First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
First Reading (Semi-cont.): Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm: Psalm 15
Psalm (Semi-cont.): Psalm 45:1-2, 6-10 (Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9 NRSV)
Second Reading: James 1:17-27
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
My favorite science fiction writer, Octavia Butler, had a theory that humans are both excessively intelligent and excessively hierarchical, and these two traits are often in opposition. It is our tendency towards hierarchy that so often gets us into trouble. We divide the world into the pressed and the wrinkled, between the vegetarians and the meat eaters, the drinkers and the A.A. folks: essentially between the people who live right (which means according to the rules we accept) and those who don't.
We often think that the Pharisees in Jesus' time were rule-bound people who couldn't see that God walked among them, even as Jesus was right there before them. While that is true, it's also important to realize that the Pharisees thought that following the rules to the letter was the trait that would save the Jews. We must not forget that the Jews of Jesus' time were under threat from many sides. We forget that Rome was a brutal dictatorship in so many ways, and that the peace that the Jews had found could have been (and eventually was) easily overturned.
We fail to realize how similar we are to the Pharisees. We currently live under a rigid system very similar to that of the time of Jesus, and if you don't believe me, just watch any organization try to get anything done. We also seem to be living in challenging times where people don't want to make any kind of sacrifice for the larger good. In some ways, at least the Pharisees had a motivation that I can understand. Many of our debates in 2021 leave me shaking my head.
We look back to past periods of humanity, and we like to boast that we're much more flexible. We can't imagine the ritual purity laws that were in place in Jesus' time. We can't fathom the rigidly stratified societies that most humans have created. We renounce a time when women couldn't get credit in their own name or a time when blacks and whites had separate bathrooms, but those days aren't that far away from our own.
Jesus reminds us that so many of our rules come from humans, not from God. We think that God ordained the rules that we embrace, rules which so often tell us what not to do, but Jesus reminds us that there's one essential rule: love each other. God will judge us on the quality of our relationship and how much love we show each other.
Jesus reminds us again and again that love is our highest nature and that the actions that move us towards being loving humans are the ones that we should take. We can operate from a place of love or we can act from a place of fear. As we act out of love, we will find ourselves in company with God.
We often think that the Pharisees in Jesus' time were rule-bound people who couldn't see that God walked among them, even as Jesus was right there before them. While that is true, it's also important to realize that the Pharisees thought that following the rules to the letter was the trait that would save the Jews. We must not forget that the Jews of Jesus' time were under threat from many sides. We forget that Rome was a brutal dictatorship in so many ways, and that the peace that the Jews had found could have been (and eventually was) easily overturned.
We fail to realize how similar we are to the Pharisees. We currently live under a rigid system very similar to that of the time of Jesus, and if you don't believe me, just watch any organization try to get anything done. We also seem to be living in challenging times where people don't want to make any kind of sacrifice for the larger good. In some ways, at least the Pharisees had a motivation that I can understand. Many of our debates in 2021 leave me shaking my head.
We look back to past periods of humanity, and we like to boast that we're much more flexible. We can't imagine the ritual purity laws that were in place in Jesus' time. We can't fathom the rigidly stratified societies that most humans have created. We renounce a time when women couldn't get credit in their own name or a time when blacks and whites had separate bathrooms, but those days aren't that far away from our own.
Jesus reminds us that so many of our rules come from humans, not from God. We think that God ordained the rules that we embrace, rules which so often tell us what not to do, but Jesus reminds us that there's one essential rule: love each other. God will judge us on the quality of our relationship and how much love we show each other.
Jesus reminds us again and again that love is our highest nature and that the actions that move us towards being loving humans are the ones that we should take. We can operate from a place of love or we can act from a place of fear. As we act out of love, we will find ourselves in company with God.
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