In
many ways the good news seems simple. What is difficult is how to live it. We
could say that what we need is character or maturity. Another good word is
integrity; that is, our words and our actions are one. We live as we seem to
be, not as hypocrites. In ancient Greek drama, actors were hypocrites. They
were people who spoke words and took on a certain persona that was different
from whom they were otherwise (good acting but bad living.)
Our
unrelated first readings are all about Solomon. He was wise and powerful. In
his peaceful kingdom he had the leisure to write love poetry. The psalm is
likely a piece written for the wedding of a king. Solomon had many wives so he
may have used it often. It is good for us to remember the different kinds of
words we find in scripture. Apparently God also likes love poetry. It is good
for us to be romantic.
Most
of the words we hear today are about how to live with integrity. The letter
from James is almost like a series of proverbs. He is showing us how to live as
Christians, and not just how to think about being Christians.
I’m
struck by the contrast of two men in the news this week. Former president Jimmy
Carter announced that he is dying form cancer. In reviewing his life it is
astonishing how well he has lived since losing his second term as president. He
builds houses for the poor. He has all but eliminated a terrible parasite, the
guinea worm. He is facing death with a sense of peace and gratitude. All of
this is in absolute congruence with his faith. He lives as he believes.
The
foolish opposite is Donald Trump. He is a political persona who presents
himself as speaking the truth, and it is not too hard to suspect that his
frankness is self-serving. His speech has more to do with keeping celebrity
than in creating a country of peace and prosperity. He represents how it is
always too easy to criticize a modern politician. It is much more difficult to
find someone to admire.
We
are called to live out our lives as Christians in a way that is more
complicated than following a few simple rules. The religious leaders of Jesus’
day had all sorts of rituals that helped them make sense of their lives. Of
course, Jesus’ disciples cleaned their dishes and washed their hands. They
neglected to take on more ritualistic forms of cleansing, associated with
ritual cleanliness. (More along the lines of the ritual cleansing I do with a
lavabo bowl before the Eucharist.) Jesus and his disciples were relatively poor
and they lived among the working poor – so Jesus didn’t make a fuss over
ritual.
You
might hear a modern-day parallel when people criticize how young people dress,
or how people lack manners. Some of this is how we’ve become used to a more
relaxed way of living. Some of it is because we can’t afford the expense and
bother of fancy clothes. Who could dress or act as if we were living at Downton
Abbey? Who would want to?
Jesus reminds his opponents that God
desires a pure heart over pure hands. It is not the type of food or how it is
prepared that makes us holy or unclean. What makes us defiled is what comes
from our heart. Do we speak insults and do we demean other people? Do we seek
to accumulate wealth at the expense of others? Do we treat others as people to
be used for our gratification, or do we seek to serve our neighbors? Especially
those who can never repay us?
Wisdom
begins with God. Our character grows as we live as if God were watching us – as
if God were guiding us, wherever we find ourselves. Jesus reminds us that all
our actions can be an opportunity to bring us closer to God or further from
God. We can be reconciled more closely with our neighbors or we can become cut
off from one another.
What
Jesus is teaching us (and what Jimmy Carter knows) is that life is not about
the gathering of wealth. God calls us to gather one another together. God gives
us the privilege of serving each other and to grow more like Christ in doing
so.
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