August 31, 2024 – Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Those among us who fornicate, steal, murder, commit adultery, or talk about others should surely be disturbed by today’s words from Jesus in the Gospel reading. The same might be said for liars, the licentious, the envious, and the arrogant.
Last Sunday, I was thankful we were done with the imagery of bread, but then we get to this section of Mark’s Gospel where Jesus lays out all the sins that we humble humans commit. And he doesn’t mince words… he just says them. It’s a funny thing to sit in the pew on Sundays when there’s a whole list of sins and sinners listed in the Gospel reading or the various Epistles we read.
I watch from up here as our shoulders – mine included – shrink a bit in the hopes that we aren’t mentioned, or at least that we only identify with ONE and not MULTIPLE sins. People begin to look around and stop paying attention. Perhaps we feel relieved that some other things – smoking, drinking, gambling, for example – aren’t mentioned. Some of us may sigh, as it is those “others” that Jesus is talking about.
Maybe we rejoice that the words are about the “others”:
- I really hope that the guy who has loads of money heard the word “greed”;
- I really hope that the woman who has had three marriages is listening well;
- Those among us who are fakes who think that they’re so good – they’ll surely be thrown off by the words of this Gospel reading; and
- Those people out there who envy me for my virtue and success… God condemns them as well!
The Pharisees we hear about in today’s Gospel reading were experts in the law – they knew where to stand on matters of right and wrong and on weighty concerns of judgment. And they knew where people stood. But it seems that Jesus had more difficulty with this group than any other. To be clear, they didn’t mind hearing about sin, but only as long as it didn’t apply to them. They were righteous, but only in a self-righteous way. They honored their own traditions. Jesus quoted Isaiah to them to penetrate their defenses: “You teach human precepts as doctrines.”
I have to admit, this stings a bit. I cherish what has been handed down to us as tried and true. But if I cherish tradition, then I must also be vigilant that my heart is in the right place. Does Christ speak to the church when he says, “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition”?
If our hearts are stung by Jesus’ challenge to the Pharisees, then I think that we’re hearing it right. Friends, if we pray and realize that we ARE the Pharisees – that we who judge others and who do not always trust God – then we are on the road to understanding Jesus.
Today’s Gospel overall reminds us that our focus needs to be on creating and maintaining right relationships among people and between us and God. It was an ancient problem, addressed often by the prophets (Isaiah, as quoted today). We hear Jesus join in those prophetic voices calling people back to the basics. While we shrink in the face of the vices that Jesus listed, if we can acknowledge that these are qualities of us, they simply become part of our being. But it is our outward behavior – our reaction to these vices – that truly ends up mattering. Our external actions reveal our internal desire to remain faithful to our relationship with God. Today, and everyday, Jesus calls us to the true purpose of the Law: a heart centered on God and on loving one another as God loves us.