A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost 29 August 2021, by Hope Antone.
The scripture readings that day : Psalm 15, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
After
reading the gospel text for today, the first thought that came to my mind was
this: What would Jesus say during this time of the pandemic when the washing of
hands has become the order of the day?
Before
this pandemic, one of the acts that I noticed many people in Hong Kong do is rinsing
their utensils with hot water (or tea) that is readily served the moment they get
seated in a restaurant. I used to wonder why people would do it and whether the
restaurant staff wouldn’t feel offended by the seeming lack of trust in their
washing ability. Later, however, I just joined my friends/colleagues in rinsing
utensils simply to pass the time, i.e., while waiting for the food to come.
During
this pandemic, the act of washing hands, utensils, and everything we touch has
become a must. We thoroughly wash hands not only before eating, but before and
after we touch something. We do not eat anything from the market unless we
wash it; some would even clean with alcohol-based wipes anything that is
brought to their home.
The
difference is that in biblical times, the practice of hand washing was part of
the tradition of the elders (the religious leaders) to keep oneself holy, clean
and pure – to be worthy of God who is most holy. But for our present context
today, the practice of hand washing is advised by health authorities to prevent
contamination and curb the Covid-19 pandemic. For the biblical context, hand
washing was part of the purity system; while in our present context, hand
washing is part of the hygiene guidelines.
According
to Mark’s account, the Pharisees and the scribes observed that some of Jesus’s disciples
ate food without washing their hands. Such an observation led to their
accusation of Jesus’ leniency or carelessness as a teacher who allowed his
disciples/students to violate/disobey the tradition of the elders. That only some
of the disciples ate food without washing their hands could mean that not all the
Jews followed the tradition of the elders. [I read that the tradition of the
elders was something expected of the religious leaders, but some of them were
zealous to ask the ordinary Jews to follow the same.] It could also mean that
Jesus, as a teacher, did not so much focus on the tradition of the elders as he
did on God’s commandments.
How
did Jesus react to an observation of an action, which led to an accusation of a
violation of the “tradition of the elders”? Jesus used the situation as an
opportunity for teaching a lesson. He reminded the accusers (i.e., the
Pharisees and scribes) of what truly matters: You honor God with your lips but
your hearts are far from God! You hold to human tradition but abandon the
commandment of God! For Jesus, this is the crux of the matter – that human-made
traditions are not the same as God’s commandments.
Let
me share a story by Fr. Anthony de Mello about “The Guru’s Cat”:
Each time the guru sat for worship with his
students, the ashram cat would come in to distract them, so he ordered them to
tie it when the ashram was at prayer.
After the guru died, the cat continued to be
tied at worship time. And when the cat expired, another cat was brought into
the ashram to make sure that the guru’s orders were faithfully observed at
worship time.
Centuries passed and learned treatises were written
by the guru’s scholarly disciples on the liturgical significance of tying up a
cat while worship is performed.
This story warns us how human-made
traditions could become important, independent of the reason why they were set
up in the first place. Our families, the church, our schools and organizations
are places where traditions abound. It might be worthwhile reflecting on what “ashram
cats” we have been keeping and tying up, and evaluate how they relate to what
matters most – i.e., the very reason why our families, church, schools and
organizations exist; and also whether such “handed down traditions” still make
sense in the new or next normal of our given context.
After
responding to the Pharisees and scribes’ accusation/indictment of his leniency
on living up to the tradition of the elders, Jesus spoke to the crowd saying: “There
is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that
come out are what defile.”
For
Jesus, the real source of defilement/pollution/impurity is not external but
internal. In later verses he explained that any food that goes into a person cannot
defile, since it enters the stomach and then goes out into the sewer. We must remember
that in ancient time, the heart was understood as the center of human
will, reason, and desire; the place from which all intentions arise. Good
intentions may come of the heart. But evil intentions that come out of a person’s heart are
defiling for they give rise to fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice,
wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
Some
Bible scholars have noted that each of these vices that defile a person is, in
some way, a sin of consumption. Take adultery, theft, envy, pride, as examples.
Each springs from a desire to take, own or devour; which may cause great harm to
the other, the object of such vices.
For Jesus,
internal impurity that begins with evil intentions is what violates the very
commandment of God: loving
God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving one’s neighbor
as oneself (Mk 12:29-31). We therefore need to beware when our desire to be
clean, pure and holy to be closer to God only separates us from others, for it
also means separating ourselves from God. So whatever we
practice and whichever traditions we do or don’t uphold, these are not the
things that will get us ready for God’s kingdom, i.e., which will bring us closer
to God.
The
Letter of James puts it in another way: “Religion that is pure and undefiled
before God is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress” (James
1:27); to “be doers of the word and not merely hearers” (James 1:22); to “be
quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19).
As Elizabeth Johnson wrote in a
commentary on this passage from Mark:
Following
Jesus is not about separating ourselves from those considered less holy or
unclean. Following Jesus means that like him, we get our hands dirty serving
others, caring especially for those whom the world has cast aside. True
faithfulness is not about clean hands, but a heart cleansed and a life shaped
by the radical, self-giving love of God in Christ.”
In this time of the pandemic, let us ask
for God’s guidance in our continuing heart-searching, or soul searching, for
what truly matters and for what shape of mission we should be doing as Kowloon
Union Church. Aside from the pandemic, we are faced with the continuing
socio-political crisis that presents to us many other challenges.
May the words of our closing hymn,
“God, What’s the Shape of Mission” be our prayer during our
heart/soul-searching. Here are two verses of the hymn:
God, what’s the shape of
mission—the work that we embrace—
and what will be our vision
for living in this place?
What words will help and
guide us? What service will we do?
As you walk here beside us,
how shall we live for you?
We see the work you’re doing;
it’s not ours to control.
You’re building and renewing!
You make the wounded whole!
God, may your Spirit guide us
to live in Jesus Christ,
till love shapes all our
mission and gives your church new life. [Amen]
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, August 29, 2021
