Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
September 2, 2012
Year B: Proper 17 – The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Song of Songs 2:8-13
Psalm 45: 1-2, 7-10
(James 1:17-27)
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
The Goodness and Love Made Known in
Creation
Many
of you know that I attended – and later taught at – St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey
City. It’s an all-boys high school that was founded by the Society of Jesus, a
religious order better known as the Jesuits.
Like
members of other Roman Catholic orders – and Episcopal orders, as well –
Jesuits make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They live in community
with fellow Jesuits. They have few of their own possessions and receive only a
small stipend to cover their personal expenses.
Over
the years I became good friends with some Jesuits. I remember years ago talking
with one of my Jesuit friends and he told me that he had asked his superior for
permission to buy his own radio/CD player – what used to be called a boom box.
He
explained that before giving his permission the superior wanted to know how my
friend thought this radio would support his ministry – how this radio would
bring him closer to God and make him a better priest and a better Christian.
While
he was telling me about all of this I remember thinking that this was just
about the craziest thing that I had ever heard. I mean what was the big deal?
After all, we were talking about a radio! It’s not like my friend was asking to
buy a Mercedes or a vacation house at the Shore.
It’s
just a boom box!
And,
I thought, here’s another example of crazy Christians thinking that the
physical, material world – our bodies and our stuff – even just a radio - is
somehow bad and evil.
And,
unfortunately, there is a long history of Christians mistakenly thinking that
the physical world is bad.
It
probably goes back to misunderstanding St. Paul who liked to contrast flesh and
spirit. But, when Paul wrote and taught about the flesh he didn’t mean that our
bodies and the physical were bad. God made it all so by definition it’s good. But,
Paul insisted that our bodies and the physical world are vulnerable. Our bodies
and the physical world can be broken – can be defiled - by the poor choices we
make.
And
we don’t have to be bible scholars or theologians to know that Paul was
absolutely right.
And,
of course, Paul was simply echoing Jesus as we heard in today’s gospel lesson.
Today
we heard part of a larger debate between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. Lauren
and I have mentioned before that the Pharisees get a bad rap in the New
Testament. We don’t know as much about them as we’d like, but it seems that they
were very interested in sanctifying – making holy - everyday life.
At
least in that way, the Pharisees would fit right in today with our emphasis on
special spiritual practices like mindfulness meditation or centering prayer or praying
with beads – all of which are designed to help make everyday life holy.
Apparently
ritual hand-washing was one of spiritual practices encouraged by the Pharisees.
Not
a problem, unless, of course, the hand-washing - or any other spiritual
practice – isn’t matched by what’s going on in our hearts.
So,
Jesus, right in line with many of the Hebrew Prophets, tells the crowd, “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.”
Jesus
tells the crowd – and tells us – that we need to take care of what’s going on
inside our hearts – because it’s what’s inside our hearts that will defile us -
and ultimately destroy us.
At
the same time, Jesus is also affirming the goodness of God’s creation – the
goodness of our bodies, the goodness of this planet and its creatures and the goodness
of the whole universe.
I
love the start of Eucharistic Prayer B, which we’ve been using this summer at
the 10:00 service: “We give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and love
which you have made known to us in creation.”
It’s
beautiful, right? “…The goodness and love which you have made known to us in
creation…”
At
our best, Jews and Christians have insisted that we can learn a lot about the
goodness and love of God just by paying attention to what’s going on around us.
That understanding goes right back the creation story when God looks at
creation declares it very good.
Probably
no book of the Bible does a better job of describing God’s goodness and love
made known to us in creation than the book we heard from in today’s first
lesson: the Song of Songs.
It’s
sometimes called the Song of Solomon, though it was probably written in the 3rd
or 4th Century BC, long after the days of King Solomon. It has the distinction
of being the only book in the Bible that never mentions God.
As
we heard in today’s excerpt, the Song of Songs is a poem about a man and a
woman who are passionately in love with each other.
So,
what’s it doing in the Bible, you ask? Well, Jews have seen this love poem as
an allegory of God’s love for Israel while Christians have seen it as an
allegory of God’s love for the Church.
Those
are perfectly valid interpretations, but the song’s inclusion in the Bible also
reminds us that since God is love we can learn a lot about God through the love
that we share with one another.
Since
God is love we learn a lot about God through the love we share with our husbands
and wives, our parents, children, grandchildren and friends.
The
Song of Songs reminds us that we learn a lot about God right here in this
physical world when we laugh together, when we hold hands, when we hug, when we
kiss.
“We
give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and love which you have made known
to us in creation.”
The
trouble is – as the prophets and as Jesus understood very clearly – that what’s
born in our hearts can twist the goodness and love made known to us in creation
into ugliness and destruction.
We
don’t have to look far to know that’s true. The greed and selfishness born in
our hearts has defiled the good creation into a polluted world where a few have
much and most have very little.
The
greed and selfishness born in our hearts has defiled the good creation into a harsh
world where people are treated as things - things used to satisfy our needs and wants.
The
greed and selfishness born in our hearts has defiled the good creation into an
uncaring world where many of us are self-centered, stingy with our love, quick
to judge or hold a grudge and reluctant to forgive.
What’s
born in our hearts can twist the goodness and love made known to us in creation
into ugliness and destruction.
I
thought it was crazy when my Jesuit friend had to ask permission to buy a radio
– had to explain how this purchase would bring him closer to God, how it would
enhance his ministry, how it would make him a better Christian.
He
could have just bought the radio, but, he had made vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience – and was striving to live them out as faithfully as he could.
And
maybe, in our own way, we should make our own vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience.
Poverty.
Before we buy something we should vow to ask, will having this thing bring me
closer to God? Will making this purchase help me be a better Christian? Will
buying this thing help or hurt God’s good creation?
Chastity.
We should vow to keep our sacred promises, to treat other people not as objects
for our pleasure or use - not as things - but as having infinite value as beloved
children of God.
Obedience.
We should vow to really obey God’s command to give and give and give, to love
unreservedly and to forgive infinitely.
Not
easy. But, if we, in our own way, try to keep our own vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience we’ll work with God to restore the good creation that’s been
defiled by the greed and selfishness born in our hearts.
If
we, in our own way, make our own vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, when we
join together at the Lord’s Table we’ll truly give thanks to God for the
goodness and love made known to us in creation.
Amen.
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