Sermon For The 12th Sunday After Trinity - 30 August 2009

Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Trinity Proper 17 Sunday 30th August 2009 Deuteronomy 4. 11-2, 6-9 James 1. 17-27 Mark 7. 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

The Israelites, it seems, were not quiet, biddable people, but really more like a bunch of unruly children. The story we read in the Old Testament is the story of the relationship between God and his people. It‟s a story of a God who is good and gracious and just. But it‟s also the story of ordinary people – people who were discontented, dissatisfied and disobedient. Small wonder, then, that God gave his people a law to live by.

I wonder if you‟ve ever heard the story of the Sunday School child who was rather puzzled after hearing a number of stories from the Old Testament. “Is it right”, asked Joey, “that the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea?” “Yes, it is,” replied the teacher. “And is it right that the Children of Israel sang and danced for joy when Pharaoh‟s soldiers were drowned?” “You‟re right”, said the teacher. “And didn‟t the Children of Israel fight and kill the Amorites and the Midianites and the Canaanites?”

Our first reading this morning was from the book of Deuteronomy. The name of the book means „the second law‟. It reaffirms the law which had previously been given to Moses in the form of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. God made an agreement with the Israelites. He would remember and show his steadfast loyalty to his people. For their part, they would obey his law out of gratitude for their freedom and God‟s goodness to them. As the years went by, the people became increasingly people who lived „by the book‟. A body of traditions developed, in a process which was still continuing at the time of Jesus. The scribes, who were the professional students and guardians of the law, worked out precise regulations governing all circumstances. For example, 39 types of action were prohibited on the Sabbath. And food laws were of particular importance.

“Right again” answered the teacher. “Well, what I want to know is this”, demanded Joey. “If the Children of Israel did all those things, what were the grown-ups doing all the time?” !!!

Our Gospel reading this morning begins with a challenge from the scribes and Pharisees regarding the failure of Jesus‟ disciples to perform ritual washing before eating. The gospel writer, Mark, is at pains to explain to his Gentile readers the significance of this challenge.

“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 vessels.” Living, as we do, in an age when health and safety – not to mention Swine Flu! - are paramount, such rules perhaps don‟t seem very surprising to us. But you have to remember that hygiene wasn‟t the main issue for the Jews. They were much more concerned to make sure that neither they nor their food were contaminated, or defiled, by contact with Gentiles. Jesus was not fazed by the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. Using a quotation from the prophet Isaiah he challenged their hypocrisy.

“You”, he declared, “pay only lip service to God and do not honour him in your hearts. You follow human traditions rather than obeying God‟s word.” Now, you might think, when you hear Jesus challenge the lawyers of his day in this way, that Jesus is rejecting the law completely. But if you listen carefully you will see that Jesus is upholding the word of God. The scribes and the Pharisees are following the law in a superficial, legalistic way. They are content with keeping the letter of the law. But it is the spirit, the principle behind the law, that reveals God‟s will.

It‟s important that we listen carefully today to what Jesus had to say about the word of God. As Bishop Tom Wright says:

“Part of being a Christian is to learn the art of spiritual discernment… And part of that art is learning to understand scripture and to test human traditions against it.” As Christians, how are we to make judgements about current issues or to resolve the ethical problems which we face? Such challenges appear in the news daily. We might want to stop and consider where we stand in the debate about „assisted death‟. Or - what are the rights and wrongs of the decision to release the so-called „Lockerbie bomber‟ from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds? There‟s another issue which has been on my mind in the past week which clearly illustrates the need for „spiritual discernment‟. You may have read in the news that the Anglican Communion – the worldwide association to which the Church of England belongs – is threatened by schism, or division, because of disputes between opposing factions within its membership. Earlier this year, a group calling themselves „The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans published a document called „The Declaration of Jerusalem‟. This is a group of conservative Christians who have taken issue with the Anglican Communion, and especially with its more liberal wing. They speak of a struggle against „a worldly Christianity‟, „revisionist theology‟ and „false teaching and practice‟. Although it isn‟t clearly and explicitly stated anywhere in the „Declaration of Jerusalem‟, their real issue with the rest of the Anglican Communion is that of homosexuality.

I don‟t propose to go into that subject in any detail this morning – although that might be something we want to do as a parish at a later date. For the moment, my concerns are much more about the way in which people set about making judgements about ethical issues. For the members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, „the Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respective of the church‟s historic and consensual reading‟. They recognise only „orthodox faith and practice‟. In other words, what they‟re saying is, what we think is right because it has always been that way. Tradition is allimportant. What are the liberal wing of the Communion saying about the Bible? “The interpretation of the Bible is a complex matter….Scripture can function to open up and explode our culturally engrained assumptions …. (and) can give new insights that can affirm or contradict our past practices‟. In other words, what they are saying is, we need to be more in tune with the changing culture

of modern times and we can use scripture to justify this.

Is the Anglican Communion, with its membership of 80 million people, to be pulled apart by these opposing factions? The Anglican Communion has itself drafted a Covenant, which it hopes will be adopted by all the member churches. 80 million people are never going to be in full agreement. But hopefully we can find a way of welcoming diversity, resolving differences, and working towards common goals. So what does the Anglican Covenant have to say about God‟s word and spiritual discernment?

We must “ ensure that biblical texts are received, read and interpreted faithfully, respectfully, comprehensively and coherently, with the expectation that scripture continues to illuminate and transform the Church and its members” and “pursue a common pilgrimage with the whole Body of Christ continually to discern the fullness of truth into which the Spirit leads us.” It remains to be seen whether each of the opposing factions will be willing to sign up to the proposed Covenant. The Church lumbers on through time and is slow to change. It has survived so long precisely because of the need to protect its core values and to hold in balance the opposing forces of the traditionalists and the progressives, the cautious and the hasty. Faced with ethical challenges, it must use the informed reading of scripture, a careful re-evaluation of traditional values and the guidance of the Holy Spirit for spiritual discernment. In a changing and challenging world our moral survival, our judgements and actions as Christians depend, too, not on simply maintaining the status quo, nor on jumping on the latest bandwagon, but on sound judgement and careful reflection. We may need to take a fresh look at what the Bible has to tell us. Our generation of „unruly children‟ need God‟s law just as much as the Israelites did. But we also need to remember what Jesus had to say, about searching carefully within God‟s word for the spirit that reveals God‟s will, and, of course, about his new law of love. As the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said, writing in yesterday‟s Times: “Religion is about open hearts, not closed minds.”