>>>CLICK HERE FOR FULL EMAIL VERSION

What is at the Heart of our Faith and Traditions?

Cartoon by Steve Thomason

Our Gospel this week comes sandwiched among many stories of Jesus doing miraculous works and how the people respond to his display of power. In Mark 6, Jesus fed the 5000, he also walked on water and healed the sick in Gennesaret. Further along in chapter 7 of Mark’s gospel, Jesus continues to travel among the Gentiles and perform healing miracles.

It is interesting that in today’s reading, the Pharisees are present – and they must have traveled quite a distance from Jerusalem just to check on this Jesus of Nazareth. What is he up to? Perhaps to find a legal loophole in his teaching? Perhaps to trap him?

The Pharisees, dedicated to obeying and pleasing God follow traditions that helped them maintain their identity as God’s people – especially in a world that was tempting them to worship their neighbors’ Gods. Nothing wrong with that…yet in their desire to obey God they established strict rules which ultimately became traditions. In doing that, they lost sight of the line between God’s law and their own human opinion. They emphasized human tradition which caused them to neglect – and even forget the deeper Torah law -- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

They question why Jesus allowed his disciples to eat with unwashed hands but at the heart of their concern was a more significant issue: Jesus’ authority and the transformative nature of his teaching. There is nothing wrong with honoring traditions – and certainly, Jesus, as a Jew, observed many of the Jewish customs and traditions. Yet, there comes a time when holding on to a tradition can become a trap which prevents us from grasping the big picture.

Jesus is asking us to search for God in our hearts – what is God’s will as we make decisions each day? Sometimes we must step outside of traditions – especially when they have lost their meaning – and even more especially, when they trap us into an inability to see where love is – what is the most loving thing we are being called to do?

I invite each or us to reflect on some of the traditions we hold dear here at St. John’s. Where did they come from? Do we know why we adhere to some practices? What prevents us from stepping out in faith to stretch and grow into an even more loving community?

In God’s Boundless Love,
Deacon Claire