Earlier this week I read a Facebook post on my local community’s discussion page from a woman who was looking for a new church. I normally don’t spend much time perusing this page because it is typically little more than angry rants about doubler parkers, inquiries for handymen and shocking photos of barely any tuna on a sandwich at Subway (never going back).
This one caught my eye though. This woman had recently been divorced and her church, by her own admission, “shunned” her.
I reflexively responded, “come to First Prez in downtown Flint — it’s the No-Shun Zone.”
People laughed at the remark, but it wasn’t a joke; it’s the truth and something that I take a lot of pride in. I’ve been in churches that were welcoming to most people for my entire life. When I came to First Prez, I found a church that was welcoming to all people. I found a church full of people who “practice what they preach.”
We take that phrase from Matthew 23, in which Christ instructs the crowds to listen closely to the words of the commandments spoken by the Pharisees, but not to follow their lead — they weren’t living out the commands. They were guilty of what I’ve heard called “doing church well.” They said all the right things; they knew all commands (memorized them, even) but couldn’t let them filter into their lives between Sundays. I’m not immune from this shortcoming. There’s probably a little Pharisee in all of us.
In this week’s passage, the Pharisees were scandalized by The Disciples who (gasp) ate without first washing their hands. This was just one of many rituals in those days which, for Jews, required strict adherence.
When they asked Jesus why his crew didn’t follow the traditions, he chided them by pointing out their hypocrisy. They had replaced God’s commandments with human traditions — they had lost the plot.
As Christians, we can very easily fall into this trap. We can place things of human creation on equal footing (or worse yet, above) with the teachings of Christ. In these moments, adherence to a certain traditions, beliefs, comforts and rules take the place of what we know about God’s commands and the character of Christ.
Certainly many of our human traditions are good, and worth following. Christ followed many of the traditions of His day. What’s important to understand is their place in our lives. Our focus should always be on what is at the heart of the law, the commands of God as reflected in the character of Christ. Let’s always start there.
Thanks for listening. We will see you Sunday night at the Grove (third floor)!
The Pipe 