Year B
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm 15
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I used to attend Friday night services at synagogue\u2026 we used a prayer book\u2026 that contained a prayer\u2026 that’s similar to what we just heard from Deuteronomy\u2026 but the one we read at Shabbat services\u2026 comes from Deuteronomy 6\u2026 and interestingly\u2026 the translation that\u2019s printed in that prayer book\u2026 comes almost entirely from the King James Bible\u2026 it reads\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God\u2026 with all thy heart\u2026 with all thy soul\u2026 and with all thy might\u2026 and these words\u2026 which I command thee this day\u2026 shall be upon thy heart\u2026 thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children\u2026 and shalt speak of them when thou sittest in thy house\u2026 when thou walkest by the way\u2026 when thou liest down\u2026 and when thou risest up\u2026 thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand\u2026 and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes\u2026 thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house\u2026 and upon thy gates\u2026 that ye may remember and do all My commandments\u2026 and be holy unto your God<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beautiful language\u2026 containing words of serious commitment\u2026 you see\u2026 after spending forty years wandering in the wilderness\u2026 Moses wanted to be sure the people understood the seriousness of what they were embarking on\u2026 and God wanted to be sure the people would be faithful\u2026 ] and so Moses refers to the Law which was given on Sinai\u2026 and later expanded in Leviticus\u2026 the Law which was to guide and guard them\u2026 and one of the caveats is\u2026 you must neither add anything to what I command you\u2026 nor take away anything from it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this morning’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus and the disciples are eating\u2026 it\u2019s hard to imagine everything they\u2019ve endured\u2026 and I think it\u2019s fair to say they know the Law\u2026 but they\u2019ve eaten without washing their hands\u2026 and the Pharisees and scribes descend on them\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pharisees are right\u2026 the Law is important\u2026 people look to the Law to guide them\u2026 and to give them an identity\u2026 but we have to ask\u2026 we have to wonder whether have they begun to make the Law into an idol\u2026 ] Amy Howe\u2026 of Evergreen Presbyterian Church\u2026 wrote\u2026 when we begin to worship<\/u>… that which gives us a sense of order\u2026 or bow down to a doctrine\u2026 we cease to be faithful to our Creator<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we must remember that purity laws\u2026 dietary laws\u2026 were very important\u2026 and still inform what some Jews today\u2026 or Muslims for that matter\u2026 will or won\u2019t eat\u2026 and I wonder whether the writers of the Law were aware of some commonsense issues that most other people didn\u2019t know about\u2026 that pork can contain trichinosis\u2026 that shellfish\u2026 like shrimp can harbor dangerous bacteria\u2026 and even as recently as the Civil War\u2026 battlefield doctors were just learning about bacterial infections and how they were transmitted\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there may have been some practical value in what the Pharisees were talking about\u2026 but let’s dig down a bit\u2026 Professor Raj Nadella writes\u2026 in an attempt to explain Jewish customs to a Gentile audience\u2026 the Markan narrator writes that the\u2026 Pharisees\u2026 and all<\/u> the Jews\u2026 do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands<\/em>\u2026 really\u2026 every single one of them\u2026 all the time\u2026 at every meal\u2026 ] and Mark follows up with other generalizations about cups\u2026 pots\u2026 and bronze kettles\u2026 but the text clearly presents these practices not as Law\u2026 but as traditions\u2026 and traditions rarely if ever carry the weight of Law\u2026 it may for example be your family’s tradition to have pecan pie at Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie\u2026 but it’s certainly not the Law\u2026 pecan pie is just fine\u2026 but Mark’s placement of this text in parentheses\u2026 is as intriguing as the content itself\u2026 it amounts to a narrative aside\u2026 like a tweet\u2026 intended for a select few\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what’s dangerous\u2026 is that Mark’s account of Jewish rituals\u2026 caricatures the community in harmful ways\u2026 it makes it monolithic\u2026 and robs us of our ability to understand nuance and personal preference\u2026 and just as Jesus reinterpreted sacred texts in his time\u2026 we are invited to push back against stereotypes in ours\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus says it\u2019s what comes out of the mouth…\u00a0 and from the heart\u2026\u00a0 that defiles\u2026\u00a0 and this is a real sea-change\u2026 because for example\u2026\u00a0 the prohibitions against eating meat along with its mother’s milk\u2026\u00a0 which are found in Exodus 23:19\u2026\u00a0 Exodus 34:26\u2026\u00a0 and in Deuteronomy 14:21… and which form the basis of Kosher practices\u2026\u00a0 no longer apply\u2026\u00a0 so you can eat pizza with Italian meatballs\u2026 and Philly cheesesteak subs\u2026 these are no longer deal breakers\u2026 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you defame someone\u2026 or slander them\u2026 if you’re deceitful\u2026 if what you do is at odds with what you say\u2026 if your actions are motivated by wickedness\u2026 envy or pride\u2026 then it\u2019s these things\u2026 which come from within a person\u2026 these are the things that defile\u2026 and why do they defile\u2026 because they damage relationship\u2026 and ultimately\u2026 it\u2019s all about relationship\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why\u2026 over the course of time\u2026 there are some things that must be added to the Law\u2026 or taken away from it\u2026 Pastor Gibson Stroupe\u2026 wrote that if a tradition is to be passed on to future generations\u2026 those generations must wrestle with the meaning of the tradition in their own time\u2026 indeed\u2026 that wrestling developed Midrash\u2026 a commentary to help guide us\u2026 as we explore scripture’s meaning\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so in our time\u2026 we may ask\u2026 not whether\u2026 but how tradition has been used to exclude rather than include\u2026 how it’s been used to judge instead of forgive\u2026 how it’s been used to justify violence instead of seeking peace\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In our social contracts\u2026 we hold on so tightly to our founding documents\u2026 and insist that they mean today\u2026 all that they meant then\u2026 we risk turning them into idols too\u2026 and we cease to be faithful to our Creator\u2026 I don\u2019t believe that there are easy solutions to these challenges\u2026 since we are all works in progress\u2026 and the things Jesus asks us to do can be difficult\u2026 they require some practice\u2026 they require some discipline\u2026 that’s why we’re called disciples\u2026 oh\u2026 we can read about the physics of skiing\u2026 or how to shape clay on a potter\u2019s wheel\u2026 and understand it all quite well\u2026 but we don\u2019t learn to ski or make pottery by taking an online course\u2026 we must get out on the slopes or sit at the wheel and practice\u2026 and the same thing is true for Christianity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n St. John Chrysostom\u2026 the first bishop of Constantinople\u2026offered five paths of growth\u2026 the first is the condemnation of our own sins\u2026 the second is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies\u2026 the third consists of prayer that is fervent and comes from the heart\u2026 the fourth is almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching\u2026 and the fifth is living a modest and humble life\u2026 and the example of this he cited\u2026 is found in Luke 18:9-14\u2026 about the Pharisee and the tax collector\u2026 the latter\u2026 who humbly acknowledged his sinfulness and asked for God’s mercy\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I ask us to consider what our own purity codes are\u2026 out of what have we made idols\u2026 what pushes us to point fingers\u2026 and how do we let go of all that\u2026 and so we may ask the question\u2026 how and when can we let go of being right\u2026 in favor of being in relationship\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 Psalm 15 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 When I used to attend Friday night services at synagogue\u2026 we used a prayer book\u2026 that contained a prayer\u2026 that’s similar to what we just heard from Deuteronomy\u2026 but the one we read at Shabbat services\u2026 comes from Deuteronomy 6\u2026 and interestingly\u2026 the translation that\u2019s printed in that prayer book\u2026 comes almost entirely from the King James Bible\u2026 it reads\u2026 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God\u2026 with all thy heart\u2026 with all thy soul\u2026 and with all thy might\u2026 and these words\u2026 which I command thee this day\u2026 shall be upon thy heart\u2026 thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children\u2026 and shalt speak of them when thou sittest in thy house\u2026 when thou walkest by the way\u2026 when thou liest down\u2026 and when thou risest up\u2026 thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand\u2026 and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes\u2026 thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house\u2026 and upon thy gates\u2026 that ye may remember and do all My commandments\u2026 and be holy unto your God\u2026 Beautiful language\u2026 containing words of serious commitment\u2026 you see\u2026 after spending forty years wandering in the wilderness\u2026 Moses wanted to be sure the people understood the seriousness of what they were embarking on\u2026 and God wanted to be sure the people would be faithful\u2026 ] and so Moses refers to the Law which was given on Sinai\u2026 and later expanded in Leviticus\u2026 the Law which was to guide and guard them\u2026 and one of the caveats is\u2026 you must neither add anything to what I command you\u2026 nor take away anything from it\u2026 In this morning’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus and the disciples are eating\u2026 it\u2019s hard to imagine everything they\u2019ve endured\u2026 and I think it\u2019s fair to say they know the Law\u2026 but they\u2019ve eaten without washing their hands\u2026 and the Pharisees and scribes descend on them\u2026 The Pharisees are right\u2026 the Law is important\u2026 people look to the Law to guide them\u2026 and to give them an identity\u2026 but we have to ask\u2026 we have to wonder whether have they begun to make the Law into an idol\u2026 ] Amy Howe\u2026 of Evergreen Presbyterian Church\u2026 wrote\u2026 when we begin to worship… that which gives us a sense of order\u2026 or bow down to a doctrine\u2026 we cease to be faithful to our Creator\u2026 And we must remember that purity laws\u2026 dietary laws\u2026 were very important\u2026 and still inform what some Jews today\u2026 or Muslims for that matter\u2026 will or won\u2019t eat\u2026 and I wonder whether the writers of the Law were aware of some commonsense issues that most other people didn\u2019t know about\u2026 that pork can contain trichinosis\u2026 that shellfish\u2026 like shrimp can harbor dangerous bacteria\u2026 and even as recently as the Civil War\u2026 battlefield doctors were just learning about bacterial infections and how they were transmitted\u2026 So there may have been some practical value in what the Pharisees were talking about\u2026 but let’s dig down a bit\u2026 Professor Raj Nadella writes\u2026 in an attempt to explain Jewish customs to a Gentile audience\u2026 the Markan narrator writes that the\u2026 Pharisees\u2026 and all the Jews\u2026 do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands\u2026 really\u2026 every single one of them\u2026 all the time\u2026 at every meal\u2026 ] and Mark follows up with other generalizations about cups\u2026 pots\u2026 and bronze kettles\u2026 but the text clearly presents these practices not as Law\u2026 but as traditions\u2026 and traditions rarely if ever carry the weight of Law\u2026 it may for example be your family’s tradition to have pecan pie at Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie\u2026 but it’s certainly not the Law\u2026 pecan pie is just fine\u2026 but Mark’s placement of this text in parentheses\u2026 is as intriguing as the content itself\u2026 it amounts to a narrative aside\u2026 like a tweet\u2026 intended for a select few\u2026 But what’s dangerous\u2026 is that Mark’s account of Jewish rituals\u2026 caricatures the community in harmful ways\u2026 it makes it monolithic\u2026 and robs us of our ability to understand nuance and personal preference\u2026 and just as Jesus reinterpreted sacred texts in his time\u2026 we are invited to push back against stereotypes in ours\u2026 Jesus says it\u2019s what comes out of the mouth…\u00a0 and from the heart\u2026\u00a0 that defiles\u2026\u00a0 and this is a real sea-change\u2026 because for example\u2026\u00a0 the prohibitions against eating meat along with its mother’s milk\u2026\u00a0 which are found in Exodus 23:19\u2026\u00a0 Exodus 34:26\u2026\u00a0 and in Deuteronomy 14:21… and which form the basis of Kosher practices\u2026\u00a0 no longer apply\u2026\u00a0 so you can eat pizza with Italian meatballs\u2026 and Philly cheesesteak subs\u2026 these are no longer deal breakers\u2026 \u00a0 But if you defame someone\u2026 or slander them\u2026 if you’re deceitful\u2026 if what you do is at odds with what you say\u2026 if your actions are motivated by wickedness\u2026 envy or pride\u2026 then it\u2019s these things\u2026 which come from within a person\u2026 these are the things that defile\u2026 and why do they defile\u2026 because they damage relationship\u2026 and ultimately\u2026 it\u2019s all about relationship\u2026 That\u2019s why\u2026 over the course of time\u2026 there are some things that must be added to the Law\u2026 or taken away from it\u2026 Pastor Gibson Stroupe\u2026 wrote that if a tradition is to be passed on to future generations\u2026 those generations must wrestle with the meaning of the tradition in their own time\u2026 indeed\u2026 that wrestling developed Midrash\u2026 a commentary to help guide us\u2026 as we explore scripture’s meaning\u2026 And so in our time\u2026 we may ask\u2026 not whether\u2026 but how tradition has been used to exclude rather than include\u2026 how it’s been used to judge instead of forgive\u2026 how it’s been used to justify violence instead of seeking peace\u2026 In our social contracts\u2026 we hold on so tightly to our founding documents\u2026 and insist that they mean today\u2026 all that they meant then\u2026 we risk turning them into idols too\u2026 and we cease to be faithful to our Creator\u2026 I don\u2019t believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[351,139,255],"class_list":["post-2630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-practice-christianity","tag-relationship","tag-time-after-pentecost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/heartsunsetsmaller.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2632,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2630\/revisions\/2632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}