Sunday, September 1, 2024
The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Be doers not just hearers
The Rev. Mark Wilkinson, Rector
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Katy TX 77450
It says something when I can go back and looks at notes from 12 years ago and the central idea for a sermon on a particular lectionary passage hasn’t changed at all. In fact, the issues are worse than they were in 20012. That’s 4 times through the cycle and things have gotten worse not better.
What am I looking at? A portion of James, “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness,“ were already resonating with me. Especially the quick to listen and slow to speak part. There is the first problem along with listening more than speaking.
Our passage from James which is one of my favorite passages. James is writing at a time of great conflict at least we think it is. The date of authorship is in dispute but I tend to go with the theologians who believe it was written in the 50s before the destruction of the temple in the Jewish revolt of 65-70. The controversy about the Messiah was complex and had multiple groups who all thought they were right. The issue is that like today, people were entrenched in their position and listened only to plan their counter argument, not to understand the other’s position. The listen is what we are missing in today’s world. People are not listening to each other except to build an argument. This is a recipe for division and hatred.
This James passage is at the heart of the prayer I say before every sermon. Gracious and loving God, so over-rule my words that your words may be heard and being heard may be believed and being believed may be lived. This is the essence of the “be doers of the word not merely hearers of the word.” If we hear God and read, mark and inwardly digest the word of God we must be changed. We must act in accordance with that word or we risk the hypocrite label. People today are not listening to God or the teachings of Jesus.
This is where our gospel comes in. Jesus is not criticizing the Jewish faith, or the adherence to the law, but is criticizing those who only appear to follow the law. These Pharisees have not undergone any change of heart. They only appear to be faithful. It is all function and no faith.
I came up with an example the other day that relates to our gospel passage along these lines. The pharisees are criticizing Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands. Someone said, well I’d hope they would wash their hands, but we need to remember that nobody knew anything about germs or hygiene like we do. This was about a ritual washing. The example that we came up with was how I “wash” my hands during the offertory before setting the table for communion. This is where the crucifer comes over and pours water of my hands using the lavabo bowl and a small towel.
This washing of hands goes back centuries, in fact that term lavabo that we use for the bowl is from the same Latin word that we get lavatory from. This washing would have been done with holy water and the rector I was a curate under did in fact use holy water. Especially with covid and during some flu epidemics I’ve added hand sanitizer after I use the water, to the process. Fr. David would then keep his finger and thumb together until the end of the Eucharist and distribution of communion. Yes he was very high church. This ritual was very important to him. This is the type of ritual washing that the religious authorities thought Jesus’ disciples should be doing. This was about purity not cleanliness.
In terms of the James passage, the temple leaders heard the message, but some did not live the message. We have many rituals in our church and for many, including myself they bring comfort, a sense of belonging. Now for someone who has just walked in the door from a church that does not have ritual this may be very puzzling. As someone once said, “Episcopal aerobics can be quite a challenge.” Our service can seem like, Stand, sit, kneel, stand sit, shake hands, stand, kneel, have a cookie and see you next week. And if they are nothing more than aerobics then well, maybe we have missed the point just like the pharisees.
If you come to church on Sunday and nothing changes in your life when you go out the door into the world, then I’m not sure that I’ve done my job. If what I say and we do doesn’t touch you outside of these four walls, then why bother?
I walk a narrow line in terms of today’s world, all clergy do. We want to preach the gospel and challenge our congregations. But from talking to other clergy there is a considerable amount of resistance to the gospel message. I continually remember the words of Walter Brueggeman when I heard him many years ago. He was talking about how the prophets challenged us to treat, the poor, the immigrant, the widow, children. A woman during the question and answer period asked him why ministers didn’t preach these prophetic words. His answer was that if they truly preached the teachings of the prophets, including Jesus most would be fired by the end of the service.
Karl Barth is famous for saying that the job of good preaching, of good theology is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. But most people in the comfortable column really don’t want to be afflicted. So many go to church today just to feel safe, know that their beliefs will get them into heaven and do not really worry about everybody else. The focus is on what happens after they die, not on the call to bring a God of love into today’s world.
Christianity is not about preparation and insurance for the end. It is about what we are called to do now, today. The gospel of John teaches us that the kingdom is here, right now and our job as Christians is to bring the kingdom to the world right now not sometime in the future.
The sad truth is that many of the un-churched are un-churched because they have been so badly wounded by people who say one thing and then do the other. They are quick to criticize others yet, all the while, these same people are claiming to be model Christians. This causes problems for the faithful. Here’s an example that I live almost every day.
It is a challenge at times to walk around town dressed the way I do. When Wendy was doing campus ministry, students would ask her if she was some sort of religious person. I will say it is more comfortable here than anywhere else I have lived. It also makes for some interesting driving experiences. By the way the slow to anger part can be very hard as I sit in my car while some idiot cuts me off or does something stupid and I have to remind myself that yes indeed I am sitting there in a black shirt and a collar
You see I have a daily challenge to live into this message from James and from Mark. So, I leave you with a thought. How would you change your actions, your way of being if like me, you walked around town all day dressed in clothes that proclaim I represent God, Jesus and the Christian faith to the world. What would have to change if you really tried to live according to the last words of James all the time?
Message translation: “Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.”[1]
Go, be doers of the word not just hearers.
[1] Translation taken from the Message by Eugene Peterson