Out Our Way: The Gospel according to Mark and Goliath

"He is possessed by Beelzebub. It is the power of the devil that he is able to cast out demons. Jesus said to them, 'How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot survive and a house divided against itself cannot stand. If Satan opposes himself, then he is divided and cannot stand. Indeed, he defeats himself and is thus destroyed. No one goes into the powerful man's house to rob and plunder unless the strong man is first bound and helpless. Only then can he be plundered.'"

- Mark 3:22-27

Out our way, one learns the importance of cooperation fairly quickly. Working at cross-purposes doesn't help anyone and makes it even harder, if not impossible, to accomplish what needs to be done.

Years ago, riding my first roundup with the Diamond V ranch down in eastern Wyoming, this point was vividly demonstrated to me as we began picking up pairs scattered throughout the sand hill and moving them down to the branding pen. They had been in pasture all year long as there was plenty of feed and water, so when we came to get them, they were just a tad spooky, Some gathered easily into the main herd, but others hid in the brush and trees and had to be flushed out. You came to appreciate the heavy, leather chaps when you had to play hide-and-seek in the thorn bushes.

Eventually managed to scour the whole area and got them all out onto the open, moving them slowly but surely down a small arroyo where we had erected a temporary corral. I had never seen one before, but they had also built a narrow chute that led to the branding table in which we could brand, castrate and put on ear tags in a few seconds per calf. I wasn't going to need any rope this day - which is good, as I haven't the slightest idea how to throw it properly.

Given my amateur status, I was assigned to ride "drag."

Warning: Never use that term around the city folk. They have a whole different definitions of that word.

Anyway, we had the herd together and were moving them smoothly toward the branding area when old Ted comes driving up in his pickup and decided to "help" by loudly banging on his horn.

Instant stampede. Cows and calves and bulls suddenly running in all directions scattering back into the hills and brush and trees  - and quite a few of them were running full tilt in panic - at me.

The whole morning's work shot to pieces in a few seconds, and we had to start all over again.

More than a few of my fellow cowboys were yelling at Ted and asking in colorful language, "Whose side are you on?"

As Jesus pointed out, we are either working for Him or against Him. There is no neutral ground. By our fruits, that is by what we help or hinder, we make it clear whose side we are on. In today's text Jesus makes it clear that the fact the devil is hindered by His work - He is clearly working against Satan and for God. But turn it around. Whose side are the so-called religious leaders on? Though they claim to be doing God's work in trying to hinder Jesus, they are serving the other side.

It is a sad fact that the greatest obstacle to the Gospel and thus the greatest all of the Devil is often the Church itself. Proud and arrogant church folk, more concerned about "being right than in being righteous" often close and lock the doors of the sanctuary - as did the Pharisees - to those whom God would call to Himself. We recall the story of Gandhi, who as a young man sought to explore the Christian faith, but was denied entrance to a local church because he was brown skinned. Later he would remark, "I love your Christ, but I find so few Christians to be like Him."

The only Bible most people read - and the only Gospel many ever hear - are the lives of those who call themselves Christians. Are we rounding up the strays or scattering them? Whose brand are we riding for?

(John Bruington and Scout can be found at http://www.havrepres.org and at First Presbyterian Church.)