12th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 17
Mark 7:1-8,14-15, 21-23
"Using Religion to Escape Religion"
7:1 ¶ Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders;
4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?"
6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ’This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men."
14 And he called the people to him again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand:
15 there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him."
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man."
Ephesians 6: 10-20
10 ¶ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace;
16 besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
19 ¶ and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
A man fell ill, so an ancient story goes, between two villages. It was exactly halfway between the two villages and that presented a problem to the authorities as to which village should take care of the stricken man. It had to be decided which community the man was actually closest to. And therein lay the disagreement. One village maintained that the distance should be measured from the man’s navel; the other village argued that it should be calculated from the man’s mouth.
The outcome of the little drama was obvious, of course. as the two communities argued over the legality of the problems the poor fellow died.
Remember the story of Gulliver’s travels. He came to a land of tiny people, Lilliput and do you remember the legality those tiny people were going to war over. It was whether one should crack the big end of an egg or the little end. The two sides became known as the big enders vs. the little enders.
Throughout the history of civilization, people have hated, people have gone to war, people have killed others in the name of legality, in the name of a law that one side perceived right, and the other side didn’t. Laws have been good in that they shape the conduct of society, but they have been harmful to society when the law becomes more important than the principle it is trying to up hold.
Jesus met this same problem in our gospel lesson this morning. The scribes and Pharisees had come to Jesus and had seen that Jesus’ disciples didn’t wash their hands, an act prescribed by the law before they ate. They asked Jesus why.
To understand this encounter between Jesus and these upholders of the law, we must understand the Jewish law that they were working from. The law as given to the nation of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. But it was given in broad principals so that the people might have some freedom in interpreting the law for themselves. But about 500 years before Jesus was born, a group of people emerged, the scribes, who were interested in upholding the letter of the law as they saw it. So they developed their own oral law, or the law of the elders, to put exactness into these broad principles. Over the course of time, the broad principles of the law became lost to the exact rules and regulations that were being poured out by these scribes.
For example, the hand washing law became something like this: Before one ate, one must pour 1 1/2 egg-shells of water over his hands, but not just in any manner, but in this prescribed manner. He must hold the hands with the finger-tips upwards and pour the water over them until it ran down his writs; he must then cleanse the palm of each hand with the fist of the other; he must then hold the hands with the fingertips pointing downwards and pour water on them from the wrists downwards so that ran off at the fingertips. This was not a matter of hygiene; it was a matter of ritual, even if the hands were spotless it must be done. To do it was to please God, to fail to do it was to sin.
So, can you see why the scribes and the Pharisees were wondering why Jesus’ disciples didn’t wash in the prescribed manner. But Jesus in one sentence, in one breath does away with all these oral laws, for he saw in them that they were not worshiping God but the law itself. He says: "You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of man." Jesus saw that the law was being used to turn people away from God by being so exact, instead of it being used to bring people to God to see his love and mercy. Jesus goes on to say that it s not what is outside of a person that makes that person unclean, but itis what is in his/her heart that matters. Jesus saw that religion was being used to escape the true religion, the worship of God. The religious leaders were using the law of men to gain respect, position and wealth over the people instead of showing the people how the law can help them to find God in their lives. Jesus was freeing the people from the tyranny of the externals, and giving them a freedom to live with the law of love in their hearts.
You know that the only laws that Jesus tells us in the whole of the New Testament is two. They go together. "You should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as your self." Notice Jesus doesn’t go beyond the broad principle of the laws, he doesn’t define in exact detail how one should love God and how one should love a neighbor. But in the rest of his teachings, in the way he lives, in how he acted, he showed us how one is to love God and one’s neighbor.
But he gives us the freedom to express our love for God and our love for our neighbor in our own way, in our own unique God given way. The religious leaders of Jesus day has lost the concept of the uniqueness of the human race. God has created each of us different, and in that difference, in that uniqueness we all have different talents, different ways, different abilities to worship God and to love our neighbor. We have been given the freedom to express our uniqueness as we live our Christian life. But notice the broad principle still stands: The command is to love God with our whole being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is a command. There is no freedom not to follow or live by that command.
That is God’s command to those of us who want to be his followers. It is God’s command for those of us who have been called by him in love and mercy. That command is not something we might say: "Well God today will worship you because I don’t have anything better to do, or today God l will be good to my neighbor because I feel good." NO, that command transcends all of live. That command is not something we can turn on and off, but it is a reality that the people of God must live with. But how I worship God, how I love my neighbor, is up to my own uniqueness.
Now you see how radical Jesus’ words are in our gospel lesson.
He puts each person in an unique position to be of special importance to God. For God enjoys, I think, the way each of us use the resources he has given us to worship him and to serve him through our neighbor. In some ways, this freedom to live in the principle of the law is more difficult that living by the letter of the law. Living by the letter of the law is easier because it is all spelled out in black and white. I don’t have to take any responsibility for my own actions, if I follow the law I can say it is good law, if I cannot follow the law I can say it is a bad law.
But when I am given the freedom to express the principle of the law in my own way, then I have to take the full responsibility for my actions. I stand alone before God. I cannot blame anyone or anything for my failure to act, or for my failure for acting wrong. I have a greater responsibility, but I think it is in that very freedom to act and to fail that I am more confident of the grace of God in my life. For when I fail, I know his forgiveness is there for me, and when I succeed, I know it is by the grace of God, the love that God has for me that has seen me through. I stand alone and naked by myself in the freedom of the law to worship God in my uniqueness and the serve him by servingmy neighbor. It is literary God and I in the world together.
This idea then moves us into the second lesson, from last week, the lesson where Paul speaks about living a life of integrity for the law. Paul is using an analogy of a soldier doing battle as we face all the temptations of live. And Paul is saying that just as a soldier needs to have the right equipment, a person who is fighting the battle of live, needs to have the equipment of God with him. We need to know that the truth of God is with us, the righteousness of God is there as well as the peace of God along with faith and also salvation. With these tools, we can stand on the principles of the law in the freedom of our uniqueness and t! fight the good fight of salvation, Paul is saying if you know where your strength lies, if you know your equipment id of God and from God, then the battle of life can be won. If the equipment is not just outward externals but if it is truly the equipment of the heart, then the battle of live will be won.
And James in the second lesson from this week says: 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Which means that we must not only hear the word of God, but live it and do it in our lives.
That is seen very clearly in the following:
There is a story about an evangelist who was preaching a series of sermons on the 10 commandments. One night he used "Thou shalt not steal" as his text, and stressed the necessity of absolute integrity in everything.
The next day the evangelist had to go on a bus and handed the driver a dollar bill for his ticket. When he counted his change he discovered he had received an extra dime. He could have kept the dime and said nothing about it. However he want to the driver and said, "You gave me a dine too much."
"Yes, I know," said the driver, "I did it on purpose to see what you would do. Last night I was in your congregation and heard your sermon. I have always been suspicious of Christians, so when I recognized you this morning I said," If he practiced what he preached, I’ll go an hear him again but if he keeps the dime, I’ll know he is a fake."
The evangelist had freedom to act. He could have kept the dime or he could have loved his neighbor by respecting him and return the dime. In his freedom he acted, he loved his neighbor, returned a had a chance to speak to someone about God and God’s gospel of power in life.
Yes, Jesus says we are free, free from the burdens of the law, but in that freedom we are given responsibility to act, to act with our unique gifts, and resources to worship God and to love our neighbor.
How will you use your freedom.? How will you worship God and love your neighbor?
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale August 25, 2003
