Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 21 July 2024, by Rev. Phyllis Wong . The scripture readings that day were Genesis 2: 1-2 and Mark 2:18-28.

There are cultural norms for many people and many religious rules for many Christians. These norms and rules were properly learned from their upbringing, pastors and teaching of their church. 

There was a time I attended a funeral for my close friend’s father. The family arranged the funeral with traditional ritual and not Christian liturgy. I went to the funeral home to pay respects to uncle and just be present to share my love with my friend and her family who were grieving for their loss. I saw one of the family members was sitting alone, folding paper in a shape of gold nuggets (yuanbao) and that represent money, that paper gold would then be burned for the deceased. I automatically sat next to her, to listen to her and to share words of comfort. When we stopped talking, I followed her to do the paper folding, just an act of simple presence. 

After that, two friends from my home local church said to me I should not do it as a pastor. I was participating in a ritual of another religion that was no good as a Christian. It was a bad witness. 

Christians are told not to bow to an ancestor or the person who passed away when you attended a funeral. It is because these people are not God to be worshipped.

After my mother in law was baptized, her pastor visited her and advised her to throw away the statues of Fook/Luk/Sau – they are ancient Chinese symbols that represent blessing of good life and long life. My mother in law has kept them for years. She hesitated to throw out according to her pastor’s advice. She asked me my opinion. The pastor thought these statues are idols. But my mother said they are only decorations brought by his elder son.  

In some conservative churches, there are also other taboos and commonly agreed upon practices.

-Christians should not marry non-Christians

-Christian should not divorce

-Same gender love and marriage is not allowed

-Only the baptized can take the elements at the Holy Communion

We are living in a society and church setting where we face different kinds of taboos, religious and cultural practices that are required of us to do or not to do. However, they may not be relevant and practical at some point. What should we do? 

Today we may learn from Jesus of his spiritual wisdom. 

Mark 2:18-20 

When people came and said to Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

First of all, Jesus did not deny the importance of fasting. Instead he made it clear when it should be done. To Jesus, it is more important to do the right thing at the right time!

In the parable Jesus said, he was taken as the bridegroom, the disciples were the wedding attendants. The context is a wedding. Wedding is a time of joy – eating and drinking to celebrate with the bridegroom and the bride. So, a wedding is not a time to fast and to grieve. Quite to the contrary, it is a time of celebration, a time to feast but not to fast.

Jesus taught us to understand the context and the moment we are living in that time. We should do the right thing at the right time. Our decision on what is right to do requires us to have clarity of the situation and the need of the people that reveal to us the will of God at that very moment. 

Jesus’ response also reminds us not to follow in other people’s footsteps, even leaders with authorities blindly. We should know the purpose of our decision and our actions. 

We should be conscious of our actions and our own being. 

Today I invite you to reflect on this: In what ways we may have missed God by just practicing the routines in coming to church every Sunday? Do we come to church as a routine? Do we come to truly worship God by keeping Jesus at the center of our heart, mind and soul when we are singing, praying and listening to the word of God? Are we conscious of our identity being God’s beloved and Christ’s follower? Are we present in the worship and serious about God? Are we aware that God has graciously invited us to be with them and stay close to them? The worship is a like a wedding banquet God has invited us to dance and to enjoy, and at the same time to be with the living word of Jesus to learn from him and be transformed to follow his footstep on earth.  

In today’s gospel account, it touches on Sabbath. 

Jesus was criticised by the Pharisees for allowing his disciples to take food from the field on the Sabbath. 

Again, Jesus was wise to answer by citing the ancient Hebrew scripture with an example of the past how King David, a reputable ancient Jewish leader, broke the religious law in his time by eating the food of the priest because he and his companions were hungry and in need of food. Jesus’ argument was not to justify his action. More importantly, Jesus showed to the Pharisees to satisfy the needs of the hungry who are in need of food is the key of the faithful. The law of love is far more important that the written law. 

The most profound proclamation by Jesus is this – Mark 2:27-28

“The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath, ²⁸ so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Last week, John Tanner shared a message about Sabbath. He said Sabbath entails the meaning of liberation. Human beings are liberated from slavery and exploitation. It is on the Sabbath, human beings are restored of their basic human dignity. Resting in the sabbath is for everyone regardless of power and position. Full rest of everyone enables God’s people to see each other as good neighbours, and they can love each other. And rest is extended to animals and the land too. With this, a true community  of love can be formed.

Sabbath is thus a gift from God to human beings. Sabbath is made to serve the goodness of human beings, but not to serve human rules, structures and traditions. 

Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath! The profound statement of Jesus reveals to us this truth -  

Jesus Christ, Godself enters into the world in human flesh. God shows to us explicitly the divine love and care for human beings of our biological, psychological, social and spiritual needs. In Jesus, we see how God informs and encourages us to act beyond human made rules & traditions in order to help the needy and set people free from all kinds of bondage.

The Old Testament for this week is taken from Genesis 2:1-2, it says - 

“God finished the work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.”

This week, I would add this from the message about sabbath of last Sunday - rest is a gift and a calling from God for all! Rest is not just doing nothing. Rest is liberation to ourselves, others and the land. Rest is to let go of our work that has passed – good or bad, successful or a failure. We are attached to nothing. Just letting go. Just live here and now.

How can we make this happen and make our contribution?

In today’s gospel account, Jesus taught a lesson on the parable of new wine and old wineskin. The new insights and new perspectives from Jesus is “the new wine”, we need to make our wineskin (that is our heart) be always fresh and new, so that we are open and flexible enough to keep the new wine and allow the new wine continue to ferment to maturity. Without rest and reflection in God, we can easily become the Pharisees that Jesus is angry with – self-righteous, hypocritic and unkind to others. 

To conclude my sermon, I would like to read you the piece of reflective prayer taken from the Spill the Beans – the worship material our Worship Advisory Group has adopted in this season.

Reflective Prayer 

God of holidays and holy-days, of Sabbath and wheat sheaves, of fasting and feasting,
of new and old, 

of work and rest,
confront us,
challenge us,
to look beyond either/or and see in all your creation, in every moment, 

in every soul, your presence, with us,
in it all. 

As the echo of last week’s Jubilee resonates in our minds,
stir our souls,
engage our activity, 

and enthuse us
to make the changes we desire in our churches,
in our communities,
in our own lives. 

May we bring flavour and diversity,
in all we do.
Amen.