Proper 4B’24
2 June 2024
Mark 2.23-3.6
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
“The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly! Amen. – from John 10.10 NRSV
Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote; some of you instantly recognize these names as characters from the 20th cen. cartoon series known as “Looney Tunes.” Two other characters that were featured together was Penelope Pussycat and Pepe Le Pew. Pepe was a skunk with a French accent who was always in hot pursuit of his romantic interest a black cat named Penelope. Penelope had crawled under a white fence that had been freshly painted and it left a white streak down the center of her tail. When Pepe first saw her, it was love at first sight and every episode involved the new and creative ways he tried to woo her. Also in every episode was the awareness of just how bad Pepe stunk. This was always depicted by a foul vapor graphic surrounding his tale and all the lilies and tulips would wilt as he walked by. To put it mildly, Pepe was a killjoy.
I couldn’t think of a better introduction to a sermon that featured the Pharisees!
Who were they? The pharisees (a word that means “separated”) were a group within Judaism who formed around 150BC, that held to a very strict interpretation to both the written law and the oral traditions that had been passed down. St. Paul (or Saul as he was first called) was a pharisee prior to his conversion. Unfortunately, some within the Christian faith have lumped all Jews into this category and it’s served as a basis for justifying antisemitic rhetoric and violence.
A word that is more contemporary that would describe them would be, “fundamentalist.” And this is exactly the crowd that he and his disciples encountered after a busy week of ministry. They were weary, hungry and on their way home, when they saw a grain field (see the artistic rendering in your bulletin), and began lucking the grain from the stalks and eating. This gave the pharisees quite a thrill for they so loved to catch someone in the act of sinning! They seized on the moment to accuse Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Aha! We’ve got you now! They finally had this troublemaker in a clear violation of the law!
But Jesus did what Jesus was good at and asked them a question: “Have you never read what David and his companions did when they were hungry?” They entered the temple and ate the ritual bread that was only lawful for the priests to eat because they were starving. Then Jesus makes a theological slam dunk and said, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so, the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” Jesus was attempting to show them the bigger picture. But they, like all fundamentalists, focus on obeying the letter of the law with no exceptions or understanding of the circumstances, and how that might have a role in decision making. They couldn’t even approve of his healing of the man with the withered hand that Sabbath day in the synagogue. Theologian, Jaroslav Pelikan, summed up their mentality quite well: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Jesus would certainly honor the living faith of the ancestors but was here to dismantle the dead faith of the living.
There’s a true story that shows that all Jews weren’t pharisees (fundamentalists). A Jewish mother and her five children were on board a train with hundreds of other Jews headed to a Nazi concentration camp. Her children were starving and crying out for food, and all that she had was some nonkosher meat that she had been handed as they had boarded the train. Her dilemma was clear do I follow the law by not feeding her children with the nonkosher meat, or do I do whatever I can to keep them alive by feeding them with whatever she had to give them. She fed her children the nonkosher meat and they survived. A supremely devout and observant Jewish woman did the right thing in the end, which was to feed her children the religiously defiled nonkosher meat, and save their lives.
The pharisaical spirit exists not only within Judaism but in most if not all of the major world religions – including Christianity! As we enter the month of June, we remember the discrimination and oppression endured by our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, often at the hands of “Committed Christians.” Those seeking to hold to the letter of the law and the traditions at all costs, feel justified in their slander, ostracizing, bullying, and in some cases, assault and murder of these with a different orientation than their own. We have witnessed afresh the fundamentalist divide within the Methodist Church. Episcopalians, if approved at our General Convention, will enter into full communion with those staying within the United Methodist Church (our ‘Cousins of John Wesley’).
The Way of Christ is the Way of Love
You see it really is all about love! That is the measuring stick of Jesus!
The following is posted on the front page of our website:
Welcome to Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church
A Place of Welcome, Openness, and Love
At Saint Luke’s, we believe in living the way of Christ, which is the way of love. Our red doors are wide open, and our hearts even wider. Whether you’re a longtime member or a first-time visitor, you’re part of our family.
What Makes Us Unique:
⦁ Welcome: Step inside, and you’ll feel the embrace of our community. We greet each other with smiles, share stories, and celebrate life’s joys and sorrows together.
⦁ Openness: We welcome questions, doubts, and diverse perspectives. Our faith journey is a shared exploration, and everyone’s voice matters.
⦁ Inviting: Join us for worship, fellowship, and service. Our Sunday services are rooted in the living tradition of the Church, as the word of God is proclaimed, and Holy Communion is shared. We strive to create a space where all can encounter God.
⦁ Living the Way of Christ: We strive to follow Jesus’ example by loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves, and expressing this love by caring for each other, and reaching out beyond our walls to those who are in need of Good News, and food, and clothing.
Join Us on this Journey into the love of God, in Christ!
Pepe Le Pew