I
was recently talking to my nephew Adam, a high school senior in Colorado
Springs, Colorado. He was telling me about a lad in his study hall who is
challenging the school administration on the grounds that his civil rights have
been violated. It seems that Adam’s classmate took it upon himself to start a
Christian Bible study group during his free period. About six or seven
youngster would gather together for a quiet and respectful look at the
scriptures. The students were courteous enough not to disturb the other study
hall students. No shouted hallelujahs, no hymn singing, no exorcisms. Just a
few kids talking softly about their shared faith.
Unfortunately—yeah,
you guessed it..!—the school administration ordered the study to disband on the
grounds that Bible study on public school property violated the historic
separation of church and state. (Personally, I’m a little surprised at this as
Colorado Springs is practically the Vatican
for Evangelicals!) Adam’s friend is challenging this order, arguing that his
Bible study took place during a free period, was not part of the school
curriculum, and did not involve school employees. I wish the young man luck.
As
much as it brings the barf up into my mouth to admit it, I actually do have to
agree with Donald Trump on one point—political correctness has reached the
level of the ridiculous in some cases. Madeline Murray O’Hare’s personal
aversion to all things spiritual seems to have turned us into a nation of
whiners who have forgotten that freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion. Somebody always has to
make an issue out of something, and it looks like we just can’t get away from
the risk of a tongue-lashing from the terminally touchy among us.
This
brings me to our gospel lesson from the Revised Common Lectionary for Pentecost
Fourteen (Mark: 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23—and aren’t you glad we’re finally out of
John 6?!) The story opens with the scribes and the Pharisees giving Jesus a
hard time because they don’t like the disciples’ table manners. These high
muckety-mucks of religious authority are ticked off, claiming that the
disciples’ not-ritually-washed hands are an affront to the Law of Moses and the
tradition of the elders. This criticism gets Jesus’ back up, and the Lord lays
into them by saying,
“You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human
tradition.” (v.8)
And
ain’t that always the way? It is an unfortunate characteristic of our humanity
that we will cling like a deer tick to the letter of the law while completely
avoiding the spirit. Inexplicably, the RCL once again cuts out a key element in
this story, verses 9-13 in which Jesus hurls the hypocrisy of his critics back
into their smirking teeth. It appears that some of these good religiously
observant and pious individuals have dedicated some of their wealth to God
(This could be either an offering of livestock as in Leviticus 1:2 or a
monetary offering given for a specific purpose as in Numbers 7:13). In and of
itself, I’d say this is a pretty darn good thing; however, the Pharisees seem
to think that this grand gesture exempted them from looking after their aging
parents (an exemption which was specifically reversed in the Mishna after the time of Jesus). Jesus
scolds these guys for using a pious motive to neglect a humanitarian imperative
to serve the needy.
I’d
say that we sinners are still prone to come up with pious reasons to serve our
own selfishness. When it comes to making excuses for our prejudices, laziness,
and greed, we’re all religious jailhouse lawyers.
Yes,
I’d agree that it’s impious to wear cut-off jeans and sports jerseys to church,
but it also misses the mark to judge other people by their clothing and forget
to welcome them as brothers and sisters in Christ.
It
is immoral to take the life of the unborn. It is equally immoral to subject the
post-born to poverty, to deny them adequate shelter, or to refuse them access
to healthcare.
It
was certainly a sign of piety and respect to allow prayer and Bible reading in
public schools, but it is an insult to God to underfund public education, overcrowd
classrooms, and cancel school lunch programs.
It
is a hallowed constitutional right to allow Americans to defend their lives and
property with firearms, and yet it is an outrage to witness endless acts of gun
violence without making some attempt to end it.
In
this lesson we encounter Jesus as the judge of our actions and attitudes. We
can observe all the religious and societal rules we want, but if our hearts aren’t
motivated by God’s love, all our judgmental attitudes do is defile.
The
challenge in this lesson, as always, is to cast ourselves in the role of the Pharisees
and ask what nit-picking rules or platitudes are keeping us from being authentic
disciples. What excuses are we making to judge others, withhold forgiveness, or
inhibit justice and mercy? The gospel always compels us to look inside. But
here’s the good news: we have the gospel, and through it, the judgment of Jesus
brings us to repentance, changes our attitudes, and frees us from the bondage
of our sins.
Thanks
for stopping in, folks.
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