“Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands…” (7:1). They then asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (7:5)
This whole passage is about how the Pharisees perceive that Jesus is breaking some of their most hallowed rituals and norms and traditions. I would invite you to read through the whole passage and think about the traditions in your own life and faith.
You could take from this scripture that Jesus is against all traditions—he certainly takes the Pharisees to task in this passage and says, in effect, it doesn’t make any difference how you wash your hands if your heart is corrupt; it doesn’t make any difference what you eat because it is not what goes into you that matters but what comes out of you. You can follow all of your traditions and be very far away from God; in fact, following your traditions can even compromise if not destroy your faith. Jesus is indeed hard on traditions.
But let me return to the question: Is Jesus against all traditions? I don’t think so and I certainly hope not. If our traditions move us more deeply into the heart of God, if they give us more grateful hearts, if they motivate us to love our neighbor, if they prompt us to get our own knees to say sorry and thank you and help me and use me, then I believe that Jesus would be totally supportive of our traditions. But if we think we do our traditions in order to earn God’s favor or in order to think or act like we are better than someone else, then I believe that Jesus would challenge our traditions.
I have given the better part of my life to being a traditionalist; that is, I have led people in traditions in our believing, our acting, our rituals, and our liturgies for many years now. I can see how traditions can bring us closer to God but also how they can allow us to drift. I can see how they can soften our hearts and harden them. I have seen them unite people and divide them. I have seen them awaken some people and deaden others. Traditions are sort of like dynamite. Used properly they can be wonderful; used improperly they can be…well, not so wonderful.
The Jews, the Pharisees most particularly, had a lot of rules and regulations and traditions—613 of them in all. Sometimes they spent so much time arguing over them that they may have forgotten the purpose of tradition, and that is to honor God, praise God, open us up to God, enable us to see God’s presence in each other, and help us to follow God’s desires in our life. Sometimes the way we go about our traditions helps us and sometimes it hinders us. If we replace our traditions for our faith we are in trouble, but if our traditions deepen our faith and make us more loving, more open, more tender, more humble, more courageous disciples, then bring the traditions on—all of them, of course, to the Glory of God.
As you might imagine this morning’s bible study was very lively and challenging. I invite you to be part of it by thinking about—as I asked earlier—your own life with traditions. Are they helping you be more faithful? Or, might they be getting in your way, or more importantly, might they be getting in God’s way to you? Again, traditions can cut either way.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesdays with Mark (6: 45-56)
We have two stories in this piece of scripture. First, Jesus walks on the water. Second, Jesus heals many people on the lakeside of Gennesaret.
I have never been able to get much out of Jesus walking on water, and I said that to the guys this morning. It is not that I don’t believe Jesus could walk on water—I believe that he could; it is that this story has always seemed rather magical to me and removed from my life.
It is until I remember where the disciples were when Jesus came walking on the water towards him. They are alone in a boat. A storm comes up and they are feeling vulnerable and at risk. They are afraid. They are pulling on the oars as hard as they can, but they are not getting anywhere. When I really get into the boat with them I know that I have had such moments in my own life. And like the disciples, I know that I sometimes don’t recognize Jesus when he comes to me. I don’t recognize him because he comes to me in ways that I didn’t expect, or maybe in ways that I didn’t think that I wanted.
Jesus was going to “pass them by,” but instead he gets into the boat with them and the waters calm down and all is well—right? No. It says in scripture, “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves [this was the previous piece of scripture when Jesus fed the 5,000], but their hearts were hardened.”
This is where the conversation took off. “What does a hardened heart feel like?” I asked. I also asked when they had felt that their hearts were hardened against God, against their spouse or partner, against life itself. When our hearts get hardened our faith shrinks, our loves shrink, our commitments shrink, our joys shrink. It all shrinks, gets small and tight. And with a hardened heart we begin to look for yet more things, more infractions, more transgressions that will justify our hard hearts. And we will—this is a rule of life—see what we look for; we will find what we seek. If we want to have a hard heart with someone, we will be given plenty of evidence to substantiate our position.
But a hard heart is death. The death of all that is important.
I then asked the men how their hard hearts had been broken, how their hard hearts had been softened. Most of them talked about a friend or someone they love coming to them and challenging them to open up, to soften up, to see a bigger picture.
The second part of the story is about the response of the gentiles to Jesus. It says that the “whole region… began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard [Jesus] was.”
Mark wants us to see that the “insiders” had hard hearts and the “outsiders” had open hearts. The disciples had hard hearts because things didn’t go their way, because they were in a storm, because Jesus didn’t always act like they thought that he should, because… The “outsiders” get him and are open to him and receive multiple blessings from him.
Do you hear the warning? It is to the insiders, and that is to people like you and me, people who identify themselves as Christians, as disciples of Jesus. Yes, we may have faith, yes we may have given our lives to Jesus a long time ago; but we, like the disciples from long ago, can sometimes have hard hearts ourselves.
The piece of scripture invites us to look at the condition of our own hearts. Anger, resentment, entitlement, losses, disappointments, things not going our way, according to our plans—there are so many things that can harden our hearts. And with those hard hearts the disciples didn’t even see that Jesus had rescued them and that he was right there in the boat with them.
If all this talk about a hard heart in speaking to you, either in your relationship with God or with someone you love or work with, then I would invite you to go be alone (just like Jesus does in the first part of this story), and to remember all the ways you have been blessed, all the ways that God has come to you. An “attitude of gratitude” can soften your heart, whereas an attitude of hardness can poison you. We do have a choice. Everyday.
I have never been able to get much out of Jesus walking on water, and I said that to the guys this morning. It is not that I don’t believe Jesus could walk on water—I believe that he could; it is that this story has always seemed rather magical to me and removed from my life.
It is until I remember where the disciples were when Jesus came walking on the water towards him. They are alone in a boat. A storm comes up and they are feeling vulnerable and at risk. They are afraid. They are pulling on the oars as hard as they can, but they are not getting anywhere. When I really get into the boat with them I know that I have had such moments in my own life. And like the disciples, I know that I sometimes don’t recognize Jesus when he comes to me. I don’t recognize him because he comes to me in ways that I didn’t expect, or maybe in ways that I didn’t think that I wanted.
Jesus was going to “pass them by,” but instead he gets into the boat with them and the waters calm down and all is well—right? No. It says in scripture, “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves [this was the previous piece of scripture when Jesus fed the 5,000], but their hearts were hardened.”
This is where the conversation took off. “What does a hardened heart feel like?” I asked. I also asked when they had felt that their hearts were hardened against God, against their spouse or partner, against life itself. When our hearts get hardened our faith shrinks, our loves shrink, our commitments shrink, our joys shrink. It all shrinks, gets small and tight. And with a hardened heart we begin to look for yet more things, more infractions, more transgressions that will justify our hard hearts. And we will—this is a rule of life—see what we look for; we will find what we seek. If we want to have a hard heart with someone, we will be given plenty of evidence to substantiate our position.
But a hard heart is death. The death of all that is important.
I then asked the men how their hard hearts had been broken, how their hard hearts had been softened. Most of them talked about a friend or someone they love coming to them and challenging them to open up, to soften up, to see a bigger picture.
The second part of the story is about the response of the gentiles to Jesus. It says that the “whole region… began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard [Jesus] was.”
Mark wants us to see that the “insiders” had hard hearts and the “outsiders” had open hearts. The disciples had hard hearts because things didn’t go their way, because they were in a storm, because Jesus didn’t always act like they thought that he should, because… The “outsiders” get him and are open to him and receive multiple blessings from him.
Do you hear the warning? It is to the insiders, and that is to people like you and me, people who identify themselves as Christians, as disciples of Jesus. Yes, we may have faith, yes we may have given our lives to Jesus a long time ago; but we, like the disciples from long ago, can sometimes have hard hearts ourselves.
The piece of scripture invites us to look at the condition of our own hearts. Anger, resentment, entitlement, losses, disappointments, things not going our way, according to our plans—there are so many things that can harden our hearts. And with those hard hearts the disciples didn’t even see that Jesus had rescued them and that he was right there in the boat with them.
If all this talk about a hard heart in speaking to you, either in your relationship with God or with someone you love or work with, then I would invite you to go be alone (just like Jesus does in the first part of this story), and to remember all the ways you have been blessed, all the ways that God has come to you. An “attitude of gratitude” can soften your heart, whereas an attitude of hardness can poison you. We do have a choice. Everyday.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesdays with Mark (6: 30-44)
The apostles have just returned from their first missionary tour. Jesus had sent them out (see 6: 7-13) to proclaim the gospel and cast out demons and anoint those who were sick.
Were they ready? No. Did they even know who Jesus was and what he came to do? No. Were they in over their heads? Yes. All that is good news. If Jesus waited until we were finally ready before sending us out we would never go out at all.
Anyway, they have just returned to Jesus and they are telling him “all that they had done and taught.” They are filled with excitement, but they are also exhausted. So, Jesus invites them “to a deserted place all by [them] selves [so that they can] rest a while.” Jesus is very aware that ministry has cost them and that they need some quiet time, some retreat time, some time to recharge.
But his plan is foiled. The people see where Jesus and the 12 are headed and they go en masse to see them. Jesus saw the great crowd and had “compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” His concern for the crowd trumped his concern for the 12. Ministry prevailed over retreat time. I imagine that the 12 may have had some resentment about this. I suspect that I would have felt that way if I had been one of them. “No, not more ministry, Jesus. Can’t you give it a rest?” But Jesus doesn’t.
He begins by teaching them. He knows that one of the reasons why they are like lost sheep is that they have not been taught, or at least taught what he has to teach. Maybe the people had no teaching, no instruction; maybe they simply had bad teaching, insufficient instruction. Jesus, though, first feeds and guides their minds and hearts with his words.
At the end of the day the 12 come to him with the practical concern that all these people need to be fed but they don’t have enough provisions for them. They want Jesus to send them away. They might still be looking for that quiet time with Jesus. He sees that the people need to be fed, but instead of sending them away he says, “You give them something to eat.” The disciples are not pleased. They remonstrate with him: “Are we going to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” This amount was about what the usual worker could earn in about 8 months—it was a huge amount. What Jesus is asking them to do doesn’t make any sense. Of course, they don’t have enough. Jesus needs to see this. Does he? No. Instead he asks them what they do have and they tell him 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In other words, they have 1 loaf for every 1,000 people and maybe a fish bone for every 100th person. Paltry. Not enough. Makes no sense.
But it is enough. Somehow it is. This is also good news for us. How often in our lives do we feel like we don’t have enough—enough love, enough sense, enough time, enough patience, enough experience, enough hope, enough grace. On our own we often don’t. We are limited. We cannot do it all. But then we need to remember and claim that it is not all about us, that we have someone who can help and who can bless us and guide us and lead us to do great and wonderful things.
Jesus took the 5 loaves and 2 fish, he blessed the snack, he broke it, and then he gave it out. This is the same sequence of verbs that we see in the Last Supper where and when Jesus took the bread and wine, and then blessed, broke, and shared it (see Mark 14: 22f). The actions that Jesus does with and 5 loaves and 2 fish, and then with the bread and wine at the Last Supper are the same actions that he desires to do with us. He wants to take us, bless us, break us, and then share us.
Everyone gets fed. The story concludes by telling us that 5,000 men were fed, not to mention how many women and children may have also been fed. There are even some leftovers.
The story invites us right into that moment of feeling like we don’t have enough, just like the disciples. Jesus asks us just to bring what we have, even if it feels rather inadequate. With his blessing our gift will be enough. Trust that. He has great work for us to do, work we can only do with Him. That is called faith.
Jesus first fed the folks his words, and then he fed them real bread. We are here for teaching and feeding, for proclaiming the Word and serving the folks.
Each one of the 12 walked away from this event with a whole basket of leftovers. They didn’t get the retreat time that they wanted, but they did receive what they needed.
Were they ready? No. Did they even know who Jesus was and what he came to do? No. Were they in over their heads? Yes. All that is good news. If Jesus waited until we were finally ready before sending us out we would never go out at all.
Anyway, they have just returned to Jesus and they are telling him “all that they had done and taught.” They are filled with excitement, but they are also exhausted. So, Jesus invites them “to a deserted place all by [them] selves [so that they can] rest a while.” Jesus is very aware that ministry has cost them and that they need some quiet time, some retreat time, some time to recharge.
But his plan is foiled. The people see where Jesus and the 12 are headed and they go en masse to see them. Jesus saw the great crowd and had “compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” His concern for the crowd trumped his concern for the 12. Ministry prevailed over retreat time. I imagine that the 12 may have had some resentment about this. I suspect that I would have felt that way if I had been one of them. “No, not more ministry, Jesus. Can’t you give it a rest?” But Jesus doesn’t.
He begins by teaching them. He knows that one of the reasons why they are like lost sheep is that they have not been taught, or at least taught what he has to teach. Maybe the people had no teaching, no instruction; maybe they simply had bad teaching, insufficient instruction. Jesus, though, first feeds and guides their minds and hearts with his words.
At the end of the day the 12 come to him with the practical concern that all these people need to be fed but they don’t have enough provisions for them. They want Jesus to send them away. They might still be looking for that quiet time with Jesus. He sees that the people need to be fed, but instead of sending them away he says, “You give them something to eat.” The disciples are not pleased. They remonstrate with him: “Are we going to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” This amount was about what the usual worker could earn in about 8 months—it was a huge amount. What Jesus is asking them to do doesn’t make any sense. Of course, they don’t have enough. Jesus needs to see this. Does he? No. Instead he asks them what they do have and they tell him 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In other words, they have 1 loaf for every 1,000 people and maybe a fish bone for every 100th person. Paltry. Not enough. Makes no sense.
But it is enough. Somehow it is. This is also good news for us. How often in our lives do we feel like we don’t have enough—enough love, enough sense, enough time, enough patience, enough experience, enough hope, enough grace. On our own we often don’t. We are limited. We cannot do it all. But then we need to remember and claim that it is not all about us, that we have someone who can help and who can bless us and guide us and lead us to do great and wonderful things.
Jesus took the 5 loaves and 2 fish, he blessed the snack, he broke it, and then he gave it out. This is the same sequence of verbs that we see in the Last Supper where and when Jesus took the bread and wine, and then blessed, broke, and shared it (see Mark 14: 22f). The actions that Jesus does with and 5 loaves and 2 fish, and then with the bread and wine at the Last Supper are the same actions that he desires to do with us. He wants to take us, bless us, break us, and then share us.
Everyone gets fed. The story concludes by telling us that 5,000 men were fed, not to mention how many women and children may have also been fed. There are even some leftovers.
The story invites us right into that moment of feeling like we don’t have enough, just like the disciples. Jesus asks us just to bring what we have, even if it feels rather inadequate. With his blessing our gift will be enough. Trust that. He has great work for us to do, work we can only do with Him. That is called faith.
Jesus first fed the folks his words, and then he fed them real bread. We are here for teaching and feeding, for proclaiming the Word and serving the folks.
Each one of the 12 walked away from this event with a whole basket of leftovers. They didn’t get the retreat time that they wanted, but they did receive what they needed.
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