sermon notesA collection of resources, background information, and periodic reflections on the scripture readings in worship from Pr Josh Ehrler. Archives
July 2018
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Our reflection is on Mark 7.18,14-15,21-23.
Many years ago I led a youth group on a summer work trip. We used an organization that I wasn’t familiar with but others I knew had tried and trusted. Our small band of Lutherans joined up with nearly 300 other adults and high schoolers from across the theological spectrum in a smallish, impoverished town to do good. Once at the assembly site, all of the groups were blasted apart and reassigned, meaning, my work team included only one of “my” youth. The organizers made it clear early on that the purpose of the work was to build connections with the recipients and once trust was built, to lead them to Christ. The service, my Lutherans quickly discovered, was not the objective. The goal was to win souls for Christ. That may have even been on a poster somewhere. We were led to assume that the clients needed our mediocre painting and handy skills and more importantly (and demonstrated by their dire straits), they needed to know the love of Jesus. Through this training, we were led to presume that we had the answers and it was our privilege to share them. In this gospel reading appointed for the first weekend of September (Labor Day weekend 2018 not so ironically), Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees and scribes demonstrably frustrated that Jesus’ disciples are not demonstrating their faith. It should be noted from the outset that Mark’s primary audience was probably not Jewish in ethnic or religious background and there are pieces, like this reading, when Mark reveals his own bias (note the snark about the cups, pots, and kettles in 7.4). Naturally being Jesus groupies already, by the seventh chapter we’re going to respond with our own dismay at these silly grumps and their fruitless argument about respecting the elders. We sit back and let Jesus take the mic. The Pharisees (and scribes), who hold a great deal of power and influence, presume to know what the disciples need to reveal their faith. These civic and religious leaders are living through Levitical codes that prescribe specific acts to remove defilement, an unseen mark meant to separate individuals from the community. The codes have a dual intent of maintaining hygiene in a tightly knit tribe and illustrate a moral center for the tribe and the people counted as part of it. It a double wall of protection that probably served a positive, even necessary purpose for the survival of the group. Centuries later, layers of God language has been piled upon these codes and the Pharisees seem to be using them less to hold fast to God and their community and more to dictate how everyone else will live with them. Stepping away from the narrow focus of theological doctrine, this mentality of privilege-assuming safety and the freedom to influence others-connects many of us to the fallacy of Pharisees. It is a privilege to presume that at a distinct method of prayer or worship is the right path to addressing God. The privilege comes from a lack of need to evaluate any other patterns or to wonder if the style, wording or origin language should be changed. Privilege creates an expectation that a new worshipper will soon assimilate and become “like us” instead of the body changing, even in small ways, to reflect the new ones. Privilege does not compel us to imagine who has not yet gathered with us and often focuses on an assumption that neighbors are waiting to be invited, or that they have some specific angst toward our faith community. We, more than we’d care to admit, are the Pharisees gazing over our neighbors who look, speak, dress or live differently from us and unconsciously asking why they can’t seem to straighten themselves out. Some have even argued, rightly, that a sign of privilege is simply having the privilege of time, resources and influences to sit back and think these big thinks while others are grinding out each day to make it to the next one. This reading would be an easy read and easy sermon for any one of us to give as we stand behind Christ and call out the arrogance of the Pharisees (and scribes-we so often forget them). However, and this is the trouble with being a follower of Christ: Jesus did not come into this world for the obvious Pharisees and the evil rich and powerful, he broke into this world for us. You and me sitting with this text and wanting so badly for Jesus to spit out some devastating lines at others. Jesus walks with us, it is true. Yet, his proclamation of Grace that liberates us from sin comes for the heart of our existence in every story and in every moment. If Jesus is calling out the Pharisees, then he will turn and call us out, too. His use of the Law in this reading is meant to reveal our desperate need for his forgiveness. We have forced our need for justification upon our neighbors who are sick, poor, struggling and reaching for mercy. We have drawn lines around our forms and styles of worship and set up high walls to prevent the influence of other cultures or styles. We have obsessed about the cleanliness of our cups and kettles and noted the dirt on the shelves of others, showing little care for why it is that not every pot and pan is equally polished. Christ finds us after feeding us amidst thousands and a quick detour to heal sick people in Gennesaret (6.53-56) and confronts our privilege with the Law that breaks us. He speaks God’s Word that shatters our walls and proclaims a kingdom that denies our presumption of authority. Christ is the only authority, only Christ can heal and nourish and declare us clean. With his cross, Jesus knocks us from our soapbox and places us in the dirt at his feet to witness his loss of every privilege for our salvation. We need this saving Grace to set us free. And once we are broken of our dependence on what we know, we are brought to life to see Christ abundant in the faces, languages and cultures of God’s making. Jesus shines his mercy upon our sin, much of which we hide inside, and breathes into our collapsed lungs. He turns over the tables and flings wide the doors of God’s kingdom and compels us through love to see our shared, equality humanity. Our wealth does not set us free. Our health, our jobs, our methods of worship do not set us free. Our skin color, our nation of origin, our family lines will not set us free. Only Christ can cleave us from what defines us and the definitions we prescribe. Only Christ can speak a Word that obliterates every hope we have in our unspoken privileges. Only Christ can lead us to our death and draw us through the grave into God’s mercy and love for Creation. Only Christ has this power, and thanks be to God when he turns this unstoppable power upon us.
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