Traditions

A sermon for Sept. 3, 2006

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-6,14-15, 21-23

You’ve heard the story about the guys dressed in black with hoods and machine guns who suddenly show up on Sunday morning at a large popular church. They yell, “Anyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus just stay where you are.” After a very few minutes of scurry, most people have run out of the church until there are only the preacher and a handful left. The leader of the group takes of his mask and says, ”Okay, preacher, we got rid of all the hypocrites for you. Now you can go on with the service.”

I don’t really like that joke, but it does give me a jumping off point to talk about a pet peeve and that is our self-righteous attempt to run off those very people who desperately need to hear the word of God in their life. And the real problem is if we ran out all the hypocrites – there wouldn’t be enough people left in the church to keep the doors open.

The Pharisees and scribes that came up to Jesus were afraid that if the law was not followed “to the letter” – then the Jews might cease to be a people set apart. They might end up no different from all the other people in the world. That would call into question the exclusive rights of the Jews as recipients of God’s grace.

Now there are two things we need to remember at this point. One is that all those other people are also made in the image of God. And the second thing is that the Jews were called as God’s chosen people – yes, they benefit from the relationship – but the primary purpose according to Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18 and 28:14 is for Israel to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

In Galatians 3:8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."

The Pharisees have made a complaint. “Why do your disciples eat with unclean hands?” It makes you want to ask, “Is this the only thing they can come up with in response to their observations of Jesus?” They’ve seen the miracles – feeding five thousand people, driving out demons – and they don’t want to acknowledge it. They’ve seen the healings, but their hearts seem to be hardened. They’ve heard the teachings – and still the only thing they can find to comment on is the fact that the disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating or serving the food.

You know, it just doesn’t matter what good you do in this life – someone is going to find some way to pick it apart or complain. This is the way some people make themselves seem better than you – they have to try to take you down to their level. There are others who will just always look down their nose at anyone they don’t want to acknowledge.

The fact is that these Pharisees and scribes have gotten so balled up in their traditions that they can’t see past them. In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye sings the praises of traditions – fathers have duties, mothers have duties, children have duties… “You may ask how did this tradition get started? I’ll tell you… I don’t know, but it’s tradition!”

You’ve heard the story of about the young woman cooking the roast for dinner and she cuts off the end of the roast before placing it in the pot to cook. Her new husband asks her, “Honey, why did you cut the end off?” Her answer was, “I don’t know, that’s the way mother did it.” So they called her mother and she said, “I don’t know, that’s the way mother did it.” So grandmother was called and she said, “Oh, that’s simply because it was too long to fit in the roaster.”

There comes a time when we need to let go of our traditions when they no longer serve a purpose. The other time we need to let go of a tradition is when it becomes thought of as holy, rather than pointing the way to the holy. That’s why it’s so important to look for new ways in which to worship, to reach out, to express what God is doing in our lives.

Some people want to use the name of God to argue reasons for staying in the past. Take for example the woman, who after using the new prayer book for the first time commented, “If Jesus could see what they’ve done to his prayer book, he’d turn over in his grave!” (I think she missed a major point somewhere…) These people want to stay in the past rather than facing the uncertainty of the future.

Jesus has always called us into the future – we see it time and time again. When his mother and brothers and sisters come looking for him, he tells the people, “Who are my mother and brothers and sisters? They are the ones who do my Father’s will.” He is redefining family in that passage.

When he says, “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ (Matt 5:38-39) Jesus is defining a new way of relating to people. One that we don’t always want to hear.

I have a friend who comes to me occasionally for spiritual advice. She will come and lay out her problem or dilemma, and eventually ask for my “wisdom” or advice – and I’ll tell them what I think (feel or discern) that God would be saying – and if she doesn’t like my answer, she will just sit there for a few moments (stiffly) without speaking, and then she will begin again and repeat the same thing she said before – as if I had made no comment. Then she will go to other people with the same thing trying to find the answer she wants. I happen to know the people she would go to, and we all told her the same thing – she just didn’t want to hear it.

The Pharisees have called into question Jesus’ authority, and they have chosen to focus on the one law – the only straw they can grasp. But Jesus rejects the question and goes to the heart of the matter – He quotes Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” He goes on to say, “There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

You know, we are all created in the image of God – and that means there is the potential for good in each and every one of us. But we are also human, with human failings and frailties – and there is a place in each of us that also has the potential for evil. And quite often, it is much safer and easier and less painful to focus on a tradition, rather than face the hidden and negative parts of ourselves.

Lately it’s become popular in some circles to talk about ‘my dark side’ or to say something like, “that was during my dark period.” You might hear people comment that J. K. Rowlings books have been getting “darker and darker” as Harry gets older and older. Or you might hear someone say that the latest version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is much darker than the one before.

Some of you may be familiar with a practice called “centering prayer.” In centering prayer you sit still and become very quiet and center on the God within – repeating a holy word – in an attempt to get to that place where only God exists and we can be at one with him.

In these sessions, it’s not uncommon for things to come up that are unpleasant, a part of us that we might not want to acknowledge – that we might not even want to believe is lurking in the depths of our souls. But this is one of the ways that God can show us who we are and why we do desperately need him.

This is why the presence of Jesus is so important in our lives. Because he is the light of the world - the light that shines in the darkness – that same darkness we often try to hide away from ourselves and from the rest of the world. There is no place we can go to hide from God -

The Psalmist said in Ps 139:7-12

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

The whole thing is that we are not perfect – and if you think you are, you deceive yourself. No different from the scribes and the Pharisees – they thought they were perfect. We need the light of Jesus shining out to us – to remind us of who we are and what we believe. We also need Jesus to point us to the Father – our creator – from him comes our life and our very being.

James reminds us in our second lesson that “every generous act of giving, every perfect gift, is from above – coming down from the Father of lights.” Every generous act we make is at the urging from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus is the most perfect gift ever given – he is the light that shines in the darkness and points the way to the Father of all.

Remember a few weeks ago when we read the story of the Transfiguration – we hear the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Jesus is telling us here to not let our religion become stagnant. He is telling us that we have to be ready and willing to step outside of tradition when necessary. He is telling us to follow him into that new place where he is leading us. That place where the evil that comes from within, from the human heart, can not only be addressed, but be healed and forgiven. Amen.

Please feel free to email me with any comments or questions at nan@doerrworks.com