Living the Word, Not Just Speaking it

September 3, 2006 Reflection
Living The Word, Not Just Speaking It
Based on Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8; Psalm 15, James 1:17-18, 21-27, Mark 7, 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
The readings today are most profound if you actually think about them. In it, Christ is admonishing the hierarchy of the Jewish people for calling attention to the fact that Christ’s apostles were eating without first cleansing their hands as called for in Jewish law. Christ tell them and all who were listening the following; “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!”
In another reading this week from Matthew 23 we heard Christ saying “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues”
If we were to actually think about these readings, both of which we heard this week, and the passages I have chosen that will follow, we might ask ourselves if they do not apply to our religious hierarchy today. We see leaders of the various churches parading around in fancy clothes, being chauffeured in fancy cars and building elaborate palaces they call churches all the while preaching discrimination and rejection and putting up barriers to people hearing the word of God because of some man made rules.
We do not hear too many of them preaching about the injustices being perpetrated by governments against the poor, aged, and the sick but we hear them supporting leaders who use war as a means of settling disputes. Justifying wars that cause many innocent people, children of God, to be killed or maimed.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Think about this one in relation to the scandal that has destroyed so many lives by predatory clergy and the exclusion of married priests)
Too many religious organizations seem to be interested in financial interests rather than using their wealth to help those in need or sharing the wealth evenly among poorer ministries.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
We also find something similar in the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy where the Jewish people are being advised by Moses “You shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.” Where in the teachings of Christ is it forbidden for women or married persons to be priests and deacons? When did Jesus ever turn anyone away from him? The answer is NEVER!
One of the greatest mistakes people make is that they take only one passage of the Gospels at a time rather that look at the overall message presented by Christ. In doing so they sometimes fail to see the whole message. A message of Mercy, Forgiveness, Compassion, Love, Justice and fairness for all God‘s children.
Christ was sent to be the Light unto the world, a light that would make the will of Almighty God clearer to see and understand. He wanted it to be unburdened by the dictates of men. So why do we continue to make it so difficult for people to know, love and serve Almighty God as we have been directed by Christ?
The letter of James in today’s reading clearly brings home the point that is most important in all these readings “ Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law of God, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing".
In the Gospel Christ also makes it clear “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he has declared all foods clean.) And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
Looking at Christ’s list of things that defile and comparing them against the way people and leaders of nations and Religious denominations are living today, by seeking the upper hand in all things, gaining profit at the expense of others, desiring material things rather than having compassion for those in need, using deceit and lies to justify war, indulging in indiscriminate sexual behavior rather than committed loving relations, promoting sensuality to sell products to increase the profit margin. One has to ponder where we are headed and how God is looking upon all this and what He might feel is needed to open our eyes and hearts to living according to the teachings His son gave us by words and practice.
I believe the time is now for us to take a good hard look at the way we are living and make a concerted effort to change our ways and begin to live the Gospels not just preach them. AMEN