Several years ago Emily and I visited Alaska Alaska
I thought of these Russian believers when I read the Gospel story today. The Pharisees are criticizing Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands. Like those Orthodox believers dying for the right to cross themselves with three fingers, it’s not really about the ceremony. The Pharisees know that the Law of Moses says nothing about washing hands, but note that Mark overstates his case when he claims that “all the Jews” follow these rules—Jesus and his followers are Jews and they’re not following these rules. These rules were the subject of much debate. They were the Pharisees’ answer to a particular problem: How to identify who belongs in the holy community.
Really, Moses set them up with this problem. In our reading from Deuteronomy, Moses is seen giving his final instructions to the people of Israel Israel
The problem is, for the Pharisees, it’s been centuries since the Law worked that way. Once it did work. Back when Israel Israel Israel Israel
The Pharisees were so busy trying to be holy, they forgot to consider what God might want. Blessing with two fingers or three is irrelevant—the real question is how God is involved in the blessing. As Jesus points out, Moses’ Law was never about washing. It’s about worshipping God. It’s about how to treat others, about justice and fair play, and doing the right thing even when there’s nothing to be gained from it. Ceremonies do not answer the question.
Now does any of this sound relevant? I suspect that while this may be interesting history, it’s also very far away. You don’t hear a lot of discussion about how to be a holy people—do you even hear that word outside this place? But every week I read something about how the church is dying. No one goes to church, nobody likes Christians, church is irrelevant—all sorts of bad news. I also read a lot about where we went wrong and who is to blame. Did we ignore Moses’ advice and forget to teach the children? Did we ignore James’ words from our second lesson and hear the words but do nothing about them?
Yes and yes. There’s plenty of repentance to go around, although it’s usually more fun to decide that someone else needs to do the repenting. It is easy to point out who is right and who is lost, and to set up the rules that identify the truly holy community with all its limitations. But I wonder if our real issue isn’t that we have made the same mistake the Pharisees made: so busy being Christians we forgot to ask Christ what he might like his people, called by his name, to be doing. Are we forgetting God’s place in the picture?
The Pharisees seem to have forgotten that God has a place in this picture. Maybe somewhere along the way they gave up on the idea that anything could change. Hope lost, they were left with only dry rules with which to demonstrate their faith.
Given their situation, the Pharisees had very good reason to give up on God. Given our situation, it’s not hard to understand. Where is God in the mess of the world that surrounds us? It’s easy to see that He isn’t here—our cynicism, apathy and anger point us to a world where we are very much alone.
But we know better. We’ve seen God’s presence, we’ve been taking pictures of God’s presence, or at least of the things that remind us that God is here. If you look at the board in the Parish Hall, you’ll see those pictures. Some of them of children, ours or someone else’s; some are shots of beautiful flowers or majestic landscapes. Some photos portray Christians doing the right thing. In all of these we see a reminder of God’s presence and plan. It’s important that we begin here because otherwise it’s just about power, and who has the loudest voice. The pictures give us hope because they remind us of a greater reality. But the pictures of God’s presence aren’t just to make us happy, they are to remind us of our call.
We are called—inspired, urged, commanded—to do something. We also believe that God gives us the opportunity and the ability to act. This is the Good News, that God loves us enough to include us in his plan for wholeness and salvation.
 |
| A picture of hope from our gallery |
So we’ve been posting pictures for awhile. Now it’s time to consider where those pictures are leading us. The pictures are reminders of hope—little glimpses of how things could be and should be. What step of faith is that hope calling you to take? Some of our pictures, for example, are of children. How are we called to teach them, to bring them into this fuller reality of hope and meaning? Some of our pictures are of beautiful things. Beauty demonstrates that there are some things that are worth more than a price tag. What can we do about that? Maybe there are talents to be shared or built up?
The first question is about hope—where do you find it? The second—where does that hope lead you? It seems to me that the Pharisees had no answer to that first question, which is why they missed salvation staring them in the face in the person of Jesus. We can probably do better than scriptures’ bad guys. So how about it? Thoughts?