Today in the Spirit: Proper 17B
At the end of the series of Gospel readings from John 6 just completed, we received the hint that Jesus had returned to Capernaum (see Jn. 6:59). This week at Proper 17B, we return to the Gospel of Mark, where the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:1-23 records Jesus’ address to Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem (to Capernaum) to trap Jesus in his words. The teaching of Jesus in this passage progresses from a direct response to their complaint to him about the disciples’ ignoring hand-washing rituals to an attack on these leaders for holding their own traditions above the law of God itself. And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! (9). The passage ends with our Lord’s affirmation that sin comes not from outside people into their hearts but from their hearts into society.
The assigned OT reading from Deuteronomy 4:1-9, part of Moses’ sermon to the Israelites before they entered the promised land, supports our Lord’s teaching that obedience of God-followers is a matter of guarding the heart: “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life” (9). (Note: The ESV rendering of this passage may require including v. 10 in the reading). To worshipers, Psalm 15 (assigned here and at Proper 11C) may appear this Sunday about internal transformation as a recitation of external rules. However, here again, we find the exhortation to examine the heart: LORD, who shall dwell in your tabernacle?… Whoever leads an incorrupt life, and who does that which is right, and speaks the truth from his heart (1-2, BCP New Coverdale). Indeed, we can find all of the transgressions included in this psalm in Jesus’ list of sins that come from within a person, “out of the heart of a man” (see Mk. 7:21).
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The Year B series from Paul’s great letter to the Ephesians concludes this week with the appointment of Ephesians 6:10-20 as a New Testament reading. Here is Paul’s well-known exhortation to believers to be strong in the Lord by taking up the whole armor of God (10-11). The explanation of each item of the armor clearly functions as a means to reveal the importance of being fully dressed with every piece, not to choose one preferred piece over another. The assigned collect for this week is another prayer that grace from God “precede and follow after us,” resulting not merely in comfort and protection as we pursue our own endeavors but as we surrender ourselves to doing “good works” in Christ.
The Collect
O Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow after us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Baal-peor (Deuteronomy 4:1-9)
And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? 9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so’.
Deuteronomy 4:1-10
Moses’ command that the people of Israel must not add or take from the law of YHWH goes to the matter Jesus makes to the religious leaders in the Gospel reading. Jesus rails against the Pharisees for adding a whole body of human tradition to support their behaviors. Moses’ reference to Baal-peor recalls a tragic turn of events taking place not long before this speech when Moabite women seduced thousands of Israelite men into sexual immorality and the worship of their god, the Baal of Peor (see Num. 25). It is a fresh and vivid recollection for the people of God of the consequences of not following the ways of God as they prepare to enter the promised land.
We can treat Moses’ bringing up this incident in the speech as a merciful act of God to bring to mind the sinful condition of the people of God and their need for his unfailing covenant love. The Holy Spirit is active in causing us too to examine our hearts, see the sin, and even revisit the consequences of that sin, as a pathway to receiving the gift of repentance (see Heb. 4:12). We always have forgiveness through Christ, but in his love for us, to sanctify us, we find God will not hesitate to show us the error of our ways so that we might confess it and move forward in Christ. So John writes, By this, we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything (1 Jn. 3:19-20). Today, in the Spirit, hearing this sermon of Moses to the Israelites, we give thanks to God, who knows everything and uses every means necessary to provide us with life out of death.
Today, in the Spirit, hearing Moses’ sermon to the Israelites, we give thanks to God, who knows everything and uses every means necessary to provide us with life out of death.
Who Shall Sojourn in Your Tent? Psalm 5)
1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3 who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Or, LORD, who may be a guest in your home? (1, NET). The Hebrew verb gur, translated here as sojourn or be a guest, carries the sense of “stay as a stranger.” This has led some commentators to suggest that this opening question in the psalm must come from a foreigner who desires to take an unnatural place in the Israelite house of God at Mount Zion. From the Jewish point of view, the answer can only be “by keeping the law:” Whoever does these things [the basics of the law] will never be shaken [not only sheltered but protected from all harm].
Christians will, of course, appreciate the call to obedience but without the anxiety of losing place. As strangers to righteousness without Christ, we hear the invitation to enter and dwell with God in complete safety: Not one thing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). The irony is, of course, that God invites us into righteousness as strangers and aliens only for us to then become strangers and aliens in the world. We must engage with the world as strangers and avoid the temptation to sojourn back there.
Today, Holy Spirit, in thanksgiving for being invited into the house of the Father through the Son, transform my heart and help me grow in obedience to the laws of God, especially those, as in this psalm, related to the treatment of others.
Be Strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10-20)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:10-20
The opening command in this famous passage of Paul is not put on the armor, but be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Being strong in the Lord is the end to which the colorful discourse on the parts of the armor is directed. Each piece of the armor—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, etc.—describes the strength of his might.
So, be strong in the Lord, as opposed to what? Being strong in yourself. Paul knows that we, even the saints (1:1), will tend to lean first on our own experience and common sense before the holy wisdom that flows abundantly through our union with Jesus Christ. His counsel finally–most importantly–is that in all things we put on God. His armor will not fit over our own clothes. We must purposefully take off the lesser garments we have been covering ourselves with and stand naked before the Lord to be made strong. The missionary Jim Elliot wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Today, in the Spirit, in the face of whatever circumstances trouble you, confess to weakness in the flesh and be strong in the Lord.
Some of His Disciples Atwe with Hands That Were Defiled (Mark 7:1-23)
1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Mark 7:1-5
Let me concentrate on a minor detail in this passage. The Pharisees saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed (2). So, some of the disciples no longer washed their hands before eating as a matter of ceremony; others presumably did. We might wonder if, among the disciples, there was any challenge to one another on this point. Though we cannot be sure, the answer is probably not. Why? In the flow of Mark’s narrative, we find the disciples following Jesus of Nazareth caught up in higher things. They had just witnessed Jesus’ miraculous feeding of five thousand men, his walking on water, and miracles in the town of Gennesaret. Immediately before this passage, Mark writes: And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well (6:56). I may be just speculating here, but it appears that the awe of being in the presence of the Son of God (not entirely but) mostly drained the disciples of any energy or time or desire for petty arguments over the law.
Infighting in the church is largely a product of that community being unable and unwilling to see the work of God around them. Are you in a church community open to the movement of the Spirit and expectant of Jesus revealing himself in the midst? Is it the spirit of worship that has taken hold of your community, or rather the air of criticism like that of the Pharisees? Almost always, within any community of Christian faith, we can find a faithful few who want more than anything else to know the life and power of the Lord. Though we relate to everyone, these are the ones we must cling to most.
Today, in the Spirit, meditating in the Gospels on the life of the disciples, may we take up with those in the church who are caught up in what the Lord is doing with the body rather than those fussing over lesser things.
Today in the Spirit
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