Pentecost 14 (Mark 7: 1-23)  09/02/2012

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The author of the Gospel according to Mark tells us this morning, “the Pharisees, and all the Jews…observed the traditions of the elders;…and there were many traditions that they observed.” (Mark 7:3-4) As we gather on this traditional Labor Day weekend, we must admit that there are a fair number of traditions that we observe. Perhaps as we sit in the church this morning with visions of the summer BBQ or the beach or some other holiday tradition on our minds, we might look quite fondly on our traditions. Traditions ground us in many ways: they connect us to our past and they provide us with a framework of how to proceed into our future. Some traditions are rather obvious and widely practiced, while other traditions are quite obscure and practiced by a select group of people. Turkey on Thanksgiving, freshly cut trees at Christmas and cakes with festive candles on birthdays include some of the most popular traditions in the United States. Lesser known traditions, so I’ve heard, include pulling off the legs of the turkey before cooking it in the oven, serving minced pie at Christmas, or taking long family hikes every New Year’s Day, regardless of the weather. Some traditions are fun and festive while others are quite sacred. Sacred traditions are often passed along to successive generations and eventually become accepted as strict rituals of the religious community.

The sacred traditions of the Israelites are the traditions that are held up before Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel lesson this morning. The Jewish purity laws are detailed in Scripture and distinguished how the Jews would prepare and eat their food, setting them apart from the people who also lived in the area of Palestine. The traditions of the elders mentioned in our Gospel lesson this morning are not detailed in Scripture but have their origins in the rabbinic writings of the time. As with the purity laws, these traditions gave the Jewish people guidance for cleanliness in order to keep the community in good health. And, like the purity laws, these traditions helped to set the Jewish people apart as they left Egypt and reminded them that they remained God’s people, even as they traveled to unknown places and lived among foreign peoples. The traditions served far greater purposes than the tradition of your mother asking you to wash-up before dinner. The laws and traditions of the Israelite people brought them close to God, but over the years, some people found that the tradition became the center of importance and their relationship with God and others moved into the background. And for their selfish adherence to the tradition alone Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, “You abandon the commandant of God and hold to human tradition.” (Mark 7:14) The loss of the sacred relationship between God and the Jewish people and the worship of the tradition for the sake of the tradition itself is where Jesus parted company with the Pharisees.

Jesus continued in his teaching to the crowd by saying, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” (Mark 7:14-15) The defiling things that Jesus identifies are those things that emanate from the heart. Consistent with his teaching of the two great commandants, to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus removes all doubt, removes all excuses, and teaches the crowd that closeness to God is obtained through purity of heart. Purity of heart is a sacred cleanliness that cleansing water alone cannot provide; purity of heart is not guaranteed by performing ritual acts, especially if those ritual acts become so important that they displace the centrality of God and of God’s love for us. At the heart of any sacred tradition there must dwell a sacramental purpose that will bring us closer in relationship with God and will purify one’s heart.

So what can we say of our many traditions? Are the strong words of Jesus meant to teach us that traditions will eventually lead us down the wrong path, separating us from our relationship with God? Bishop John Jebb, a 19^th century Irish Bishop spoke of the Anglican approach toward understanding Scripture and living with the traditions of the Church as he wrote these words: “[The Church] reveres the Scripture: she respects tradition. She encourages investigation; but she checks presumption. She bows to the authority of ages: but she owns no living master upon earth. She rejects alike, the wild extravagance of unauthorized opinion, and the tame subjection of compulsory belief.”[i] Jebb’s statement describes a thoughtful and loving relationship with God that embraces the wisdom of previous generations, yet remains focused on God and open to God’s action in our present age. Traditions connect us to the roots of our past, but we must not allow those roots to bind us in our relationship with the living God.

I imagine many of us know of funny family traditions that have obscure beginnings. The tradition of removing the turkey legs before cooking was innocently started many generations ago because Grandma’s biggest pan would not accommodate the turkey. The mince pie was really only the favorite of a distant Uncle who visited on Thanksgiving sometime before Roosevelt was the President. And those long family walks on New Year’s Day; well that started when the dog ran out of the house back in the 1960’s and everyone helped search for her. The dog was found and the family shared an experience that day that brought them closer together, an experience that was to shape each year for many years. The challenge for the family with the New Year’s Day hiking tradition is the challenge to rekindle the original experience that brought the family closer together; to live the tradition in a way that serves a contemporary need. The challenge for us as we live the sacramental life as followers of Christ is to carry on the work of the church in love and humility; acting as stewards of the sacred gifts we have been given yet being open to the reality that we are children of the living God, the One who is constantly making all things new. May you enjoy the traditions of this weekend and may you be made pure in heart through the sacred love of Christ.

AMEN.