St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
August 29, 2021
Year B, Proper 17: The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Jesus’ Order of Operations
If you were here last Sunday, you may remember that I shared with you that singing is not one of my gifts.
After last week’s service, I heard from several parishioners who could relate to my problem. Thank you for that. It definitely made me feel better about myself.
Now, I promise I won’t do this every week but while I’m at it, today I’ll let you know about another of my weak spots: math.
Throughout my school years, math was a constant source of frustration. I did OK with arithmetic – I understood that it was useful to know how to add and subtract, multiply and divide – but once I got to the upper grades and we moved into algebra and, God help me, calculus, I really… lost the thread.
I just never understood the point of solving for x – and definitely never knew how that might be a help for me in the future.
Probably that was partly due to the way my brain is wired, although I’m not going to completely let my teachers off the hook.
Maybe some of you can relate.
Anyway, Sue and I have a very good friend who is a high school math teacher and whenever he starts talking about math I usually have to pretend that I know what he’s talking about.
The other night he was telling Sue and me about the start of the new school year and how he had begun by teaching his students about the “order of operations.”
Remember that?
Surprisingly enough, I vaguely remembered that term – order of operations – and I even remembered that in the order of operations you begin to solve a problem inside the parenthesis, and then make your way out.
And, if you don’t follow the order of operations, then you won’t correctly solve the problem.
I’m kind of proud of myself for remembering that.
And, I thought of the order of operations when I began reflecting on the words of Jesus in today’s gospel lesson.
If you were here last week, you may remember that, in addition to talking about my poor musical ability, I also spent some time talking about the Jerusalem Temple – the grand house for God that was first built by Solomon – the holiest place on earth where, in a sense, God was believed to dwell – the place that was the center of Israel’s religious and cultural life for centuries.
But, some of the Old Testament writers and prophets were critical of the Temple and its priests and rituals, reminding the people of Israel, and us today, that the kinds of sacrifice that God most desires is care for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and liberating the captive.
Jesus himself is part of this critical tradition. Think of the overturning of the moneychangers in the Temple.
But, Jesus isn’t just critical of the Temple and its rituals, he’s also critical of the religious leaders of his time and the way they burdened people with extra rules and rituals.
The problem isn’t that these rules and rituals were necessarily wrong or bad.
No, the problem is when people don’t follow what we might call the correct order of operations.
In today’s lesson from the Gospel of Mark, we hear part of the long-running conflict between Jesus and some of the religious leaders of his time – in this case it’s “the Pharisees and some of the scribes.”
You’re familiar with the Pharisees – a religious group within Judaism who are usually, but not always, depicted as opponents of Jesus. However, the truth is we don’t know very much about the Pharisees. But, it’s probably safe to say that they were interested in making everyday life holy – getting people to take on religious practices at home or at work – like, for example, ritually washing hands before each meal.
Now, just for the record, we’re not talking about hygiene here. I’m sure Jesus wants us to wash our hands before we eat!
And, just like the Pharisees, I’m sure that Jesus is all for the holiness of everyday life.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Pharisees criticized people for not taking on these extra optional practices – like we heard today when they criticize Jesus’; disciples for skipping the ritual hand washing before meals.
That’s irritating, for sure, but for Jesus the big problem is when our order of operations is out of whack.
As we heard Jesus say today, “…there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come…”
And so just like in math, in Jesus’ order of operations we always begin on the inside – we start with what’s going on in our hearts.
For Jesus, what’s going on in our hearts is at least as important as what we actually do.
And Jesus is very clear that if we allow ugliness to run wild in our hearts, then we will surely tumble into very serious sin, and all of our rituals and religious practices will have very little value.
So, how might we follow Jesus’ order of operations?
How do we begin with our hearts?
Well, I’m reminded of the great theologian Augustine of Hippo, whose feast day we celebrated yesterday.
In his book called Confessions, Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
And Augustine knew what he was talking about. In Confessions, Augustine catalogs the ways that his restless heart sought out the ways and the things of the world – which can be quite nice and pleasurable as Augustine knew very well, and as we all know.
And, yet.
And, yet – the ways and things of the world just didn’t satisfy Augustine, and, if we’re honest with ourselves, the ways and things of the world – as nice and as pleasurable as they may be – don’t fully satisfy us, either.
Our brains may or may not be wired for math, but our hearts – all of our hearts – are shaped for God’s love – God’s love for us, a love that is as over-the-top as the love we heard in today’s snippet from the love poetry we call the Song of Solomon.
And so, in Jesus’ order of operations, we must begin on the inside.
We begin with the simple ritual of just inviting God to make a home in our restless hearts – which have been made by God, for God.
It’s an invitation that God will definitely accept.
And, over time, as we keep on inviting, and God keeps on accepting, God’s presence will grow in our hearts, taking up more and more space, and leaving less and less space for the ugly stuff that we all carry inside of us.
And, as God takes up more space in our hearts, not only will we be less likely to tumble into sin, but we will have the grace and courage to make the kinds of sacrifice that God desires way more than hand washing: care for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and liberating the captive.
So, there’s no time to waste.
Let’s begin.
Let’s begin on the inside, inviting God into our restless hearts.
Amen.
Posts
