01 Sep SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
Because there’s so much content in today’s three readings, let’s see how the readings overlap. In Deuteronomy, Moses gives a speech recounting the history of Israel in an attempt to persuade God’s people to hear and observe instructions given to Moses. He pleads the case that giving heed to God’s statutes and ordinances is tied to entering, occupying and living on land that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, is giving them. Neither add nor take away anything from these, but keep the commandments with which you are charged.
These words underline what Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees. They have added human traditions and are observing patterns of behavior started by elders of past generations which in effect created new laws and statutes not commanded by God. In other words, Jesus basically reminds the scribes and Pharisees what Moses said.
They remembered the last part, “Take care and watch yourselves closely, so as to neither forget what your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your mind so as to make them known to your children and children’s children,” but they missed the first part. What they were to remember were the statutes and ordinances that God commanded and charged them to keep.
How many parents and teachers dream of their kids doing exactly as they’re told? Or how about spouses who wish the other spouse would, “Please, just follow directions as given”? So, is it any wonder that God prefers things this way?
We have all lived through a time when we either gave or received instructions and didn’t understand the aim, or hadn’t done our homework, or had someone else think through all possible outcomes, when we thought we knew what we were doing when we didn’t or someone we asked for help strayed from the original plan resulting in things going poorly and possibly ending in disaster.
We need look no further for a close-up example than to any of us who drive and have been forewarned not to speed, tailgate, ride without wearing a seatbelt or drive in rain without turning on our headlights. The maximum recommended speed posted along a curve is based on precise laws of physics backed by experiments which qualify as scientific evidence. It just so happens that the minute you exceed the posted speed, all four of your tires are no longer fully in contact with the road’s surface. By not watching yourself carefully, there’s a chance you’ll skid off the road, flip your vehicle over or worse.
This is what Jesus is saying. By deciding for yourself or merely copying the behavior of others, you’re putting yourself in danger. You’re missing the point, which is not to cause you delay or hassle, but to save your life, to help you know what’s most important and absolutely necessary. Don’t add nor take away from the commandments which the Lord your God charges you.
When the psalmist asked, “Who may dwell in your holy hill,” he already knew the answer. “Those who lead a blameless life, do what is right, speak the truth from their heart without slander, without doing evil to friends or casting discredit upon neighbors. Those who swear upon their health and do not take back their word, who do not give money in hope of gain or take bribes against the innocent.
Everything mentioned is as Moses said, “If what you do shows wisdom and discernment, when others observe you, your behavior will cause them to say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!”
Imagine if after the Olympics was all said and done and if after the entire world had observed U.S. athletes for sixteen straight days during hours upon hours of competitive events if Associated Press headlines read, “Surely, America is a great nation of wise and discerning people! They have proven themselves to not only be great athletes, but in everything
that they and their supporters did, they showed great wisdom and discernment.”
Isn’t that what we, as a nation, strive for? To stand out as being great upon the world stage, seen as a country where people can live up to their potential, where people can pursue any dream and rise to greatness through hard work, discipline, dedication and talent. Yet we are afraid to identify ourselves as a nation who calls upon God or who will profess that our laws are set upon God’s statutes and ordinances.
There’s really no separating American values from what God values. Wisdom and discernment are the hallmarks of democracy. Listen to what James the Just, thought to be the brother of Jesus, writes. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” Gee, I find that the best, most satisfying time to be angry is when I know that I’m right and also know that another person is wrong. “But, no,”James writes. “Anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” Being angry will not count to our credit. So what will count to our credit, James the Just, brother of Jesus?
“Being doers of the word. Being quick to listen, slow to speak, without wickedness or deceit in how you think, look or act. Look into the perfect law, the law of liberty and persevere.” The law God asks us to keep is perfect and will preserve liberty for all. Religion is worthless if it does not make us bridle our tongues, care for orphans and widows in distress, and make us stand out as different from the world. To be unstained means we will have no mark that signifies being commingled with what has bled in the wash.
I was excited to see the movie, “Everything, Everywhere All at Once” because it won so many awards at the Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Director, etc. etc. I waited a year for it to be available for free through a streaming content server. The movie was weird and interesting.
I liked the premise and the inner struggle of its main characters. But after the entire thing was over, I felt dirty and disappointed by content purposefully included which I consider defiled before God. As I often find the case with popular TV shows, there were unnecessary visual references to what has become acceptable by society when not long ago such things were considered profane.
I am by no means a prude, but I cannot laugh at such things, though I understand how they make their way into “normal channels.” Perhaps Jesus would say that nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. But how many of you heard this expression growing up? “Garbage in, garbage out.” What can I say? I would prefer edited versions of many popular songs, movies and tv shows.
The Pharisees and some scribes notice that a Hollywood movie which has received high praise and accolades disturbs them. They don’t like what Jesus represents. He’s not following the traditions of Jewish culture, the patterns of the elders. He’s not attentive to the things they deem important. He doesn’t share their values or at least he’s not teaching his disciples as he ought.
Jesus says to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Perhaps, I am concerned that by following what is popular, we are adopting the values of major media outlets, Hollywood producers, and the entertainment industry, that we are straying from being people of great wisdom and discernment. Jesus says, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.”
As a kid, I both loved and hated beach boardwalk gift shops. I loved the multi- colored objects made from shells, the walls full of t-shirt designs, racks of hoodies, hanging displays of key chains, shelves of mugs and other souvenirs. What I despised was stumbling upon a section devoted to Kama Sutra pose figurines, t-shirts featuring pigs “making bacon,” zodiac sex diagrams and other objects for sale to R and X-rated audiences.
As a young girl being raised as a strict Catholic, I equated such things with adultery, wickedness, lack of moral restraint, greed in the form of lust, folly, and evil. What one entertained as one’s preoccupation in the form of thoughts could in fact defile since it manufactured such things out of thin air. I was and am still sensitive to being shocked by visuals and modern attempts at humor. Perhaps I, more than most, am susceptible to external influences upon my psyche and spirit. But, I can side with the Pharisees and scribes in this way.
Beware of insidious forms of pollution, like things that are dirty and may contaminate your insides from without. Though I like the idea of being different from the majority, of having higher standards, of keeping things pure, at times I wish I could find more things funny or enjoy what others enjoy.
Let’s end with words from James again which point to both what Moses and Jesus said. “In the Father of lights from above, we have experienced every generous act of giving, every perfect gift. In him there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”
To see our lives as first fruits could be interpreted in a number of ways according to the Bible: that they be a sacrificial offering to God, that they be deemed good, that they be considered a blessing received over the course of time, that they contain a promise of hope, an investment toward the future.
Let us pray. Dear Lord and Father of Lights, may our lives prove to be a kind of first fruit in all of those ways, an offering for good, a blessing received, a promise of hope and an investment toward a future together with each other and you. Teach us how to be wise and discern well, to get along and not separate ourselves into isolation, to commingle, but not become stained by evil. In your holy name we pray, Amen.