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Year B - Proper 17 (2009)

The lessons this morning seem to be saying two opposite things about rules.

In the Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy Moses says, "Give heed to the statutes and ordinances

that I am teaching you to observe. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take awayanything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am charging you." This

seems like a pretty strong statement that in some very important way rules are the essence of religion.Jesus seems to be saying the opposite. When the Pharisees ask Him, "Why don't your disciples keep the

Law of Moses?" Jesus says, "Boy was Isaiah right when he wrote about hypocrites like you: 'This

 people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching

human precepts as doctrines.'" Here the law that Moses gave to the people as a commandment from God

seems to be demoted to mere human precepts that are not important. Jesus seems pretty clearly to be

saying that something other than rules is the essence of religion.

So what are we to make of this seeming contradiction?

Certainly the Church has usually acted as if rules were the essence of religion. Lists of rules, the

 breaking of which was carefully categorized as mortal or venial sins are familiar to many who grew up

as Roman Catholics.

Protestant traditions, while often less systematic, have emphasized no less a lot of rules of morality and

conduct that are supposed to apply across the board to human situations.I will say very strongly that the legalistic and heavy-handed way the Church has insisted on rules has

distorted the purpose of the Church, driven many from it, and - ironically - seriously weakened the

Church's moral authority in society.

I'd like to say four brief things about this matter that I hope will help your own reflections.First, the problem comes from where we begin. Jesus said, "There is nothing outside a person that by

going in can defile that person." If we can't be defiled by eating ritually unclean food, neither can we be

sanctified by eating ritually pure food. Externals are externals. We are not automatically made better by

attending church, or by giving up sweets for Lent.

We cannot bargain with God by externals. We cannot say, "Well, I'll do this good act which will make up

for that bad act.” Externals always remain externals. We don't gain merit for following the rules, and we

don't earn demerits for breaking them. God does not judge by appearances.

This brings me to the second thing. God sees the heart. God sees what our real motivations are. Godknows why we did what looks right or wrong. God knows - just as we really know what our real desires

are.

The moral imperative must come from within, not from outside. It's not enough simply to do the right

things; we have to want to do the right things. This is no great mystery, and every person in this room

knows what I mean from your own experience. What prevents us from holding to the New Year's

resolutions we make? You know what I mean. We can't keep our New Year's resolutions if we don't

really want to, and if we really want to exercise or to quit smoking, we won't wait until January first.

We'll start exercising or quit smoking as soon as we perceive within ourselves the real desire to do it.

When we start with the rules, the externals, thinking that they will save us, we will probably never get

there. We need to start with where the problem is - inside of us. The reason we don't do the right thing isthat we don't really want to. And the reason we are able to continue to do the good things that we do day

in and day out is not to earn rewards, but just because we want to do them for their own sake.That's why the first and great commandment is that we love God with all our heart and soul and mind

and strength. If we love God, we will want to do the right things, and the problem of following the rules

will be diminished because we will see clearly what is essential and what is not.

Externals are externals, and the moral imperative must come from within, meaning that the only way we

can do the right things for any period of time is because we want to.

And this brings me to the third thing. Morality doesn't have to do with our perfection as isolated

individuals; morality has to do with our relationships - our relationships with God and with one another.

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Morality is neither a list of rules nor a personal whim. Rather, morality is relational. Morality is what the

relationship requires.

Every relationship has its duties and responsibilities.

Sometimes it fills us with joy to fulfill those duties; sometimes it's a great chore, as any parent or spouse

or friend or church member knows. What makes it possible to keep going when things get rough is our deep-seated desire to maintain the relationship no matter what. Without that desire to do the right thing,

we'll bail out of the relationship, as the divorce courts and every parish's file of inactive members canattest.

Externals are externals; they can't save us or damn us. The moral imperative arises from our deep desire

to do the right thing and maintain our relationships. And here is the final point. Morality is defined from

within our relationships, meaning that what is moral is what the relationship demands. But morality is

expressed through externals. It is not enough for a parent to say, "I love my baby." That declaration is a

travesty unless the parent is there day after day, living up to his or her responsibilities toward that baby.

It's what comes out of us that shows others and us what we really want. It's what we do and how we

order our lives that demonstrate who we are.

Christianity is our baptismal relationship with Jesus' Risen Body the Church, and that relationship is

expressed and made real through a life of external actions and signs which manifest that relationship.

These actions and signs can be summed up as the moral precepts which we teach our children, but, as

we are teaching them, I hope we always remember that the rules we are teaching have grown up out of the relationship. Without the relationship the rules are lifeless and meaningless.

Rules are not the essence of the faith. The essence of the faith is our baptismal relationship with the

Body of Christ. The essence of the faith is our conversion, which brings our will into conformity with

God's will so that we do the right things because we want to. The essence of the faith is a relationshipwith the Church which has changed and is changing us.

Like all relationships, in order to be real, our relationship with the Church has duties and

responsibilities. These are not imposed on us from the outside, but they grow out of our relationship

with God's Church the way the duties and responsibilities of marriage and family life are inherent in

those relationships.

Externals can't save us. The desire to do the right thing comes from within. The right things to do are

defined by the demands of the relationships we are in. And those relationships only become real and

important when we use externals to organize our lives to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of thoserelationships.

We are not talking about a book of rules or a bunch of ideas that we have to say we believe. Look at

today's Collect: "Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us in all

goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works."

What that prayer is talking about is the growth and development of a relationship and what can come out

of that relationship. These things are not accomplished overnight. They are accomplished as we let God

graft the love of His Name into our hearts so that more and more we really want to do what God wants

us to do. And these things are accomplished as we express our desire to live in relationship with God's

Church by a life of devotion to the duties and responsibilities of faithful Christian practice.