified by Water and the Word. In Baptism our sinful nature was drowned and we were raised purified in Christ. God’s Word continues to purify us daily…as we daily sin…and we daily remember our baptism. God in Christ Jesus has made you His own through baptism and continues to forgive your sins and strengthen you through the body and blood of Christ so that you may overcome the world.

The question isn’t what would you do to gain eternal life…for you can do nothing. The question is what has God done for you? The answer is that God gave His Son to die on the cross for you. God chose you to be His child. Heaven is yours for all eternity.  And it’s better than anything in this world. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.