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Serving God and Sharing Good News |
Weekly Bible Notes
Ordinary 22 - Year B
Liturgical Colour - Green
Introduction
Perhaps the very worst insult which you can make of a Christian is to call them a hypocrite. Jesus was at his most critical with the Pharisees, who he regarded as hypocrites. Yet when they criticised Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, they truly believed that they were upholding the laws of God. This is a terrifying thought, could we also sometimes be mistaken. Is it possible that things we have held to be sacred and true and not Gods ways, but just our own. Could we be hypocrites like the Pharisees, and not even know about it?
Each one of us must listen to the word of God and put God's ways into practice. Some of the most fervent Christians can be the most aggressively critical and unsympathetic towards others. Sometimes the Christians who are most dedicated to their own churches can be the most critical of others. We must not be hypocritical, we must look to our failings, not those of others. We must learn to be tolerant of people, and try to see things from their point of view. When we view faults in others, each time we must by remember that there are few sins which we are not capable of ourselves. Our caution against hypocrisy is always to say
'there but for the grace of God go I.'
Opening Verses of Scripture James
1:22
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Collect Prayer for the Day —Before we read we pray
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Common Worship
God of constant mercy, who sent your Son to save us: remind us of your goodness, increase your grace within us, that our thankfulness may grow, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Common Worship Shorter form
God of all creation, you call all peoples of the earth into your kingdom. Grant that we, with young and old of all nations, may boldly confess Jesus Christ as Lord: to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and praise, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
Redeemer God, you heard the cry of your people and sent Moses your servant to lead them out of slavery. Free us from the tyranny of sin and death and, by the leading of your Spirit, bring us to our promised land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship
First Bible Reading Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9
Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow
them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that
the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I
command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD
your God that I give you. Observe them carefully, for this will show your
wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these
decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding
people."
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the
LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so
great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am
setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so
that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from
your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their
children after them.
(Reader: This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Second Reading James 1:17-27
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
(Reader: This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Gospel Reading
Mark 7 (1-8, 14-15, 21-23)
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from
Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food
with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all
the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing,
holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market place
they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions,
such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and
teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to
the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with `unclean'
hands?" He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you
hypocrites; as it is written: "`These people honour me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are
but rules taught by men.'
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions
of men."
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and
understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him `unclean' by going into
him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him `unclean.' "
For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality,
theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander,
arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man
`unclean.'"
(Reader: This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Post Communion Sentence
God of all mercy, in this eucharist you have set aside our sins and given us your healing: grant that we who are made whole in Christ may bring that healing to this broken world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Commentary
In our readings from the Gospel of John over the past 3 weeks we saw Jesus
teaching in the synagogue using the structure which would have been familiar
to the Jews from the Midrash. This was their equivalent to our standard
three point sermon. The Midrash tradition started with a verse of scripture,
in our recent readings it was Jn 6 v 31, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to
eat’ and then goes on to explain it in 2 sections. In the first part, Jn 6 v
32 – 48, He explained ‘bread from heaven’ and in the second part, Jn 49 –
58, He explained ‘to eat’. In the Aggadah tradition of Midrash often one
word is taken and changed slightly in the vowel structure, easily done as
there are no explicit vowels in the Torah, and a different word created
which then explains the meaning of the phrase of scripture. In this example,
Jesus was perhaps playing on the word manna to change it to give a word with
a different meaning which explained the difference between the bread which
leads to life and the bread which led to death. It’s a model we can use to
give insight into today’s readings too.
Ex 32 v 16 reads, ‘The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the
writing of God, engraved [graven] on the tablets’. The Jewish sages comment
on this (Tractate Avot 6:2), “Do not read the word [graven] as ‘harut’, but
as ‘herut’”. Herut means freedom. Thus as the Midrash explains the verse,
when the Israelites received the 10 commandments in the desert they received
freedom. ‘The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of
God, freedom on the tablets’. True observance of the commandments is
therefore understood to make someone free rather than to enslave them. It
could also be implied that it was when the Jews received the 10 commandments
that they were finally physically freed as a nation from the Egyptians.
In our reading from Deuteronomy, Moses exhorts the Israelites not to add or
subtract anything from the law they have been given. In so doing they will
be free and go in and take possession of the land they have been promised.
In the reading from Mark, Jesus accuses the Jewish teachers of doing exactly
what Moses, who embodies Jewish law, had commanded them not to do. They have
made significant and extraneous additions to the original precepts of the
law. As a result they are now far from free. The Pharisees claimed that the
traditions of their elders safeguarded the law, but in fact it these
traditions have resulted in people following a law that in some cases has
little to do with the law as it was given to Moses. Isaiah said that their
Jewish ‘merchants mix water with the wine’, implying that the elders had
mixed their watery tradition with God's strict commandment and in so doing
adulterated the law. Jesus clearly agrees. But before we cheer too loudly in
condemning the failings of the Jewish tradition, we need to ask ourselves
how many times down the years could Jesus’ charge of ‘You have let go of the
commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men’ be levied at
the Christian church? Rather than being a church which is free we can become
a people who are governed by the strictures we have engraved for ourselves
in our personal and community life.
As a New Testament people we are no longer under the law but under the
freedom of grace. Jesus was, and continues to be, the fulfilment of the law.
He also gave us in His teaching, the guiding principles for our salvation
and our lives as a people of God, they very way of life. Just like the
Jewish teachers before us it is easy for us to dilute these guiding
principles to make our faith easier and more palatable to ourselves and
those around us. Similarly we can add our own interpretations and strictures
so that our faith becomes more legalistic and programmed. True liberation in
our faith comes from an ever closer walk with Christ and a living and love
of His precepts. In the model of the Midrash, it is only by having His name
engraved ‘harut’ in our lives we can find true freedom ‘herut’ in our lives.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to follow a set of laws, but invites us to follow His
precepts, precepts which become increasingly embodied in our lives as we
grow closer to Him. As we grow in our faith, so our lives become
increasingly and inextricably linked with His through His redeeming
sacrifice. Sam Cappleman
Meditation
Meditation
"The codes of Israel reflect the norms of the covenant: reciprocal
responsibility, mercy, and truthfulness. They embody a life in freedom from
oppression: worship of the One God, rejection of idolatry, mutual respect
among people, care and protection for every member of the social body. Being
free and being a co-responsible community are God’s intentions for us." US
Bishops, Economic Justice for All (1986)
Prayers for Sunday and the Week Ahead
The power of one pure heart, I think, has the power to atone for many.
Sophocles (c.496-406BCE, Athens
Hymns
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For the beauty of the earth, 152
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He’s got the whole world 225,
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O for a heart to praise my God, 495
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Lead us heavenly Father 400
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Lord of the Dance (On Partnership News)
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian,
if it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die
God our heavenly judge declares you innocent, not by your own
righteousness, but by that of Jesus Christ, who came to earth to save us from
our sins. Amen
God does not wish us to walk in darkness; in His mercy seat He has revealed to
us the way of life. His word is a lantern to our feet and a light to our paths.
Amen
Set our hearts on fire with love for you, O Christ our God, that in its flame we
may love you with all out heart, with all our mind, with all out soul, and with
all our strength, and our neighbours as ourselves, so that in keeping your
commandments, we may glorify you, the giver of all good gifts. Amen
A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers
May the almighty and eternal God sanctify and govern your hearts and bodies in
the ways of His laws and the works of His commandments; that under God’s
protection, now and ever, you may be preserved in body and soul; and the
blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you
and remain with you always. Amen
Additional Material
Verse of scripture
Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for your
anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all
sordidness and rank growth of wickedness and welcome with meekness the
implanted word that has power to save your souls. James Chapter 1:19
Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray
O God you declare your almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and
pity: mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we, running
the way of your commandments, may receive your gracious promises, and be
made partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ your Son our
Lord. Amen.
Post Communion Prayer
Lord of all mercy, we your faithful people have celebrated that one true
sacrifice which takes away our sins and brings pardon and peace: by our
communion keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel and preserve us from
all sin; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Commentary - Clean and unclean hearts
Our passage today records one of the episodes in which Jesus has dispute
with the religious leaders. Mark has already told us that the scribes have
determined that Jesus is demonic (3:22), and the Pharisees have begun a
conspiracy to kill him (3:6). This is why they have left Jerusalem, to
follow Jesus and try to stop him, if necessary by murder.
It is important to try and understand the Pharisees. They were not actually
bad people, they were dedicated to obeying and pleasing God.
Ritual cleansing: Exod. 30:18-21; 40:31 requires the cleansing of
hands, but only for priests ("Aaron and his sons") -- and only when they go
into the tent of meeting or come near the altar -- in other words, when they
are attending to sacred duties within sacred space. For the Sadducees the
written law of the Torah alone was authoritative. However the Pharisees, out
of a desire to obey God, established rules to clarify the law, and they
accepted this evolving oral law as authoritative. By Jesus' day, adherence
to the unwritten oral tradition was as important for the Pharisees as
adherence to the Torah itself, by the third century it was codified as the
Mishnah. So it was that the Pharisees gradually adopted this practice of
ritual handwashing for ordinary people and ordinary meals as a way of
showing devotion to God -- and as a "boundary marker," a way for Jews to
proclaim their identity as distinct from their pagan neighbours.
Food laws: The Maccabean martyrs were famous at the time for having
died rather than defile themselves, they were Jewish people who had been
tortured and killed for refusing to eat unclean food, particularly pork. The
Pharisees wanted to maintain their loyalty to God and his laws, to remain
distinct from the pagans around. The Pharisees were misguided, but let us
not forget that they were deeply religious men trying to be obedient to
God's law and for Jesus to break God’s food laws like this was scandalous.
Jesus response: Jesus criticises the ritual laws of washing of hands
before food, and of cooking vessels. Jesus attacks this ritual cleansing
which was human tradition. However, he went much further, he gives Mark, the
Gospel writer, a reason to say that all foods are clean! When he overrules
the food laws he is not attacking mere human tradition, but the scriptures
themselves. No wonder the Pharisees were angry and quite understandably, any
good Jew would have been. The Pharisees attack Jesus and show that he is
outside the cherished tradition which has been passed on to define the true
people of God. Jesus has a completely different agenda, showing that these
laws pointed towards him and now that he has arrived they are redundant!
God’s people had historically been defined within the racial boundaries of
the Jewish people, Jesus was now calling all people and this included the
very Gentiles whom the Jews had sought to be so distinct from. This meant
that not only were all the distinctive Jewish practices redundant, they were
a hindrance and Jesus had to show that they no longer had to be obeyed.
The response of Jesus is to draw upon the words of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus
quotes scripture, adding force to his accusations. The quotation is from
Isaiah 29:13, and is in keeping with other prophetic pronouncements (see
Isaiah 1:10-17; Amos 5:21-24; and Micah 6:6-8). What God wants is conversion
of the heart, not mere words and traditions.
So in what way is the new religion of Jesus different from the old?
"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" (vv. 14-15).
Jesus shows that in his religion it is not the foods that we eat or ritual
defilement that makes us unclean, but the thoughts and feelings of our
hearts. Jesus is unconcerned with the old categories of clean and unclean,
he touched a leper (1:41), ate with sinners (2:15-17), and was not troubled
that an unclean woman touched him (5:30-34). Jesus replaces God's old
commandments with his own teaching, in effect, doing the same thing that he
accuses the Pharisees of doing. The difference was that Jesus is entrusted
by God to declare his new commandments directly. Jesus is not worried about
eating pork, but he is angered by sins which come from within us, from the
human heart. This is what really defiles a person.
Fornication, Theft, Murder Adultery, Avarice, Wickedness, Deceit,
Licentiousness, Envy, Slander, Pride, Folly
Jesus changes the emphasis away from religious duties towards ethical
behaviour. He teaches us to be especially mindful of thoughts and feelings
that give rise to unethical behaviour in our relationships with family,
friends and neighbours. It is those thoughts and feelings, conceived and
nurtured in our hearts, that give rise to truly serious sins. What Jesus is
saying is that he is offering a cure for the problems of sin in the human
heart, not just Jewish hearts. Charles Royden
Commentary
Are you a traditionalist or are you one of those modern people who like to
shake everything up and change things? When you come to church, do you like
things that are "traditional" or prefer what is "modern", or do you enjoy
both? To take the question a stage further, if we are generally traditional
types, is it very likely that when we come to church that we will suddenly
change and become more flexible and open to different ways of doing things?
I would suggest that the answer is, no. The way we are as people affects
fairly drastically our picture not just of ourselves and the world around
us, but also of the church and of God. O dear! If we are not careful then
God will become just as stuffy as we are. If we are honest most of us will
admit that we tend to like the familiar and that which we have grown
accustomed to. To justify our position and give our position as much weight
as possible we pretend that this is what God wants. Sadly I fear that much
of what we consider to be God, is nothing more than human tradition and this
is what Jesus confronts in the reading today from Mark. Just like the
Pharisees we have beloved liturgies and holy practices, our hymns and
biblical translations, these are our precious traditions. They are wonderful
whilst they help us to draw closer to God, however they are tools of
wickedness when we elevate them to such an extent that they divide
Christians from each other and split churches from the unity of Christ.
The teaching of Jesus is that true obedience to God is
something which comes from the heart and not from a ritualistic adherence to
practices, laws and regulations, no matter how much we like what we are used
to. In the passage from Mark today we see this in practice as a debate
ensues over what people should do before they eat a meal. Jesus wanted to
move people away from just rituals to consider the commitment of mind and
heart. Rituals can be very important tools which enable us to move into
commitment and help us to worship. But they can also be restrictive, instead
of moving us further in our spiritual understanding and worship, they can
become the things of worship themselves, taking the place of God. Rituals
are great if they move us from here to God, but they are not God.
Now whilst this is understandable, if a little
uncomfortable, when it challenges our traditions. What do we make of the
fact that Jesus himself actually took laws and regulations and traditions
from the Old Testament and was unafraid to break these laws and practices?
Well of course the whole point of the Jewish faith was to point to Christ,
that is why the laws and prophets of the Old Testament existed. Jesus is
recorded in Matthew 5:17 saying
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have
not come to abolish them but to fulfil them’
People like the Pharisees thought they were doing their best to serve God,
but they were so blinkered that they did not realise that in Jesus, God was
standing right next to them. The laws which were supposed to point to Jesus
ended up being used as sticks to beat him with. In Jesus these old laws were
brought to an end, not abolished but ‘fulfilled.’ many rules which had been
important before Jesus were now changed and some lost their meaning. That is
why we Christians no longer keep the Sabbath as one of the ten commandments.
Of course the result of this is that we are supposed to be able to draw
closer to God in heart and mind, do we? Finally have we introduced other
laws and traditions ourselves which prevent us from a closer walk with God.
Prayers for Sunday
Lord God, heavenly King, we bring to you our hearts, for you to
make new. We want the righteousness that comes from you. We know that it costs.
Help us to rid ourselves of the impurities we carry around inside us. Those
impurities of jealousy and laziness, greed and deceit and pride and the
foolishness that makes fun of your righteous laws as quaint inconveniences. Give
us the courage and the strength, wisdom and discernment to be honest with
ourselves and you. May the sacrifices we bring to you be those of a contrite
heart and those that truly represent the pure religion of caring for widows and
orphans in their distress. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
At the beginning of time and at the end you are God and I bless you. At my birth
and in my dying, in the opening of the day and at its close, in my waking and my
sleeping, you are God and I bless you. You are the first and the last, the giver
of every gift, the presence without whom there would be no present, the life
without whom there is no life. Lead me to the heart of life’s treasure that I
may be a bearer of the gift. Lead me to the heart of the present that I may be a
sharer of your eternal presence. J. Philip Newell
Lord Jesus Christ, by your thorn-crowned head, receive the devotion of my mind.
Lord Jesus Christ, by your nail-pierced hands, accept my daily work. Lord Jesus
Christ, by your wounded feet, bless my faltering journey. Lord Jesus Christ, by
your riven side, accept the adoration of my heart; for your love and your
mercy's sake. Amen After George Spencer, Father Ignatius, 1799-1864
Lord God, Jesus said that he came to that we might life and have it
abundantly. We praise you and we thank you for his purpose in coming and we
pray to you that we might indeed experience the fullness of the life that he
has promised. Take from us, O Lord, all those things that get in the way of
our relationship with you --- our pride and self-certainty, our doubt and
our fear, and all those things that come from our human nature that blind us
to the wonders of your presence and the glory of what you are doing in our
midst. Lord, you know very well how our traditions and our understandings
can become instruments of judgement rather than tools of your grace.
We pray today O God for all those who have been hurt by our insistence that
our particular way is the only right way. Touch the hearts of those who have
turned away from you because we have caused your light within us to grow dim
and brighten, we pray, our souls. Lord, we thank you for the refreshing wind
of your Spirit - for how you breathe into us new life and new hope and lead
us to new understandings. In you we find wholeness for both body and soul.
We pray now, O God, that this wholeness may not only not only grow within us
- but that it might enter into and transform the lives of those whom we name
before you at this time. We lift them up, O Lord, and also we lift up those
situations and those persons, in thanksgiving, and with prayers of
intercession, that you have placed upon our hearts this day.
Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or shadow, hear the prayers
we offer this day and inspire us to be doers of the word, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen
Hymn for this Sunday
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All people that on earth do dwell 20
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Make Way 457
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Come down O love divine 89
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Thanks be to God (on notices– tune Lobe Den Herren)
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Come let us worship Christ 96
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I am aware that it might have been a good idea this week to have included 'Will you come and follow me if I but call your name', it fits well with the Joshua reading
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O Christ, the Healer, we have come (Tune Song 34 mv)
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Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here; (Tune: Mission Praise 50)
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We cannot measure how you heal (Tune: Ye banks and braes)
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Through all our days we'll sing the praise (Tune: Greensleeves)
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Praise and thanksgiving 350
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One more step 746,
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Sing of the Lord’s goodness Glory to God 25
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For the beauty of the earth 152
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Jesus Christ gives life and gladness (Tune Regent Square)