Mar 17 - "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"

Mark 7:1-2, 5-8, 14-16 -- “Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of His disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

‘You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Then He called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ ”

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There are many things I love about this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees laid out in Mark’s Gospel.

The boldness with which Jesus speaks, calling out the Pharisees for how wrong they have gotten things over the years for the sake of their “tradition”, makes me love Him all the more as my Lord and Savior. There is no lack of clarity here.

He also, goes straight to scripture, as He does many times in His words, lessons and parables when making His point. He cites Isaiah and rebukes them for the path they have followed, making sure they are aware that it is easy to become focused on the wrong things and end up forgetting what it important about what God has spoken to us over the centuries; it also reminds us how we must be careful to not forget what Jesus has taught us. Above all else, we should love each other despite disagreements, whether minute or immense.

It is very easy for us to get caught up on the little things. Earlier this week, when I was spending time with my brothers at Hamilton County Jail, one of them mentioned a discussion he had with another person where the topic of Bible translations came up. He was told that the New International Version was “not really the Bible” and that the only real version was the King James. This is a bit silly and misses the point of the Word.

While were were talking, I mentioned the season of Lent. My friend asked, “What is Lent?”. We are supposed to stay very non-denominational in the jail setting. But, without thinking I immediately jumped into a description of what the season of Lent represents, in my faith tradition, as well as its culmination in Holy Week. Even though I felt like I was describing this in a very ecumenical way, I sensed just the slightest bit of tension in the room from a couple of others because, even though fellow Christians and brothers, not all believed as I do about the meaning of this season. But I have to turn this examination on myself a bit too. By speaking about Lent in this way and not turning the discussion towards the larger message of repentance and reconciliation, I myself was focusing on human tradition and not the commandment of God.

What other things do we find ourselves in disagreement on with our fellow Christians? This list is unimaginably long. There are thousands (not exaggerating) of Christian denominations, all with minor variations on the same theme. There are dozens of translations of the Bible, just in the English language. Even within our own small communities, within our own churches, we can find things to disagree about. It is so easy for us to get caught up on the small stuff.

The big picture is this: when asked about the greatest commandment, what does Jesus say? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew Matthew 22:37-40)

It’s all above love. Simply, beautifully and solely.

So, don’t sweat the small stuff. When we find ourselves arguing about versions and traditions and laws and rites, stop. Turn the conversation to Love. Focus on the thing we all have in common, that Jesus loved us and He has called us to do all, and no more, that He did for us. Love.