Transcript
Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders? Please be seated.
Have you ever read Leviticus or Deuteronomy? There are books in the Old Testament. In fact, there are two of the first five books of the Old Testament. You know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It’s okay if you haven’t, believe me. Once you get through Genesis and Exodus, things can get really boring, at least until you get to Judges.
But anyways, Leviticus and Deuteronomy are two of the books of laws. Deuteronomy offers codes governing worship, the appointment and regulation of community and religious leaders, and social regulation, as well as a bit more around the narrative. Leviticus outlines a holiness code, how to make offerings in the temple, and how to conduct themselves while serving around the Holy Temple. It’s pretty easy to look up all the laws in the Old Testament, or specifically in the Septuagint, those first five books of the Old Testament. You’ll find 613 laws across Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, and Leviticus.
A lot of the laws are about what we can sacrifice and what we can eat. So don’t eat any insects that creep on the ground, any reptiles, any worms found in fruit or produce, or any swarming insects. Yum. Also, a lot of laws about who can marry whom. So sorry any harlots, no priestly husbands for you, and also anyone who is considered clean and unclean. Apparently bug bites make a priest unclean, sorry.
And all of these books, but especially in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we can read the journey of the Israelites laws. We used to joke in Peace Corps. When a rule was created, a new rule materialized, it was really pretty obvious why, for example, don’t Climb Trees was established soon after a volunteer fell out of a tree and broke his arm. So these purity laws and ways of living laws, they seem almost specifically from one action comes the next law as a reaction.
And in today’s gospel reading from Mark, we get Pharisees very concerned about these laws. To be fair, the Pharisees were basically like the temple police. They represented the working class and served in local synagogues as opposed to the Sadducees, who were elite and rest aquatic and tended to serve in the temple. So really, it is kind of the Pharisees jobs to make sure the people are following the sacred laws of their God, like not getting drunk or getting tattoos or eating steak too rare. Those are outlined in those books. And so they’re just pointing out that by not washing hands, Jesus’s followers were essentially breaking the law.
Real quick, a fun little Greek vocabulary lesson. Who doesn’t love a Greek vocab lesson? And our translation, which is the New Revised Standard Version or NRSV. The passage reads that they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands. That word defiled, the Greek word is “koinos”, and in our translation is “defiled”, in the New International Version, it’s “unclean”, but a more accurate translation would be “common” or “ordinary”, as in eating with ordinary hands instead of sanctified hands or hands made holy.
But Jesus says it doesn’t matter if their hands are sanctified, because the true holiness of a person is not what goes in, but what comes out, not what is in the stomach, not the physical being, but instead what is in the heart. The soul. And just in case y’all were waiting for me to say something about it, I am not going to address those twelve evil intentions. I’ll save that sermon on sin for Lent. As such, it is not what we do so much as what defiles us as it is why we do it.
This is my fourth Sunday. I’m officially been here a month (ish) and it has been quite a joy. Almost overwhelmingly so. The welcome in the excitement, the joy and the passion, all of you not just showing up on Sunday mornings, also showing up in so many other ways with greetings and invitations, with smiles and time at the church, even with prayers from a distance. I keep saying thank you and I’m going to keep saying it. Thank you. Thank you for being you, for being Saint John’s.
One of the other things I’ve been saying, at least to staff and Senior Warden Bill and some of our other amazing leaders, I’ve been saying that I’m not going to make any changes this first year. Well, okay, maybe I’ll make a few changes like the chasuble, which is not because I don’t want to wear it, it’s because I forget to put it on. But it’s not an intentional change. Anyway. Generally speaking, in big picture terms, I’m really trying to not make any changes during this first year, and here’s why: I want this year to be a chance for all of you to show off.
Show off all the amazing ministries and events and activities you all are already doing. Show off how for the past 400 some years, Saint John’s has continued. And while we might argue it didn’t always thrive in the way we might consider a church thriving, the fact that Saint John survived is enough of a testament to say that it thrived. So show off.
Show me what you all do and how you do it, and if it works, or maybe doesn’t work quite as well as you had hoped it would. Show me. And then let’s think about it. Let’s talk about it. I want you all to tell me what you think works and what you think could use some focus, attention, redirection, streamlining or whatever it is. And while we are so busy, I hope we can also reflect. Reflect on why we do it.
Going back to the Pharisees and Jesus in today’s gospel reading, Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for abandoning the commandment of God and holding to human tradition. For failing to remember the real, authentic, original why, of all the things the Pharisees and Israelites did for forgetting about the holiness or sanctity, and only focusing on the act. May this year be a chance for each ministry, each leader, each person who serves in whatever capacity you choose to serve. May it be a chance not just to show off how awesome you are, because you all are really amazingly awesome. Also, a chance to consider all the things we do and why we do them, and how we do them. A chance to reflect on the service that comes from the heart, the pure intentions, the loving of God and of one another.
And while, yes, next summer you might start to see some more intentional changes, and I really hope those changes don’t feel dictatorial, but instead feel more collaborative, more like we thought about what Jesus said. We prayed about what Jesus said, and we feel called to live out all of that in ways that will continue to allow Saint John’s to thrive together as a community, as Saint John’s. If I’m looking for a theme to my ministry for the next year, I think it will be Show Me. And so, Saint John’s. Show me.
Amen. Amen.