August 29, 2003
Proprieties
When the Pharisees and Scribes asked Jesus to explain why his disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating, they weren’t seeking insight. They were demanding proof of worthiness.
On the other hand, Jesus saw people’s needs and met them with no expectation of response, no policies, no procedures. It was all so simple. Any casual reading of the gospels makes it clear.
Isn’t it ironic, the maze of proprieties we churchers have cobbled together over the centuries and all in the name of one who had so little use for them? It’s like the Victorian father taking his son out behind the barn and saying, belt in hand, “I’ll beat the love of God into you if it takes all night!”
The Pharisees and Scribes meant well. It was in their job description. We mean well. What is religion, after all, but the corporate human endeavor to render faith both memorable and manageable? Who can blame us for that?
Well, Jesus for one. And he had Isaiah to back him up. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Is 29.13; Mk 7.6f).
I suspect God had enough lip long ago and would like some heart for a change, maybe somewhere else beside only on those bumper stickers about NY.