St. Matthew’s Sermon 09-02-2018

Right Action, Wrong Action, No Action

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, Psalm 15, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God. Amen

It happens only once in a great while. In fact, I can remember only two other times when I was able to include all four of our Lectionary readings into one sermon. And as a bonus, for me at least, this time they happen to feed what’s been on my mind for quite a while; that being, how can we be certain that we’re getting our faith right; how do we know we’re being good, faithful followers of Christ?

Allow me to highlight the verses that ‘jumped out’ at me as I read through the readings assigned for today.

From the Old Testament reading, Deuteronomy 4:2, “You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you”.

From the 15^th Psalm: vss. 1 and 2, “O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart…”

From the epistle of James: 1:18, “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”.

And from the Gospel of Mark: 7:21-23 “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

On the surface these verses seem to stand alone firmly and are, in fact, often used by Christians to explain the parameters of being a worthy follower of Christ. But if we think it through, we might find it isn’t really that cut-and-dry.

For example; the text from Deuteronomy tells us to add nothing nor take anything away from the Law. Yet, in the Gospel of John we read these words of Christ himself: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. (John 13:34 NRSV)

Neither verse makes the other null-and-void but, at a surface level reading, there is contradiction that challenges us to consider “change” as a faithful possibility.

The text from the Psalm seems to tell us that only those who are blameless, do everything right and speak the truth can approach God. But can any of us “walk blamelessly”; what is the standard for doing what is right; and what truth must we speak from our heart? Can any of that be determined without dissecting the writing until it is cut into unrecognizable little parts?

From the epistle of James: regarding the gift of “the word of truth” we must ask again, what is the word of “truth”” Is it the Bible; including the Old Testament, the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, or the gift of the Holy Spirit placed within us.

And in the Gospel of Mark: Jesus adds “pride” to his list of evil that comes from the heart yet the word pride or proud appears only once in the five books of the Law in Leviticus 26:19 where we read, “I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper”.

And, here again, we might think it conflicting, or at least confusing, that Jesus is speaking of evil intentions coming from the heart when in the Psalm we are called to “speak the truth from the heart.”

Of course these are only a few examples that happen to all come from today’s assigned readings but I think it makes it clear that it is, indeed, sometimes complicated.

We all want to be good, faithful followers of God and Christ; we want to get it right so that we receive our reward in the day of judgment. But in so many cases we have such a hard time figuring out what is the right thing to do, the right thing to say, and the right way to act. And, with so much at stake, we certainly don’t want to do or say anything wrong! Then, with those thoughts in our mind, it’s easy for us to get lost in the dilemma and end up paralyzed by fear; doing nothing and saying nothing; which conflicts with the call of Christ and the Apostles for an active faith.

Of course, it’s not always hard to figure out. Some of our choices are more obvious. Like; you shall love your God, (an action) you shall not commit murder, (an inaction). But there is much that isn’t so clear like; love your neighbor as yourself. When we see a neighbor falling astray do we show love by chastising them? (an action) Do we show love by excommunicating them? (an action). If we just continue to love them as they are (an inaction), are we enabling their bad behavior; or worse, becoming an accomplice? And, AND, on what standard are we judging them to be falling astray in the first place; is it God’s, or is it human precepts turned into doctrines?

Add nothing, take nothing away; walk blamelessly; do what is right; be doers, not merely hearers.  O God what do we do!?

It would be nice, it would be easy, if we were always certain that we were doing and saying the right thing, not doing the wrong thing, and not neglecting our call to do out of fear, but it’s just not that simple.

Jesus does, however, give us help in figuring it all out, and a part of that help is found in today’s Gospel reading (that directly addresses this issue) as he speaks with the Pharisees and Scribes about what they do and what they leave undone.

What they leave undone is financially supporting their aging parents, having given all they could spare to the Temple treasury. What they do is follow the “traditions of the elders”; the interpretation of the Law that turns “human precepts [into] doctrines” that allow them to neglect their responsibility to their parents as well as turn rules for common sense cleanliness into ritual requirements. What these have in common is that both harm others; the parents are harmed without the needed support and, as demonstrated by their chastising of the Disciples, others are harmed by their resentment.

Jesus takes this further with his list of twelve evil intentions; fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

Notice here, every one of these is something that does no worldly harm to the actor, but does harm to those acted upon. Even “folly” can be Biblically defined as doing wrong in sport and, in one’s arrogance, not thinking oneself accountable; or as an action that threatens the prosperity and stability of the community.

Jesus’ point, then, is that when we are discerning the right thing to do, the wrong thing to do, and the need for action or inaction; it is well for us to ask ourselves, not of how this will affect us in the final judgment, but how does this affect others in the here-and-now. Does this action do harm to anyone else; does it take away from others? Do these words lift up or put down? Does my inaction or my silence cause harm? Does anything I say, do, or leave undone cause another to lose faith?

These are the lens we need to look through when interpreting the Word of God; these are the precepts that keep our heart near God; these are our assurance that we are getting it right in this life and that we will receive our reward in the next!

Amen

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
4:1 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
4:2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you.
4:6 You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!”
4:7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?
4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
4:9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children–

Psalm 15
15:1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
15:2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
15:3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
15:4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the LORD; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
15:5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.

James 1:17-27
1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
1:18 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.
1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
1:20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.
1:21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
1:23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
1:24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
1:25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act–they will be blessed in their doing.
1:26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
7:1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,
7:2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.
7:3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;
7:4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)
7:5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
7:6 He said 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;
7:7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
7:8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
7:14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:
7:15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
7:21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,
7:22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
7:23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”