Proper 17 (B) + doers from the heart + 8.30.15

https://abluemug.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/whole-hearted/

M. Campbell-Langdell+

All Saints, Oxnard

(Song of Songs 2:8–13; Ps. 45:1–2, 7–10; James 1:17–27; Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23)

“Quit Picking on the Pharisees!” this was the title of an article I read recently by a Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine. Her idea was that we tend to look at the Pharisees in scripture and just see them as the bad guys, the ones who “didn’t get it.” Levine’s contention was that they were a varied bunch and that, while some certainly came up against Jesus and may have helped lead to his death, they were not by and large the “above it all,” haughty folks that we see portrayed in much New Testament commentary. They lived among the people, were frequently workers of trades. St. Paul himself mentions that he is of Pharisee extraction with some pride. They were an important part of the Jewish religious scene in 1^st century Palestine.[1]

Looking at today’s gospel reading, we might easily think that the Pharisees just “didn’t get it.” Here are these people all tied up in knots about cleanliness, trying to set a trap for Jesus and his disciples, who are not following the “handed down” tradition of washing hands before eating.

We might just say this is yet another example of Jesus showing up the Pharisees by saying they didn’t get it, and ra-ra, the Christians are so much better because we don’t follow all these silly dietary laws.

But I think that way of reading this would be to miss the point.

Were you ever in class as a kid with a particularly strict teacher? Perhaps this teacher asked a question of the class, and some eager beaver put up his or her hand, thinking he or she knew the answer, only to be told, “No” by the teacher? Perhaps this was because the answer was mostly correct but missed one small but definitive detail? I believe this is a bit like what happened with the particular Pharisees and scribes questioning Jesus in today’s gospel. They think they are so smart, and they have the answer. And in many ways they really do. They are technically correct that the Bible has many laws regarding cleanliness. But they have missed in entirety the spirit of the law.

How do we know this? One example is in what is left out of our gospel reading today. Jesus gives an example of how many Jewish believers of high rank are missing the mark. Jesus points out that although this group claims to honor their father and mother, they can make excuses for not caring for them by simply saying that whatever they might have given them they instead gave as an offering to God, or Corban. This is one of the top ten, a commandment, not one of a multitude of purity laws, that this group is conveniently side-stepping. And Jesus will not have it.

Because remember, there was no social security in first century Palestine. No Medicare or anything of the sort. The elderly, the orphan and the widow relied on their family to support them. Jesus says not to do so is to dishonor God, to truly neglect the commandments and scripture. This is why Christians, including our James today, speak of the need to serve the widow and the orphan, as to many observant Jews and people of other faith traditions. The others should be cared for by their families. This is love of God, to serve the neighbor.

So Jesus says, yes, you can talk all you like about whether we are technically following all the laws and get nit-picky about it. Interestingly, apparently Jesus’ disciples, in not washing their hands, flout tradition rather than scripture—was Jesus strategic about their disobedience?[2] But the point is, it is not what goes into you that really matters. It is what you put out into the world.

Some of our more new-age friends would talk about this as “putting out good vibes,” and I think there is something to that. But Jesus wants us to go a little deeper. He isn’t just saying be peaceful all the time, man. But he is asking us not to look critically at others as much as to look into our own hearts.

And that is the rub. When we turn the lens on ourselves, we realize that God has given us much work to do. When we quit picking on the Pharisees in our midst but instead look to ourselves, we are faced with new and more subtle challenges. Challenges that build character.

An example: one of the most important pastoral ethics lessons I learned from my mentor priest as a curate was about ethics around money. Serving in Riverside, we were near a National Cemetery and performed many funerals. Although I often did not know the families who came to us, it was an honor to be there for them in their time of need. Since these families were not typically members of our church, we often asked if they could give a donation for the service, although we never turned anyone away. These donations were often largely in cash and our policy was for these to go directly into the discretionary fund of whichever priest performed the service. Now this money was technically ours to keep individually, but we together had this policy as our discretionary funds were often running low.

Now, on occasion, I as do many priests, had an out of pocket expense related to ministry that might have been covered by discretionary funds if we had it, but instead came out of my pocket. At one point the amount was exactly around twenty dollars. And I asked my mentor priest when I received the next envelope of cash from the next funeral, if it would be ethical to reimburse myself with one twenty since that would have been money I would have used had it been available. But he surprised me. He said “No, don’t go there. You chose to make the other expenditure and you earmarked this other amount. When you start accounting like that, it can lead to trouble.” Now, know this. No one but me would have known if I had slipped out one twenty from the fold. But I would have known. And my mentor priest was very right. I didn’t need to start bargaining with myself or thinking that the church “owed” me money.

James tells us to “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves” (James 1:22). And it is this self-deception against which Jesus warns. We, the lovers of God, are to strive to be at peace, as much as possible, in our own hearts. Does what we put out into the world in word and deed serve God? Or do we just go through the motions. At the end of the day, Jesus says we need to account not to critical onlookers as much as to ourselves and to God, who is the only one who knows our heart.

How to go about this? There are many ways. The main way is to look within. If you do not have a daily prayer practice, consider starting one. In order for us to be doers and not just hearers who deceive ourselves, we need to create space for God to speak with us. That means in your daily prayer you must be slow to speak and quick to listen. That is the hard part for me! One tried and true way of making space for God is simply to spend time in quiet meditation on a word or phrase from the Bible. Or you may need a more structured and active approach. You can try the Ignatian Examen. In short, you find a time to be quiet with a journal and with God; often the evening is best, but you can make it work for you. Then you follow these steps: “1. Become aware of God’s presence. 2. Review the day with gratitude. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow.”[3] The idea is to look at your day as much as possible with God’s eyes, and see if God would tell you either to do anything differently or to continue in a given vein.

Let us be true hearers of God so that we can be true doers of God’s work in the world, which is what that old time true religion is all about!

Amen.

---

[1] Amy-Jill Levine, “Quit Picking on the Pharisees,” Sojourners Magazine (March 2015), 26-29.

[2] Matt Skinner, Rolf Jacobsen and Karoline Lewis, “Sermon Brainwave #433” from www.workingpreacher.org (for August 30, 2015).

[3] “The Daily Examen” from http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen (accessed 28 August 2015).