I. Theme – The challenge of living according to God’s guidelines
Cerezo Barredo (1999)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm – Psalm 15 Page 599, BCP
Epistle –James 1:17-27
Gospel – Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Today’s readings remind us of the challenge of living according to God’s guidelines. Moses in Deuteronomy teaches that the law of the lord is a gracious gift to God’s people. James reminds us that the word planted within us can save us as we do what it says. Jesus emphasizes that right relationship is based on obedience to God, not in compliance with human traditions.
Incorporated in the Deuteronomy passage is the incalculable mystery of Israel’s election and mission. Moses appeals to the unique revelation of God to Israel and pleads for whole-hearted obedience to God. The law is to be a fence around the people of God so that they may live obedient to the One God, preserved from idolatrous influences in the years to come. The nation’s fidelity to God’s law was meant to demonstrate to all humanity the divine rule in human history. Here in substance is the missionary purpose of Israel’s existence.
Judaism considers the messianic claim of Jesus an addition that radically departs from the basic principle of the Jewish faith–the unity of God. The reference to a “god so near” is interpreted by the rabbis to mean that no intermediary of any sort is required for the worshiper to approach God in prayer. Judaism has a wide tradition of religious tolerance. It teaches that all people are judged solely on their moral life and the righteous of all nations share in the world to come with the righteous of Israel.
Judaism always taught that right motives are all-important, and Jesus certainly emphasized this in his teaching and preaching. In Mark 7, he points out that evil comes from within, “out of the heart.” Although righteousness cannot be legislated, the innumerable additions to the Torah via the oral tradition were justified by Israel’s teachers as necessary for deeper understanding and for increased resistance to idolatry–the offense that leads to all other sin.
Sin continues to take its toll. Human pride and perversity remain unconquered without divine intervention–the new and marvelous things that God did by sending the Son into the world. We know that the rulers of darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness assail us. The sword of the Spirit is still the Word of God. But the word came new and powerful in Christ to cleanse our hearts of evil from within. Christ completes the “whole armor of God.”
Faith is a matter of head, heart, and hands. Faith without works is useless, so says the author of the Epistle of James. Theology that can’t be practiced is irrelevant – a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Action without reflection or divorced from values and vision is ultimately aimless and destruction, and certainly self-serving. Holistic theology embraces the wisdom of embodiment and integrates it with the guidance of spirit and reason.
In all things and at all times, our lives should praise God. In all things and at all times, our lives should model to others the love of God. In all things and at all times, our words should build up the reign of God, and not harm others. We are called to tear down the walls of division, not to judge others. We are called to care for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the marginalized, the oppressed—not to condemn or curse or justify ourselves. And when we bring ourselves into alignment—our words, actions and beliefs/values, we find ourselves living more authentically as Christians and followers of God’s way, and living more filling lives. We give value to ourselves and to others when we live authentically as followers of Jesus the Christ.
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