Words have power, watch your impact

Sermon on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

A story about handwashing in our Gospel today. During this pandemic that mostly taught us to how to wash our hands. For 20 seconds! The length of one Lord’s Prayer.

And Jesus seems to take the side of the “pro-choice” people against the Pharisees. Against people like us who have been washing our hands deliberately and frequently in the past 18 months. And at least for my part, I have more than once glimpsed over in a public bathroom to see if my fellow humans are doing so as well. You know, just checking. At their camp in summer, my kids had 24 hand-washing breaks during a 6-hour day. Of course, somehow, they are still sticky at the dinner table. One of my personal true miracles.

But back to Jesus. He gets called out because his friends didn’t wash their hands ritually before the meal. And the explanation about the regular habits of Jews back then sounds very healthy and plausible to our ears. “For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.” In the medieval times, those strict rules often prevented Jewish communities from contracting illnesses all the Christians around them got. Which in turn often got Jewish people accused of poisoning wells and food. Antisemitism turned God’s people against God’s people by using the Gospel.

Back to the story. Some of the Pharisees were most likely disgusted, others were offended, while a third group really didn’t care that much but then, why can’t those people not just follow the rules. I mean, seriously, it’s not that hard. What kind of message are they trying to send?

Now, in times of Covid, it’s actually important to mention that this story does not encourage us to not wash our hands. I can’t stress that enough since it can be fun turned into danger to use scripture out of place. So, if someone ever quotes today’s Gospel as an example of why Christians don’t need to worry about spreading diseases, you can dismantle that easily. You can also point to the medieval times and share a history lesson about what happens when we misread the Gospel in that way. In short: We die of preventable diseases. This story is not about hygiene and health protocols. The initial query isn’t put to Jesus because other teachers are trying to prevent folks from contracting a physical illness. This is not America in 2021.

First of all, there are people trying to start a fight over a tradition. Yet, making it sound like it’s about more than that. They use strong language, talking about “defiled hands”. And while we might hear “dirty hands” in that, what it actually meant was “profane” and “desecrated” hands. Hands that weren’t deemed acceptable to touch food in the company of law-abiding Jews. Basically, Jesus’ friends weren’t acting Jewish enough in that specific traditional way.

In many ways, it actually is a story for us in America in 2021. Because, this story is a story about humanity. About our need to define who we are. By defining who we aren’t and what we don’t do. It’s a story about what happens when assumptions win over curiosity. When we get worked up over little things losing sight of what’s truly important. When there are no conversations possible amidst a divided group of people. What happens when a little act becomes sacred, sacrificing the community for an opiniated debate. Put that way it sounds pretty contemporary, doesn’t it?

Interestingly, Jesus acts like most people react in an opinionated situation like that. He gets angry. Real angry. He starts calling the Pharisees names. You “hypocrites”! He probably used more cuss words that Mark chose not to deliver to us. There aren’t too many situations in the bible when Jesus is shown in that kind of a rage. They all evolve around arbitrary boundaries meant to exclude people, to keep the club pure, straight, pretty, perfect enough.

Now, to the Pharisees defense, they are an oppressed minority, living in an occupied land at that time of Jesus. They don’t have power and they don’t feel like they are likely to gain it anytime soon. How are they to keep their faith viable against the backdrop of colonization? In the midst of religious and cultural diversity, how should they maintain their identity? Their integrity?  Their heritage? When the world around them seems to tumble apart? When the people moving into their neighborhoods don’t share their faith and most likely won’t want to become Jewish?

Their answer is simple and just too common. They contain and codify the sacred. They define who is in, and who isn’t. People who don’t wash their hands ritually are definitely out.

This is religion as fence-building. Religion as separation. Religion as institution for institution’s sake.  And Jesus — never one to mince words — calls it what it is.  Quoting the prophet Isaiah, he rebukes the Pharisees, saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

Note, that Jesus doesn’t talk about handwashing. He neither glorifies nor condemns it. His critique is: “ 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Which commandment, one might ask? Well, that’s easy. It’s always the same one Jesus gets really mad about when we forget it: To love your neighbor as yourself and to love God with all your heart. That’s it, the heart of the Gospel, the core message of our Good News. Because they aren’t OUR Good News. They are the Good News for everyone. Literally everyone. All-inclusive. All are welcome! To Jesus, that’s not just a hollow phrase or a pretty banner over the door of the church. To Jesus, everything needs to be measured along that line.

Again, Jesus speaks openly. This is not a parable, hard to decode. This is straight-talk for everyone to understand. “ 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” Bam! We are defiled from within. From within our hearts and souls. And no, this is not Jesus downplaying a pandemic, I can’t stress that enough.

How can we tell? Well, obviously not everything we say and do centers around love for God and our neighbor as for ourselves. One doesn’t need to be a theologian to see that. If every single person on earth were just to follow that commandment for 15 minutes at the exact same time, imagine where we could be as a world.

But, we don’t. Not just the Pharisees or the others, whoever those might be. We don’t follow that commandment most of the time. We often care more about keeping the order and following traditions we might have even invented ourselves, than being bravely inclusive. Worst of all, we mostly assume that others just don’t know as much as us or at least not as much of the truth.

And, the smaller the group and the differences, the greater the importance of keeping them.

Let me give you a recent example. As most of you are aware, I am part of a group called the Jesus and Justice Collective. We will be meeting for the first time with a larger group on September 12 th after church. Please join us if you can.

Now, this group is really exciting to work with. We are Christians from all kinds of different churches in Tr-City, most are non-denominational churches. The pastors among us are well aware that we wouldn’t always agree theologically. Yet, we all joined, because we feel like our mission to work towards Racial reconciliation is so important that it transcends any minor differences. Then came the work on the Mission Statement. I couldn’t attend the meeting when it was drafted but afterwards everyone on the team had a couple of days to review it and make suggestions. I made two that I thought would make the statement more inclusive. I supplemented God for a capitalized He. Trying to open up our idea of God a little. No one complained. And I asked to rewrite the following statement “we believe that we can positively influence individuals in the Bay Area to adopt the Lord’s vision of a Church where every person is seen as a valuable soul worthy of love, respect, compassion, and support.” Instead of “the Lord’s vision”, I suggested “Jesus’ vision”. Why? Because “the Lord” is coded language we as Christians understand but not necessarily others. It has a patriarchal sound to it when we don’t specify what Jesus Christ being Lord over my life means. And, many people will hear Lord, and think that we proclaim a solely male God.

Of course, I, in my naivety didn’t think that supplementing Jesus for Lord would be an issue. After all, we are still talking about the same person, right? Well, I learned. I learned that sometimes trying to be more inclusive will actually end up being divisive. I learned that sometimes things don’t have to be perfect or sound ideal in my ears for a group to work. There is a huge difference between good intentions and the actual impact. And I have to own the impact here. By trying to show God’s love for all in a Mission Statement, I actually forgot to love and see my brothers and sisters in Christ who deeply care about titles I might find problematic without an explanation. We didn’t even have to watch each other’s rituals to become judgmental.

Now, thank God, this group didn’t lose its goal over that little query. We will continue the work we were just about to start. And I will remember not to stress my own theology too much. I will try to really focus on our similarities while acknowledging the differences. Maybe just quietly. Because this is how we will grow together to serve Jesus Christ in this world. Jesus who knows us just too well and tells us: “ 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

The larger the feeling of losing control the more we cling to traditions, to words, to the one right way. Thank God, our God is so much greater than that. Thank God, our God won’t become male just because we might talk about God as a capitalized He in a Mission Statement. Of course, words matter. We, who believe in the word become flesh, know that. And, we need to worry less about our intentions, and more about our impact. Well-meant words defiling relationships and communities. Well-meant actions hurting others. Born out of self-righteousness rather than love. It’s tricky. It’s easy to become a Pharisee. And Jesus will call us out. Will call us hypocrites. And then, Jesus invites us to be like him.

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” May we watch our hearts and our words in these coming weeks. May we reconsider what’s important to guard and to keep. And what we might need to let go in order to truly welcome others into our conversations and spaces. It’s a hard task. Thank God, Jesus isn’t just there to remind us. Jesus is also here to help us. Amen.