Sunday, September 2, 2012: Those are the Rules

Sermon – Mark 7, James 1, Deut 4

Year B – Sunday, Sept. 2^nd, 2012

Law (and Gospel) – Those are the Rules

PREACHER: Pastor Paul F. Cannon

Good morning!  And happy Labor Day weekend to you all!  Labor Day is a day where we celebrate the rights and accomplishments enjoyed by workers in this country, that other countries don’t have.  I know that Labor Day is also the last chance for many folks to catch up on the some sleep, host a BBQ, and head over to the lake cabin one last time before winter!...but then there’s the rest of us who go to church instead!  So a special welcome to you all today.

And if you didn’t feel like you should have gone to the cabin 5 minutes ago, you will now, because I hate to tell you, today is going to be all about … the Law! … So Everybody close your eyes for a brief second, take a deep breath… If you want to escape, now-is-your-chance… And since I don’t see anybody leaving, you must be braver than I thought you were. Because there is truly nothing in the world more tedious and boring than laws. 

Now I know that there are some of you who might consider yourselves to be proud rule followers.  Some of you might even be in charge of making new laws!  And then there are others of you who might be more like myself, who prefer to break laws.

All you rule breakers out there, go ahead and shout it out the answer: if you see a speed limit sign says 35mph zone, how fast do you want to go? (40mph?).   

Or if there is a big red button with a note on it that says “ …Don’t press this button,” what do you want to do?  Push the button!  Of course!  Why on earth would there be a button with a sign like that if it didn’t do something really awesome!

And if you’re like me, then you hate dealing with all those rules that actually get in the way of accomplishing the original intent of the rule.  For example, I remember in college I was meeting with a study partner in the library, which had these really nice little rooms that you could check out and use for your own purposes.  And of course, these rooms had time limits – and the intent of these limits was to make sure that multiple groups could get in and use the room (if necessary). 

So we get this room on the top floor, the fourth floor of the library. We’re studying in the room, and it’s getting late.  People are filing out the doors and we are just about the only people left in the whole building when we notice that our time is about up! Nobody was waiting for our room to empty.  Nobody was even there. So my partner looks and me and said “You wanna run down there and reserve another session?” “Nah” I said, “We’ve only got 5 more minutes of work.  Let’s just finish up.  Nobody’s waiting for this room.”  

So five minutes go bye, we finish our studying, and we walk down the four flights of stairs.  And I hand the key back to the librarian.  And she says to me “That will be $5 please.” … “Five dollars?” I ask, “I thought the rooms were free.” … “Oh they are, but you were late in returning the key.”  

Now I was indignant about the whole situation because I was in college, and I had values, and ethics, and principals, , and $5 could buy you a large one-topping pizza from Papa Johns.  So I gave that librarian an earful about how there wasn’t even anybody waiting for the room ….and so I yelled at her—giving her some dirty looks—feeling both vindicated and angry. What the librarian’s infuriating response?

“I’m sorry sir, those are the rules.”

“Those are the rules.”  For some reason that sounds like something the Pharisees may well have told Jesus and his disciples.  In our Gospel reading today, Jesus just finished feeding the 5,000 after which he proceeded to walk on water and then go heal some sick people.  As you might imagine, all these miracles might make a person hungry!  So he sits down to eat with his disciples, who forget to wash their hands before they eat.  

And the Pharisees pounce on this!  “Umm, Jesus!” They say, “The law says that you are supposed to wash your hands before eating!” They might as well have said.  “Those are the rules!” And this is where college Paul would have loved for Jesus to go on a similar rant to the one he gave to the librarian, pointing out the fact that actually those rules were only intended for priests and therefore the disciples didn’t need to wash their hands.  It was an unjust expectation!  But Jesus doesn’t deny any wrongdoing.  He simply changes the conversation.

He quotes Isaiah who wrote “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Maybe the Pharisees had figured out the rules, but Jesus saw right into their hearts. Then, in one of the omitted verses from our text today, Jesus aims this really pointed statement to the Pharisees.  “You have a fine way” he says “of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!”  

If you think about it, that’s an odd thing to say.  The Pharisees were the ones who were following the commandment, after all.  They were the ones who were pure and clean and righteous.  They were the ones who had washed themselves.  They were the ones who knew how to play by the rules, NOT these unclean disciples!  So what commandment, exactly, were they breaking?

A few chapters later in Mark, you get your answer.  A scribe comes up to Jesus with an interesting question.  “Which commandment is first of all?” … Which is the most important?  It wasn’t a trick question.  It was more like a pop quiz.  The priests and Pharisees all would have quoted the exact same verses that Jesus said next.   Deuteronomy 6, verse 4: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  And Leviticus 19:18  (of all places!):  Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love.  That’s what the entire law boils down to.  And this most basic – most difficult commandment – is what the Pharisees failed at.  Their hearts were filled with hatred, anger and malice…maybe jealousy.  Jesus saw that. They failed to love.

And I can’t help but think, this is a really high bar to clear.  College Paul thought that he was pretty righteous as well.  Not only had he figured out why his actions weren’t sinful, but he thought that he could completely justify his tardiness by yelling at that poor librarian.  (What an jerk that guy was!).  If College Paul had thought about it, he might have even tried to justify himself from the text that we read today!  You see the librarian was really like the Pharisee and college Paul was really just being like Jesus who broke rules as well!  College Paul probably thought of himself as a really righteous renegade.  A modern day Robin Hood!  He was the one following the laws of common sense and decency! And Pizza. 

“But you forgot the most important thing.”  Jesus might have told college Paul,” You failed to love that librarian. Those are the rules.”

To love. It is the greatest commandment.  It is the most important law there is.  And unfortunately, it’s the hardest rule to follow.  You and I fail at this all the time.  We fail in more ways that we are even aware of.  Jesus words to the Pharisees might as well have been said directly to all of us.  “You honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me” He might say, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” 

How many times have we been guilty of that?  How many times have we ignored the greatest commandments in the name of self-preservation?  In the name of protecting our own righteousness – our own purity, how have we failed to love others?  

I’m sure I could enumerate the ways that this church has failed this law, just as easily as you could.  Imagine what might happen if somebody walked through the doors of Bethany on a Sunday morning dressed a little slovenly.  It could be this person was a little dirty too.  Maybe you could smell a little bit of alcohol on his breath…Now, every single one of us could list the unnamed rules that that this man was breaking without trying very hard.  You’re supposed to dress up, at least a little bit when you come to church.  You should probably jump in the shower and put on a little deodorant.  You shouldn’t come to church drunk.  All true things!  But would he come here and feel love?  Even here in God’s house, it’s hard to imagine that he would.

I warned you that today was a day about law.  But I can’t stand up here and not give you some gospel as well.  The good news is this: your salvation does not depend on how much you love, but rather how much God loved you.  That much at least is clear. Our failings pale in comparison to God’s grace.  When we lose our ability to love, God steps in.  When we can’t even imagine a kind thought towards our neighbors, we find forgiveness.

And in reality, that is the ultimate scandal. That’s the ultimate rule breaking.  It’s not fair that people like us – people who can’t even follow the most basic commandment – receive grace that we don’t deserve.  And often you’ll hear people protest saying things like, “Surely, there must be something that we can do to deserve such a gift! Surely, we can justify ourselves and make ourselves righteous!”   

“Nope!” Jesus might say, “Those are the rules.”

Thanks be to God.