Proper 17B
September 2, 2018
Song of Solomon 2: 8-13,Psalm 45
James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
St Thomas the Apostle
The Rev’d Joy Daley
I remember when my son was small, he would run everywhere with abandon without any knowledge about what might be dangerous. In the small apartment where we lived it wasn’t so hard to keep him contained .We only needed one of those little gates in the doorway, but being outside was a mother’s nightmare. I found the perfect solution, though. Remember those old wooden gates that opened like an accordion you could put them on any doorway well I found a circular one of those for outings to a park we loved to visit. It was a beautiful place, a nice grassy area under the trees but in one direction there was ocean and rocks on the other side there was a road where the cars came in and then there was another beach behind us. Lots of opportunity for danger. So I’d carry this portable boundary under my arm and when we got to the park I would just spread it open and Paul had his own little yard where he could play. He was safe with his toys. He had space and he didn’t have to listen to me yell “No” five hundred time, or “Watch out!”. As my son got older he still needed boundaries but not the same kind. As he matured he grew to understand what was safe and what wasn’t. He internalized the external boundaries and he could move more freely and confidently in the world.
That’s what the law was for, the tradition of the elders we hear about in our gospel. When God gave the law it was out of love for the protection and instruction of the people. It was a gift to provide safety and learning. It was really about relationship and caring, just like the physical boundaries I put in place for my son. The goal was not restriction but protection until he could safely do that for himself. The law then, is not an end in itself. It is for growth and learning and right relationship. After a while a child learns to not run off to not pick up hurtful things. The law that is lovingly conveyed becomes internalized and we go on to grow in deeper ways. The law then, should liberate, bring us to the next level of maturity of responsible living.
In his book Falling Upward, Franciscan Richard Rohr explains that the task of the first half of life is to create a container for one’s life and the task of the second half of life is to find the actual contents that the container is meant to hold and deliver. The container, the law, the rules, serve a purpose. In the first half of life success security, containment looking good to ourselves and others are key but those things can take over and keep us from spiritual growth. Preoccupation with keeping our fences repaired prevents us from the real stuff of life. The law, rules and traditions are never meant to be an end in themselves.
We see in the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees that the Pharisees are stuck in the place of following the tradition just because we’ve always done it that way. They focus on the fact that Jesus’ disciples are eating without washing their hands, following the traditions and the rules. Now remember that Jesus has said in the sermon on the mount “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” He said that right after telling his followers, “You are the light of the world.” Fulfillment of the law looks less like rule following and more like living from the heart. That’s when we truly shine like the light of the world. Jesus is telling the Pharisees that following the law is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s only the beginning. If you just stop at checking off the rules, it would be as if I tried to keep my son inside that gate as he became a young man. It would look ridiculous because eventually those parameters weren’t needed. They were not thrown out they were internalized. Jesus is telling his followers and the Pharisees that we are meant for so much more. Sometimes holding to human tradition, laws it can lead us to abandon the law of God which is really about caring for and loving others and it works the other way also. Sometimes holding to the law of God (the way of love) leads us to go beyond human traditions that have become fences or walls. When God’s word is implanted within us and we become doers of the word, human traditions are not held to so tightly. We more freely live into the true religion that liberates us to care for others in need.
In the news this week we have been hearing about a man who embodied what it looks like to go beyond the limitations of human traditions to that deeper level of true religion, true connection and caring for others. John McCain wasn’t a perfect person. He had his faults that many are quick to point out but as he matured Senator McCain internalized what it meant to be a public servant and as a Christian to live in fulfillment of the law rather than living by its the external limitations. He was a Republican Senator but he did not let party lines become an end in themselves. Because he internalized what it means to be an American and a Christian he learned how to see beyond difference, beyond political party and did his best to be in the words of our Epistle, a doer of the word. So at his funeral there were Republicans and Democrats speaking tributes, black and white, gay and straight. A member of Arizona’s Hopi tribe who attended his memorial service, said “John McCain was someone who showed respect for people regardless of their background, their wealth or lack thereof, or what language they grew up speaking.” At the service at the National Cathedral there were readings from scripture that told the story of what Senator McCain believed, from John’s gospel, “Love one another as I have loved you,” and from First Corinthians, “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” John McCain was a military man, a loyal member of a political party but he stepped beyond the boundaries and limits of these entities. This kind of living brings people together rather than divides them through the liberation of the deeper law of love. When we live this way it is then that we are the light of the world. Inspired by Senator McCain’s witness, may we honor God with our hearts and let our light shine brightly.
