August 29, 2021
Sermon by the Rev. Bernadette Hartsough
In the gospel scene from Mark, the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day are concerned that Jesus’s disciples are not demonstrating reverence for Jewish traditions. Jesus answers them not as an outsider but as a deeply religious Jew also concerned about tradition. Jesus looks at the heart of it. Jesus is not condemning all of Judaism. Jesus is not walking away from Judaism. Jesus is expanding their understanding of ritual law and tradition.
Jewish traditions developed as a response to God’s law and in response to the other people that lived around them. Israel needed to remember that it was different in order to preserve its faith. They had one supreme, true God. Ancient Israel created rituals that became traditions in order to preserve their faith and to prevent worshipping the gods of their neighboring nations.
In today’s gospel, Jesus wants the Jewish leaders to discern if their present traditions follow the heart of God. In first century, Palestine, the heart was seen as the center of one’s emotions. The heart was also the center of one’s will and decision making. So, are their traditions following the heart, the will of God?
So, what about traditions? Traditions form from habits. Habits are tricky things. They develop without our awareness and then are very hard to break. Habits involve rewards to reinforce them. The rewards can be food or a good feeling. Food habits involve our senses and are very hard to break. Many people that suffer from extreme obesity have developed unhealthy food habits. Habits involving feelings can be feelings of connection, belonging, a boost to self-esteem.
Habits done in a communal setting become traditions. In today’s gospel, Jesus is talking about traditions that have gotten out of control. traditions that expand and forget the heart of the faith. Jesus did not want the scribes and pharisees to sacrifice their faith to save their tradition. The basics of God’s teachings can get lost if tradition is always the focus.
Jesus urges the scribes and pharisees to examine their traditions. They are traditions that are so fixed that they shut out God’s revelation. They shut out the heart of God.
In the Episcopal Church we discern God’s revelation for change based on the three-legged stool, scripture, reason, and tradition. We examine scripture to know the heart of God. We look at the tradition of the church by looking at what the church in the world is actually doing. Tradition written down and tradition done in practice in churches can disagree. This happened in the early church. What the early church wrote down as church tradition, varied from what they actually did. We know these from other documents and archeological sites. We do the same today. Finally, we look at what God is revealing to us in this day and time and use reason to interpret it.
Jesus is clear in his words today that we must examine our traditions. When examining traditions, we look at the world around us. Where is God showing us new revelations? Is our focus love, reconciliation, and the good news that God came to earth as Jesus? The main questions come down to these; how do we keep what we love? How do we follow God’s revelation to move forward and let go of those traditions that prevent our church from growing? Jesus saw that the scribes and pharisees lost sight of their true faith by putting man made tradition over God’s revelation.
Letting go is always hard. It is a loss. It involves time to grieve the lost. We all experienced this last year at the beginning of the pandemic. We lost some of our traditions. Some of the traditions that we lost; we still have not been able to bring back. This has been an opportunity for us to examine what we do and why we do it. As an international church, the Episcopal Church has been discussing various topics. Can you virtually consecrate bread and wine? Can you bless something virtually? Should we change our tradition to include consecrating wine in more than one cup? Should only wheat bread and grape wine be used for communion? There are many other topics. These are just a few.
We need to discern what we do as individuals. No one can do it for us. Here are a few points to think about for your personal faith. Our traditions and personal practices should reveal attitudes and actions that show a genuine love for God and compassion for others. Or our practices should be helping us to develop a deeper love for God and other. What are the religious practices we pursue and why do we pursue them? What kinds of spiritual disciplines help us develop a meaningful relationship with God and our neighbor? It may be sabbath keeping, charitable giving, public worship, private prayer, service work, hospitality, and forgiveness. If we do something and we are resentful or we complain about doing it, then we need to examine why we are doing it. If we do something and it helps us to understand another’s situation then we can be sure it is following the heart of God. If we feel God’s peace, an awareness of God, or an awareness of others, then we are on the right path.
There may be some things that we need to let go. If we do something because we get a sense of spiritual satisfaction, we need to examine why we are doing it. We don’t need to keep our spiritual disciplines on a tally sheet. Yes, you should have spiritual disciplines, but you do not need to do all of them all of the time. We must beware that our actions do not cause us to feel superior to others especially others that different and vulnerable.
Jesus is telling the pharisees and scribes, and Jesus is telling us to examine our own heart. Don’t let our hearts get stuck and become hard. Look at our own dirty hands not some else’s.