Sermon for September 20

We continue with our introduction to the Narrative Lectionary.

The reading:

 

Genesis 18:1-15,21:1-7

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

  

They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’

The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ And she said, ‘Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’

The message 

Last week, we heard one of the creation stories from Genesis 2, about God breathing life into us and being present with a prefect and then a broken and suffering world. This week, we just heard the story of Abraham and Sarah having a child in their old age.  A lot of things happened between creation and this joyful event.  The biggest involve Noah, the flood, the renewal and God’s promise to not do that again. After the flood God makes a covenant (promise or agreement) with Noah  

 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:  “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

The story of Noah and the flood ends with a covenant. The story of Abraham begins with a covenant.  Centuries after the flood, the Lord once again communicates with the world. This time, it starts with God asking Abram to do something very frightening and difficult, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. And God promising “I will make you into a great nation,  and I will bless you;I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,  and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 

After this, Abram moves his family where the Lord said, During the trip, there are challenges, obstacles and successes, God travels with them, continues to communicate, make agreements with and promises to Abram. To show the new relationship between God and people, at one point Abram’s name is changed to Abraham. in Genesis 17 we hear

As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. "No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations

This morning, we hear another promise central to the story of Abraham and his family, In this case, the Lord seems to appear as three man and issues the bizzare, impossible promise ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.  Sarah overhears this promise and does the first thing that comes to mind, she laughs, a silent, internal, yeah right, sort of laugh.  One year and one son later, Sarah and Abraham realizes that God keeps God’s promises. Sarah gives birth to Issac (who is part of one of the bible’s most challenging stories: years later, God will order Abraham to sacrifice Issac and stop him at the last minute, accepting an animal sacrifice instead).

  

It can be hard for us to really understand what it means for God to keep promises. The first challenge is that we often break our own promises. We live in time and place where divorces, no shows, deceitful statements and broken promises abound. Sometimes it is for good reasons, sometimes, there are things that happen beyond our control, and other times, we decide fulfilling our promise will be too costly, forget or simply do not do it.  We often promise to help people do something only to find out we cannot do so. 

Professionally and personally, I have always prided myself on keeping commitments, on being where I am supposed to be when I am supposed to be there and doing what I say. About 2 years ago, I ended up going to the hospital for an illness.  It came at a very bad time, I was scheduled to preach at my friend’s installation on long island that afternoon and fly off to India the next day for a mission trip. After the first hour or two in the ER, I realized those things were not going to happen. I felt bad, this was a big disappointment to my friend, his church and the people who planned and were going on the trip to India.  No one blamed me for this, people understand that emergencies, accidents and illnesses happen.  That is our usual idea of promises, we do what we can, we try our best and sometimes we just cannot do it.  That’s not how God works though. God always keep promises. Nothing will come up that can stop God from doing what God says.  We are asked to trust if God says it, these things will happen. 

That is often the second challenge we face.  God makes some unbelievable promises. Today’s story of God telling an old, barren woman that she will have a child is just one of hundreds of examples where God promises incredible, impossible things. God tells weak nations they will defeat empires, slaves they will be set free, prisoners will walk out of their cells, great walls will fall, sins will be forgiven, peace will come to earth, prayers will be answered, Jesus has prepared a place for us when we die, God will restore all things. God tells a world filled with violence there will be peace, tells a world of inequality that all are loved, and tells people in darkness they will see a great light. God speaks of unity in a world of separation, speaks of  light to a world spiraling in the darkness of greed, abuse and sin.  We are not called to just believe these things happened in the past, We are called to believe the God who gave a child to Abram and Sarah will do these things as well.

Our faith centers around these promises, they are the words that bring us hope in times of struggle, comfort at the end of life, release when we are burdened, wisdom when we are confused, peace when we are anxious, guidance when we are lost and joy when we are mourning. 

Sermon for September 13, 2015

(please note this is my first week using the reading from the Narrative Lectionary) 

The Reading

Genesis 2:4b - 25

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.  So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

 The message 

Today is our first Sunday following the Narrative lectionary. This list of readings for worship starts with Old Testament events and stories that help us understand God’s first communications of love and care with the world.  They also help us see and understand why Jesus birth is so important, we experience the hope and promises of Advent and the fulfilled joy of Christmas. 

Today, we start year B in the narrative lectionary.  We begin where the told story of our faith begins, with the first few chapters of Genesis. Today, we hear one of the stories about God’s creation of people, of human life.  For me, this is a text I often get lost in and I never quite know what to say about it (I was honestly not thrilled that this brand new and exciting list of readings starts with these verses).  Two of the more controversial and divisive issues in the Christian and world community today come right out of these texts.  It is hard to say anything about this reading without acknowledging and mentioning the ideas of creationism and the arguments around gay marriage.

These two issues are the stuff that makes non-believers laugh at Christians and doubt everything else any faith teaches and believes. They lead Christians to accuse other Christians of being tricked by the world, ignoring God’s word and abandoning their faith. They also lead some Christians to look at other Christians as uneducated, non-thinking embarrassments. There are many places we can get lost in this reading and things that can stop us from seeing the amazing truths this story reveals to us about God.     

 I do not want to dwell on these controversial issues but will address them briefly. Creationism is  the belief that God literally created the world in 6 days exactly as recorded in Genesis. It usually comes along with the rejection of evolution and most sciences. Here my thoughts are simply that these creation stories are not science and they were never meant to be. The first chapter and a half of Genesis tells one creation story where man and women are created together. The next two chapters of Genesis tell a second story where woman is created from man’s rib. The order of most created things is different in each story as well.  Both cannot be actual descriptions of what happened.  1400 years before anyone heard the word evolution, Augustine and others argued that these stories were not meant to be taken literally, instead they were meant to reveal and teach us something about God.   

The other issue that often comes up when looking at this section of Genesis is about marriage. Over the past few years there has been a lot of attention on Gay Marriage. It has been a time of advocacy, protests and an upsurge in support. There was also a series of legal victories culminating in the US Supreme Court celebrating and upholding states that allow gay marriage and forcing other states to allow gay marriages (even against the votes of majorities in some of those states). Throughout all this time, a significant group of Christians (and others) have been aggressively protesting, praying and advocating against this change. 

This has led to a great deal of conversations and sermons about the American government’s open war on Christianity. (This alone brings up the frightening idea that our faith centers around our opinion of gay marriage, as though rejecting gay marriage, instead of Jesus death and resurrection, was the way to our salvation) Many of the people protesting against gay marriage look to this Genesis reading and simply say “God made marriage between a man and a woman” in this story, so that is the proper relationship, how it was meant to be for all people at all times and in all places.  In the same way that this is not a text about science, this is not a text about marriage being only between a man and woman. We miss things when we get lost in theses debates.   We miss some truly amazing things when we look to this story as a way to say or prove “God made the world in 7 days” or ” gay marriage is not okay”.

 

This is a text that looks back to something none of us could see, hear or experience. There are no eyewitness reports of creation, no before and after photos adam took with his camera and no videos that eve took on her cell phone.  Our faith story begins with faith, with us having to believe these stories,  to believe God’s word reveals some truth we cannot come to in any other way. 

The most profound truth revealed is this “God is part of the world”.  In the first creation story, we are introduced to God who is sort of distant and incomprehandable, in heaven, looking down on things and observing “it is good”.  In the second story, we are introduced to God with us. We hear of God creating life from nothing, breathing life into dust, forming a great diversity of unique, living and connected things, performing the first known surgery and creating Eve from Adams rib.  Here, God is physically in the world, touching, hearing, smelling and caring for things. The first news we have of God is that God is present with us. I do not want to give away the ending of this story (but I think most of you know what happens anyway) the people disobey God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. For this, they are punished. They are cast out of the garden, they are now subject to pain,  face the consequences of sin and will die. People are separated from the right relationship with God and suffering enters the world.  At no time though, God does not leave the world, the commitment and promise to be present with us remains.    

This is powerful news. One of the things I remember about the weeks and months after September 11^th, is a picture I saw while I was teaching a 4^th grade religious education class. It was a sketch of Jesus embracing the World Trade Center and gathering those who died. It was not a great drawing and I have no idea who drew it, why it was is on the desk or why I happened to look though this pile of papers and see it. It did bring me a great deal of comfort though, helping me realize and experience what it meant for God to be present with us in suffering long before it was part of my theological education and training.

Some other interesting things happen in this story too. People were given the earth to till and keep. That means to use but maintain, to take what was needed but make sure there would be something left for everyone else. We are not entrusted with the earth to do whatever we want with it. To till and keep have lots of different meanings especially in such an allegorical reading but I can say for sure to till does not mean to destroy and keep does not mean to pollute and waste. 

Finally, this is a story about life together, being in relationships where partners support, uphold, listen and care for each other.  The beauty of this arrangement is not that they are male and female, it is the partnership between living things that helps, heals and brings joy. This is the story of human life coming into being, surrounded by God and needing one another.

Next week, our reading brings us to the story of Abraham and Sarah where we see that God keeps God’s promises

Sermon for Sunday, September 6, 2015

The readings 

James 2:1-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Mark 7:24-37

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

The message

A few weeks ago Jen and I watched a TV series called “Rev”.  It’s a BBC show one of her friends in England recommended.  The show is about a young pastor who leaves a thriving Suburban church to try and rebuild a struggling inner city congregation in London.  The story centers around the pastor, his own struggles and his relationships with the few remaining members of the congregation, church leadership and community. It is part comedy and part sad as he tries his best to address real challenges that many churches actually face. In each episode, he fails in a place where nothing goes right.  There is one episode where the young pastor meets a famous and wealthy artist at a dinner party. The artist starts to attend the church, offers to bail them out with a large donation and host an art opening in the church sanctuary, which would bring a great deal of media and attention to his congregation.  As usual in the show, after a series of misunderstandings and mistakes, it all falls apart.  There is another episode where his church building is rented by a large and thriving young church that takes over. The new church has a cult like leader, very weak theology and a very large, desperately needed rent check. In this case, there is a dispute between a leader of the large church and a homeless member of the small church.  It is settled when the large church along with the rent moves on to another place.  The small church sides with the homeless member, choosing the biblical ways of understanding, welcome and forgiveness over rent.

In both situations,  we see a pastor and small church community trying to live out the words James writes to the church almost 2000 years ago, when he asks “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,”.  

This issue of favoritism, of catering to those who can help and dismissing those who need help, of welcoming the people like us while ignoring those who are different, trying to please the rich and powerful while trying to get rid of the poor and weak as quickly and cheaply as possible, has always been around. As far as I can tell, it is one of those things that has always been part of human life. Today, it comes up in all different ways, in the suspicion of immigrants and new people, in the judgment of criminals long after they have served their time, in the nagging idea that the poor are lazy, in the way we, mostly unconsciously, welcome the rich and ignore the poor, and in the racism that separates people, creates unnatural, preventable suffering, and holds everyone back.  Answering James’ challenge “ do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” honestly can be a very difficult thing.

Favoritism is a challenge that even Jesus faces. This morning in one of the stranger conversations Jesus has, there are two things which are hard to hear, First- Jesus starts out playing favorites, refusing to help a syroiophoncian, a non-jewish woman in need and telling her “let the children be fed first” meaning his ministry was to the children of Israel. In Matthew’s version of this encounter, this is explicitly stated when Jesus responds to her initial request for help by saying that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.Second, that Jesus changes his mind.  After this encounter, Jesus realizes and teaches that the Kingdom of God has room for all people

.

Many people have looked at this reading and tried to shape this conversation as a way where Jesus does not really mean the first things that he says, that Jesus is testing the woman’s faith and pushing her to see if she truly believes he has the power to help.  They look at the words and say it’s a clever dialogue or some sort of coded talk. People try to make all sorts of excuses to lessen our difficulty in a bible reading where Jesus calls a woman who wants help for her daughter, a dog, and telling her he only helps Jews. I like to look at what the text says, in all its nastiness because I think that is where we see a way to confront favoritism and work for change. 

First I think its important for us to see the value in naming favoritism, in recognizing something wrong when we see or hear it, when we skip over excuses and different ways to look at it.  In this text Jesus reveals his initial though that the kingdom of God was for the children of Israel. At the start of the church, Peter and James feel the same way, changing their minds only after a multi- year argument with Paul and his missionaries and visions from God.   It is ridiculous for us to pretend that we do not benefit, commit and suffer from favoritism of all kinds. Even Jesus and his early followers seemed to get caught up in it.   

Second, and most importantly, in recognizing how things start off, we see how the change that happens.  After the initial rejection and dismissal, the Syriophonican woman does not give up, she knows if Jesus sees her faith, her need and her life as a child of God, it will overwhelm his  resistance.  Jesus does not walk away, he listens, he understands and he sees truly amazing faith someplace unexpected.  After this encounter Jesus reaches out to everyone, healing, teaching, caring for, sharing God’s promises with and blessing all people. 

Today, across the ELCA, many churches in Partnership with the African Methodist Episcopal church in talking about racism and favoritism. I honestly didn’t think of that that until I was almost done with this message. For me this reading is one of the most exciting in the bible, it exposes the realness of favoritism, how deeply it is ingrained in our world, rules, thoughts, behaviors and ways of living.  It is also a message of hope, that with God, all things are possible, that if we see how things are from other people’s perspectives,  if we spend time together, listen, care, and remember God loves all people, we will see amazing things in unexpected places. 

This sermon was my last one from the revised common lectionary readings. Starting next week, we will make the change to the narrative lectionary. The most noticable change is that we will go from 4 readings to 1. We will start at the beginning of the story and revelation of God’s love for us with the opening chapters of Genesis.  From then until Christmas, we will walk together through the Old Testament as we hear about God’s first conversations with the world and see where the hope for Christmas comes from.  I look forward to starting this journey with you.   

Sermon for August 30, 2015

Sermon for August 30^th, 2015

The reading: Mark 7

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)  So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them,  "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;  in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'  You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand:  there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

The message (sort of, I made quite a few changes while preaching, I tried to update as best I could)

Today, perhaps more than any other time in history, we are a very clean bunch of people. Washing is a normal part of our daily lives. Most of us probably shower every day (or at least think we should.)  Hand washing is part of our daily habits and routines too. It’s something we do lots of times throughout the day, before and after we eat, after we take the train, bring out the garbage, or use the bathroom.  We also clean fruits, vegetables and other foods before we eat them. My wife Jen will always yell at me if I eat an apple or some other fruit without soaking and washing it thoroughly enough (a standard I hardly ever actually meet). The only thing she lets slide is spinach and other organic things that come in a plastic tub which promises “triple washed so you don’t have to”.   Here at church, if I remember, I use purell or some hand sanitizer after the sharing of peace and before celebrating communion (not that I think you are dirty or anything, it’s just a precaution).  Many churches include a hand washing as part of their communion ritual and traditions. When I do church services at nursing homes or other places where people are usually sick or have weak immune systems, I am certain to clean my hands at various times.  One of the best examples I have of how important hand washing has become was at my pastoral care training program at NY Presbyterian Hospital. During the first day orientation and most other days of the 10 week program, we were all told that the only real way we would be removed from the program was if we failed to clean or sanitize our hands before and after seeing each patient.  Anything else, being shy, not dong the assignments right, having challenges in talking with people or difficulties in engaging people of other faiths, were all things they could and would help you work through and figure out.  In today’s hospital system plagued with easily preventable infections, poor hand cleaning habits were not something they could deal with.     

It can sound odd that Jesus takes such issue with people washing their hands and things from the market. Of course, we are not talking about washing for hygiene here. Modern germ theory,  the idea of bacteria, basic sanitation or even the concept of smelling bad did not really exist 2000 years ago when Jesus has this conversation with the religious leaders.  I’ll admit, the foods in the markets that Jesus and his followers shopped in were not covered in all of the chemicals, pesticides and pollution most of our food is bathe in today but no one would have had any idea if it was.  This conversation between Jesus and the religious authorities of the time had nothing to do with what we think of cleaning, it was about ritual washing, a process of making things acceptable for Jewish use.  

Most of us are familiar with the 10 commandments, we think of those 10 rules as the law.  There are over 600 other laws in the Old Testament as well, covering what you can and cannot eat (most well known in the cannot eat were pork and shellfish), who you can touch (physical contact with non-jewish people was prohibited), ritual washing of food, hands, head and feet and ways to purify or cleanse yourself if you did violate one of these prohibitions.

The spiritual idea behind these rules was that every time you washed your hands, avoided a certain food or performed a particular ritual, it would remind you of God’s love and God’s actions in history (the big stuff like the exodus from slavery in Egypt, the words of the prophets, the call of Abraham, the claiming and receiving of the promised land and great kings like David and Solomon).  The law was meant to help people organize their day, work and very life around God’s presence, love and the hope of God’s promises.  It was also a way to create a group identity and help people maintain traditions when they were not in Jerusalem (during times of exile, all of these rules could be followed and your connection to the faith could be maintained).      

Jesus criticism was that over the centuries, obeying these rules had become quite a show, complete with special water, containers and rituals.  The religious authorities developed more and more complex and intricate ways to follow the rules and judge if others did. Instead of operating as a tool that pointed to God, the rituals themselves became the focus.  Once you completed them properly God was somehow satisfied and there was nothing else you needed to do. That was not okay.  This is an idea repeated by James in his letter that we heard an excerpt from:  “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” Jesus and James are both saying something along the lines of “washing your hands and cleaning food is nice but what about the stuff that costs you something, what about caring for those in need, telling people about God’s love, living a life of faith, avoiding things that distract you and others from God, the point of the law is God’s love for us and God’s command for us to care for each other, not to wash your hands 27 times a day.

It can challenging for us to see how this is relevant for us today. Very few people could name all of the laws and we are not under those laws anyway (our relationship with God is centered around Jesus and his resurrection). At the same time, we could all use ways to be reminded of God’s love, God’s power and God’s presence in a suffering world. I like to think of today’s reading as an invitation  for us to make faith like washing our hands, to make prayer, thanksgiving and reflection on God’s love things we do all the time, that we see as necessary for our health and wellness.  We are invited to organize our day around God’s love, to live lives where helping others, worshiping, sitting with and studying God’s word, sharing with those in need, using our resources in wise service to God, caring for neighbors and strangers, praying, advocating for the voiceless and working to make things better are as common and natural a part of our day as washing our hands.