August 23, 2017

Why do we not respect the traditions of our elders?

This past Sunday's gospel was a long passage beginning with Jesus' explanation that it isn't what enters the mouth that defiles, but that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. It ended with the story of the Canaanite woman persisting in her quest for assistance on behalf of her daughter, and Jesus finally granting that request. In my sermon I said that what we say, how we say it, and how we treat others is more important to God than our holding up the dubious traditions of our elders.

While I covered a lot of ground, I probably could have/should have said more about that last part. I'll blame the lectionary for that oversight.

Sunday's gospel began with Jesus telling the crowd it isn't what goes into the mouth but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person. We missed the reason for that teaching. Jesus had been approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem who wanted to know why his disciples didn't wash their hands before eating, thereby breaking the traditions of the elders.

This act of washing, however, was a law only for the priests (Ex. 30:17-21). At some point this law for priests became a tradition for the people and evolved into “It's always been part of our heritage.”

Today we face the same conflict over a belief in a tradition that “has always been part of our heritage” versus an understanding of how we treat people in the name of what is morally right. That conflict today is focused on, among other things, the removal of Confederate statues.

On the one hand, we have people claiming a loss of tradition and heritage. On the other hand, there are people who recognize that tradition and heritage for what it is – an attempt to remind people of color and other minorities of who is really in control.

As we engage this issue, we might want to pay attention to the words of both Christ and the prophet Isaiah: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

We should then ask ourselves if we are more concerned with holding up the dubious traditions of our elders, or are we more concerned with holding up and living into the mandate of God as reflected in the prophets, apostles, and martyrs to do all things for all people in the manner of love?

Because, really, if we are more concerned with the dismantling of the symbols of hatred and oppression than we are with our failure to love our neighbor as ourselves, we are most likely getting it wrong.