Mark
7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
James
1:17-27
When you look into the mirror,
what do you see? We wake up in the
morning and stumble into the bathroom.
We go to wash our hands and look up.
I have to say, I am often surprised.
We don’t see our own faces that often.
Sometimes I wonder how that could be me.
Sometimes I see someone tired.
Sometimes I see someone happy.
Sometimes I see someone whose been working all day. Sometimes I see my mom. She and I have a very similar haircut right
now and it is a true contest who has the most gray hair. When I went to visit my brother, his youngest
called me “Grandma” for the whole first day, because I look so much like my mom
and he hadn’t met me before. There are
worse things to be called! Sometimes
when I look in the mirror, I see my dad.
I see my thin upper lip, I see my bony collarbone, and I am reminded of
where I came from. When I think of my
parents, I think about their best characteristics that I want to emulate, and I
think of their traits that I don’t want to pass on.
I expected Sterling to resemble
his dad more, and he probably will once he’s all grown up, but for now, he
looks more like me. He spends a lot of
time with me, so he is taking on some of my mannerisms and speech
patterns. He’s my little reflection of
all within myself that I am proud of and not so proud of.
We are all children of God, made
in God’s image. In the same way that we
look at our kids and see good, God sees good.
In the same way that we want to shape our kids so that they reflect
their best, so God wants the best from us and for us. I have to admit that when I look in the
mirror at home, I don’t expect to see traits that resemble God, but when I come
to the time of confession in church, and when I am in the car reflecting on my
day, I am holding up a mirror to honestly see myself for what I have learned,
what I could do better, and what I am pleased about. Sometimes I am sorting out what are God’s
expectations of me and what are other people’s expectations of me and what are
my expectations for myself. I am
figuring out what is realistic, what is valuable, what my goals are, and how to
forgive myself.
Today, God is laying out God’s
purpose, and that is loving, life-giving relationship. This is God’s perfect gift and generous
act. Everything else God does is to
support that purpose. God created and
all creation for that purpose. God gives
the people commandments for that purpose, not only the 10 commandments, but
hundreds of commandments about how we treat the poor and the foreigner and what
to eat in order to be healthy, and how to treat diseases, and on and on. All these commandments are for loving,
life-giving relationship.
So when they are used as weapons
to say that one person is better than another, or to shame or blame, Jesus gets
very upset and names the sin, hypocrisy.
He knows how easy it is to judge someone by outward appearance, to look
at surface issues, like hand washing or dish washing, and judge them. Sterling had a friend spend the night the
other day, and when the boys finished eating, I reminded them to put their
plates in the sink. The little friend of
Sterling’s said, “Wow, you sure keep your house nice!” Everyone has a different standard of
cleanliness and I would not consider my house tidy by any means, however, it
seems very basic to expect a child to do something as simple as take their
plate to the sink. It is becoming a
ritual for us, a habit, a tradition, for the life of the household. But as soon as we use that tradition to judge
how someone else does it, we are not promoting loving, life-giving
relationship. We are not leaving room
for other ways of doing it, other life-giving traditions. Someday we will probably come to the point
where one person sets the table and another cooks and another clears the table,
if that’s what is life-giving for us. Or
maybe we’ll hire someone to do our dishes, if that is what is life-giving. If we worship our rules or our traditions, we
miss the point of loving, life-giving relationship.
Sometimes as Lutherans we
worship the tradition. We get so used to
one way of doing things, that we don’t leave room to discuss what is loving and
life-giving. We don’t leave ourselves
open to discussion. We are blind to how
our automatic rituals are received by others.
I love the rich tradition of the Lutheran Church. I have recited the Lord’s Prayer in my
sleep. I had “Lead Me, Guide Me” in my
head all week. I regularly use phrases
like “Simultaneously saint and sinner.”
I am a Christian and a very Lutheran one. Traditions, especially ones based in rich
history, and with such deep roots in good Biblical scholarship, can be so
meaningful. They can be a mirror
reminding us of who we are, where we’ve come from, who our father is, and who
has come before us to hand on this way of worship.
And traditions can be damaging, exclusive,
and harmful. When do we know it is time
to retire a tradition? How much harm can
we let a tradition cause before we throw it out? How many times have our traditions and their
hidden meanings driven away someone in need of loving, life-giving community? Can we trust that that person has the
resources to find a worshipping community that will suit their needs
better? How can we help translate our
tradition so that outsiders can get a glimpse of the larger reality that our
traditions are pointing to? How can we
allow God to speak to us through the current context of this world, to make our
faith practices relevant to the needs and language of everyday people who are
seeking God’s love? I don’t have the
answers, but I think Jesus is asking us to consider these questions. We’re so used to our patterns, that we don’t
even notice the discomfort they cause to other people. We expect them to conform to us. But maybe God is bringing us people to teach
us something new, to hold up a mirror to see are we really faithful to
God? Or are we mostly faithful to our
tradition because it is comforting and makes us feel good? I know it is some of both. As uncomfortable as it is to hold up that
mirror, we have to keep holding it up to make sure our actions are faithful,
and not just our words.
In my family, we did things
because we had always done them that way.
There was no discussion. There
was no relationship, no room for the creativity and gifts of each person in the
family. I want things to be different in
the family I have with Sterling and Nick.
We have rules for loving, life-giving relationship, for the safety and
well-being of each member, and for interaction with the world. And we have a curious, growing, intelligent
child who wants to know why and all the possibilities of other ways of
interacting. So our commandments are
examined as a family to see if they are life-giving, and how they could be more
life-giving. We hold some boundaries
absolutely for the health and safety of all.
And we hold some flexibility to make room for new ideas and other ways
of doing things. I have to say it would be easier to just lay down the
law. However, that’s not going to
develop a kid who can think for himself.
Of course, I see myself in God’s image, so I think God wants us to think
for ourselves and to work out the fulfillment of the law and the traditions
together so they make sense for these times and these people.
God’s purpose in creation is to
establish and maintain loving, life-giving relationship. As God’s children, we are invited to see in
ourselves the traits and values God is working to pass on to us, slow to anger,
quick to listen, slow to speak. Our
actions begin to reflect our values. But
there is one more pitfall, and that is pride. As soon as we are arrogant enough
to think that we have the answers or can lay down the law for another person,
we are back to square one, because we’ve forgotten that the point is loving,
life-giving relationship.
In the pursuit of loving,
life-giving relationship, God created us, gave us commandments, led us through
the desert, and into new life. God gave
us Jesus to be in loving, life-giving relationship with us, and show us what
that looks like. Through Jesus’ gift, we
have forgiveness, the chance to try again to live the values of our Father and
brother, and because of eternal life, there is no end to this relationship.
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