There is a story told among Zen Buddhists about an earnest student who sought out a Zen master for instruction on the true meaning of Zen. The student had spent many years studying the sacred texts of Buddhism. Yet his mind was filled with many questions. Which teacher of Buddhism was most trustworthy? Which sacred writing was most important? Which monastery should he join?

He took all these questions to the Master. Upon hearing his questions, the Master immediately threw all the student's books into the fire, refused to answer any of his questions and dragged the student into the marketplace where he confronted him with a poor, crippled beggar. "Learn righteousness," he admonished the student. He was right.

People came to Jesus, perhaps as we come to him today, to learn more and more about what it means to be a faithful disciple. In today's Gospel they wanted to know who the true disciple was. They wanted Jesus to distinguish between true faith and false faith, between right belief and wrong belief. "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name," said John, "and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

We might be tempted to think that John's reaction arose simply out of jealousy. We should not. Proper, careful distinctions do make a difference. Sometimes many church people try to short cut and short-circuit the need for careful thinking and theological clarity saying something like, "It really doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere." That is nonsense.

All too often such thinking is simply an excuse for not thinking things through or not thinking at all. Beliefs do make a difference. Over the centuries people who sincerely believed what they were doing was right have done all sorts of terrible things. Wrong thinking has lead to murders, wars, and mayhem. It led to the Crusades, the Inquisition and to religious persecution – all of it done by sincere people. Both sides in every war believe God is on their side, that they are waging a Holy War. Obviously, one side has to be wrong; maybe both sides. Wrong thinking leads to confused, chaotic and miserable lives no matter how sincere we are.

So when the disciples ask about the place of this man who was casting out demons in Jesus' name without being part of Jesus' community, Jesus does not reply, "Don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter." Rather, Jesus instructs them by noting that good works done in his name are to be celebrated. Acts of love are to be gratefully acknowledged. Even if the words of the one doing good are not right or his membership credentials are not in order, we should rejoice that good work is being done.

In today's Gospel Jesus also does not say that anyone who works under the guise of religion is immune from accountability. The escapades of the television evangelists are still too recent in our memory to allow us to forget that a lot of good people were bilked out of a lot of hard earned money by people professing to be Christians, by people professing that they were doing the Lord's work with all that money that was being sent to them. No, Jesus demands accountability, honest accountability.

Two houses ago Arlena and I thought we had our home leased because we simply could not find a buyer. We met the gentleman who wanted to lease it. He very quickly told us about how his child was being taught at home because both the public schools and the private schools he had tried were too unchristian. He even had his minister vouch for his goodness. Well, to put it bluntly, the man tried to take us to the cleaners and was one of the most unchristian people I ever met.

I am always wary of people who, when they know I am a priest, tell me about their newfound faith; or, if they want my business, tell me about their faith. It's almost as if Christian plumbers, Christian doctors, Christian music, Christian jazzercise, Christian AA meetings -- this list is endless -- makes what is said and done really Christian. It's as if all we need to is add the word "Christian" to an enterprise or an action and it is validated. As I said, I have found some of the most unchristian people in purportedly Christian enterprises.

There is a means of measurement. There is a means to determine if what is called Christian is really Christian; that is the Gospel. The Gospel not only tells us about Jesus. The Gospel is also is a reminder that living out our faith is really a matter of great works of compassion, ranging from healing the sick to giving a cup of cold water to someone who is thirsty. It is not simply a matter of learning righteousness, as the Zen Master said; it is also a matter of doing right, as Jesus said.

It is certainly not a matter of calling ourselves a Christian and doing whatever feels good. We feel good about a lot of things. We also feel good when we sin. Sin is always pleasurable. Always. Feelings are deceiving. The gospel is not about feelings but, rather, about being faithful. The gospel of Jesus puts a high value on the concrete, the visible, the practical, on love in action.

As Jesus reminded John, the gospel is not exclusive so much as it is inclusive. We don't have problems about good being done in the name of the gospel, good being done in the name of Jesus -- as long as real good is being done. We don't mind sending money even to television evangelists if we know that they will use our money well. We give money to our own church because we believe the church will use our money well, will use it for real, loving, Christian, Christlike ministry.

Where we have problems is where John had problems in today's gospel. John wanted to be exclusive. He wanted to exclude all those who were not part of the company of apostles. He found no sympathy from Jesus. Jesus was, if he was anything, very inclusive. He included everyone in his ministry, especially those whom the rest of society excluded: the poor, the lame, the sick, even the immoral -- prostitutes, adulterers, and, even tax collectors. We don't want to believe that, of course, because we want to be exclusive. We all too often want a church only for those who look like us, think like us, act like us -- are us. Not Jesus.

That, I think, is Jesus' point at the end of today's Gospel reading. Jesus seems rather harsh. In fact he seems foolish, crazy: cut off my hand if it causes me to sin? Cut off my foot if it causes me to sin? Pluck out my eye if it causes me to sin? Come on! Give me a break. If Jesus were serious, we'd all go through life maimed. There is not one of us whose hand or eye or mouth has not caused sin, or at least been the agent of sin. We've all looked sinfully, thought sinfully, spoke sinfully and acted sinfully. Jesus can't be serious, can he?

Dumb question. Of course He was and of course he is serious. What Jesus is very serious about is that He wants us to be very serious about how we live out our faith. Take that seriously, he is telling us. Don't worry about credentials; worry about creed -- about what we believe and what we do because of what we believe. It is not who we are, what we look like, what our gender is or even our sexual preference. All that is beside the point if we are living out our faith, if we are learning righteousness, if we are doing what is right and just. If we are not, then none of it matters anyway.

The Gospel calls us, Jesus calls us, to learn righteous and do what is right; all of us; each and every one of us. Anything that gets in the way must be removed, cut off or else it will pull us down and pull us away from what our faith requires of us. We may not like to hear this, but we know it is the truth. That is all we need to hear. What is left is the doing. That may never be easy. But if we choose to do what is good and right, God will always give us the grace and strength to do it. And that is all we need to know.