It was my first sermon out of the the Old Testament since May, although the topic of hand washing took us back to Jewish rituals developed in the time of the Old Testament stories. I did not like my conclusion going into the sermon, so I adjusted it on the fly, and I ended up with a conclusion that I liked less than what I had originally written (the original conclusion in the text below).
did not get much feedback about the sermon as congregation left Sunday. The sermon seemed ok to me, but I sort of missed the narrative of the Old Testament from this past summer's lectionary.
“Washing Hands” September 6, 2018, SAPC, Denton; Mark 7 Richard B. Culp
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.[c]) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live[d] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 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 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Introduction: The Pharisees think the disciples should wash their hands before eating.
Jesus defends the disciples for not washing their hands before eating.
Jesus defies every parent who has his or her child before sitting down to eat - “Have you washed your hands.”
Or parents who carry hand sanitizer to make sure everyone can have clean hands if there is not a bathroom nearby.
Or churches who prominently display hand sanitizer and have the ministers use it as part of the communion ritual to put the congregation at ease about coming forward to receive elements.
this week I read an article about how to be more hygienic when serving communion. You'll be glad to know that we are doing pretty well - in fact, having cut bread pieces for intinction puts us pretty high on the hygiene scale!
Jesus’ response seems sort of odd to our hygiene conscious sensibilities.
Major clue that we live in a different context than the one in which Jesus made his point about clean and unclean hands and there is more going on in this story than meets the eye
Before we begin unraveling this story, a couple of thoughts; ff we reduce this story to traditions are bad and acting from the heart is good, we might join a lot of others through history who have used this text to attack traditions, but i don’t think it is quite that simple.
Also, you see yourself on Jesus’ side, like you and Jesus have it right and everyone else and their traditions have it wrong, then you might need to rethink what Jesus is saying.
Move 1: Purity laws
a. Self-identity and self-understanding
1. Imagine being Jew in a world where you are a small minority.
2. In the particular moment when this story takes place, the Romans are in power and the Jews are trying to live in the niche they have created for themselves in the world where they have little political power and they are surrounded by a plurality of people who worship a multitude of pagan gods.
3. The rituals are a way of defining themselves and allowing them to recognize those who are like them [Tom Wright in Mark for Everyone (9) touches on this idea].
b. Rituals like hand-washing are often tied to their religious tradition.
1. Notice that the Gsopel of Mark refers to this ritatul as a tradition.
2. hand washing is not a rule the Pharisees instituted to out of nowhere to make life hard on others; it was part of the tradition they are trying to keep alive of http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/08/ethical-hermeneutics-and-hermeneutical.html
3. Handwashing goes back to days of priests washing as they go into the Temple.
4. The temple was the holy place where they would meet God.
5. To prepare oneself by cleansing was a reminder that when encountering the holiest of holies, they need to be cleansed. So the priests would wash their hands and say a prayer to God.
6. As time when by, the ritual became more than just a act of the priests as they entered the Temple. it was a way for all God’s people to be reminded that they were connected to God and their need to be cleanses as they engaged the holy.
7. It also became a way to carry on the tradition when they no longer gathered at the Temple.as they encountered God, they needed to be cleansed say a https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hand-washing/
8. Rituals like hand washing were part of an effort to be faithful to God.
c. but, but over time the purity laws morph into points of exclusion.
1. By the time Jesus is arguing about this in the Gospel of Mark, the religious leaders had the idea that if you did not follow the rituals, you were outside of the tradition
outside of a relationship with God.
outside of God’s love.
2. how easily over time rituals came to be seen as gates put into place to exclude.
Move 2: here’s where Jesus takes issue with the rituals.
a. Jesus has a different agenda than traditional rituals.
1. Jesus comes to break down the barriers that keep us from God.
2. Jesus comes to expand the circle, instead of shrinking it.
3. jesus calls us beyond religious traditions or rituals that exclude others.
b. Did you notice how Mark emphasizes that the Pharisees and scribes come from jerusalem?
1. For Mark, everything points toward Jerusalem, where Jesus will die and be resurrected.
2. this discussion of rituals is played out in that context - the rituals cannot free us to know God’s grace; only Christ’s death and resurrection and can bring us to new life.
3. no food, no rule, no human doctrine can mediate God’s love - only Christ can, and he offers God’s love to everyone.
c. I might also note that the Greek word for washing or washing as in washing of hands or washing the pots is the same root word as to baptize.
1. it seems to me that the point is clearly being made that the rituals are being replaced by baptism.
2. If you want to connect with God and be given new life, be cleansed in the waters of baptism and united with Christ in his death and resurrection.
Move 3: Finally, remember, it’s about us
a. it's not the scribes. Not the Pharisees. Not the law.
1. What Jesus subjects to fiercest criticism in this passage is the human being.
2. Joel Marcus notes the concentration of the word anthrÅpos ("human being" or "person") eleven times in the span of Mark 7:7--23 (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1381; matt skinner)
b. How are you living your life?
1. Do you live and act in ways that invite people to know God’s grace?
2. or do you like those rules that suggest there are a lot of hurdles to knowing God’s love?
Conclusion: When you come to the Lord’s Table today, reflect on the gift of Christ’s body and blood you receive - is it a gift for all, or a gift to guard with rituals?
No comments:
Post a Comment