Readings: Esther 7:1-6,9-10,9:20-22; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50
I was overwhelmed the other day, while heading to work, to hear that Burma`s democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi was being awarded one of America`s highest honours, the Congressional Gold Medal. It was bestowed on her while she was under house arrest in 2008 but until now she hasn`t been able to receive it.

During the ceremony in Washington the Republican senator John McCain was reported to have said,`I want to thank you my friend, the lady, for teaching me at my age a thing or two about courage and for reminding me to always expect justice to triumph over injustice, goodness over evil, and love over hate.`

When I subsequently read a full newspaper article of the sacrifice, the strength and the love of this woman for the people of Burma and for peace and justice, I felt overwhelmed.

I suppose I never really understood the sacrifice part. She was under house arrest for more than 15 years, unable to see her husband and children, even when her husband was dying of cancer. Her ultimatum, she could leave Burma to see him and say goodbye, but she would not be allowed to return to continue her protests. So she didn`t leave.

`I would like to have been together with my family,` she says. `I would like to have seen my sons growing up. But I don`t have doubts about the fact I had to choose to stay with my people here.`

By 2010 Burma`s rulers finally realised they needed help from the West and so Suu Kyi`s house arrest ended. Today she has been elected to the parliament by the generals, although full democracy still remains a distant prize.

While I have got no idea about the faith journey of such a woman, I suspect that she is a Buddhist, not a Christian. But it doesn`t matter. She could be a Hindu, a Baha`i
or a Muslim. The kingdom and all that Jesus said and did is so clearly reflected in her life and work. God is present, regardless of how you label her.

This acknowledgement, that the way of Jesus can be found as much outside the church as in the church, is the subject of Mark`s reading today.

We initially find the disciples complaining to Jesus about some strangers, who are trying to claim they are healing in Jesus` name without being part of his inner circle. The disciples react with fear and jealousy and seem to have lost sight of the kingdom of God. Instead they are focussed on their own power and territory. Jesus rejects this insular approach, insisting that `he who is not against us is for us`.

God`s prophets will not always speak our language, pray our prayers or look like us, and they may be young or old. But they can be engaging in the same mission, seeking the same kingdom in our world - a mission that calls us to stand beside the least in society, and to stand up for equality and compassion, economic justice and sharing, service rather than domination, and nonviolence and peace. The good news from Jesus is that even by giving a cup of water we can participate in this kingdom of liberation on earth.

Yet often Christians think the opposite - `He who is not with us is against us`. Many forget that the Christian community is not an exclusive club and doesn`t have an exclusive right over the practice of justice and compassion. It is the message the disciples just couldn`t get. It is the message that Christians often distort, to our detriment, and to the detriment of others.

The second part of the reading is quite different from the first. It echoes with images of intentional drowning, self mutilation and permanent residence in hell, surrounded by fire - a little confronting. Some believe they may have been independent sayings and drawn together by Mark in the story of Jesus` journey to Jerusalem, where he teaches about the radical cost of discipleship.

It shifts the focus to the community of faith and the responsibility we have to those most vulnerable in our midst. The writer starts with a wider view and the disciples, and then narrows it to us. If we can`t live the way of Jesus, how can we criticise those who follow the way outside our community!

A child is mentioned in this part of the story, but we should not think of it as innocent and cuddly. Rather as many scholars attest, children in the ancient world were often poor and marginalised. Dominic Crossan would say, `the silent nobodies`. Jesus is reminding us about our responsibilities. We cannot receive him, until we first embrace the people this child represents, both inside and outside the community.

The reading then really turns very sour. The bad news becomes very bad for us, and in some ways reminds us of the things we hear in Sharia law, cutting off of the hands and feet if we have sinned. They may reflect a tradition in Mark that dealt with people in this way. We also get a picture of hell and of unending fire.

Did Jesus really say that? Well, scholars are not sure. What we do know, however, from research into the historical Jesus by Crossan is that Jesus was a nonviolent activist, in opposition to the violent empire of Rome, and that he preached love and forgiveness. We also know that as the gospels were being written over time each one took the stories of the tradition and increased the rhetorical or verbal violence in them to make a point. This culminates in the most violent book of the bible, Revelation. And we know that in the past it has been used to justify terrible acts of violence against people outside the Christian community.

So what do we do with this second half tirade? Well, we read over it and understand the violence metaphorically, but with a little uneasiness. However, that should not distract us from the message. Transforming society will need to start from the ground up if it is going to take root, and it starts with us, the community of faith. The vocation of justice and peacemaking must begin with us.

At the end of the reading there is an image of salt. Bill Loader links salt with peace. Salt has integrity and wholeness. Being at peace with one another is being whole. He
suggests that it is not so much that the salt ceases to be salt but that it becomes contaminated by additions over time, dirt, stones etc, so that it becomes useless.
If we look at others and label their witness as unacceptable because they do not have the right credentials, they in turn will be looking at the salt we display. Jesus is saying it is our salt rather than some one else`s that needs attention.

This is so relevant for today when we live in a multicultural, multifaith world - when we have to face the issues raised in the past few weeks, with riots in Sydney, followed by anti-West and subsequent anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Violence is not the way of Jesus, but it is not the way of mainstream Islam or Judaism either. How we face the issues before us, which are not just about religion but also about alienation and marginalisation will be a test of us all.

What we cannot do is become insular, thinking we have all the answers. Or that we are the sole purveyors of God`s will in the world. Other faith traditions or people with no outward faith can equally reveal the kingdom of God to us all, just as they and we can distort the message.

We only have to look at our past history to know how often that has happened in the name of Christianity. If we look back we find the bombing of civilians, embargoes of food and medicines, support of radical right wing dictators and policies and the development of unequal and unjust economic systems that support the rich at the expense of the poor.

Just as we heard Jesus saying that his message can be carried by anyone with open hearts to hear and act, so it is also that violent and unjust acts have been done in his name.

That is our contaminated salt.

It is clear that a vocation of peacemaking and reconciliation and justice must begin within the household of faith. But it is not restricted to that. We have to raise our eyes outward to those around us answering the call. We can find the way for Jesus all around us if we look. God is not limited to those who prescribe a few words to him on a Sunday, but those who act for him.

It will take us joining together, community with community, church with church, faith with faith. It is the only way forward not just for us, but the world.

On Social Justice Sunday let`s start something by joining together today as brothers and sisters in Christ. And begin a grassroots revolution that we hope and pray will grow.

For as the mystic Rumi says

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I`ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase `each other` doesn`t make any sense.