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James 2:8-13 

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Mark 7:14-23

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters not the heart but the stomach and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This morning we read from the Letter of James, the brother of Jesus, and from the Gospel of Mark. 

The author of the Letter of James reminds us that we all fall short of perfection. Whether a murderer or adulterer or one who exploits the labor of the working class or one who puffs up their own importance intending to deceive – all are equally loved by God – and  are simultaneously called to turn away from these wrongs and turn back toward God. 

We are all loved equally by God, regardless of the color of our hair, or eyes, or  skin. We are all equally loved by God despite the quality of our speaking or singing voice, or if we use that voice to denounce the evils of this world. God loves us, knowing that modeling love is the best way to grow love in our hearts. 

Change is hard. We must help each other along the way. God models this by showing us unconditional love. Jesus is one of the many that God has sent to show us the way of this love. Jesus was not the first. He was not the last. We do not have to limit ourselves to his teachings, but his teachings give us plenty to work with. 

The Jewish faithful of Jesus’ day wished to distinguish themselves from their Roman occupiers. Purity laws were one visible way to signal to one another that they were sons and daughters of Abraham.  

What Jesus was pushing against in this Mark passage was the inhumanity of, the hypocrisy of upholding the letter of a law but not honoring the spirit of the law. In this scripture the example is of the purity laws that were expected around food. Hand washing hygiene. Foods deemed acceptable or unacceptable, clean or unclean. But of course more than that. 

Jesus was pushing against those that elevated themselves above others based on outward appearance of purity while inside their hearts were darkened by pride, greed, thoughtlessness and other transgressions. 

In this parable in Mark’s Gospel Jesus teaches that it is not what goes into the body that causes impurity but what comes out of the heart. A sick or diseased heart breeds hate and dis-ease as cited in the lists in our scripture. We are not defiled by the food we eat. We are defiled by the impurities that linger in our hearts. Food is eaten and passes through us quickly. Biases and prejudices, ignorance and isms, blame and revenge stagnate in our hearts. 

The real dilemma of these two scriptures this morning are the questions: What separates us from God? And how do we bridge that gap?

Where the texts intersect with our current events this week is painful. Our texts teach that we are to love our neighbor, that we are to have pure hearts. Instead, we have another instance of someone, in this case a 14 year old student in Georgia, take a military style rifle to school and assaulting his classmates and teachers, killing four, wounding nine, and traumatizing and re-traumatizing untold others. 

Are our hearts hardened to violence? Are school shootings an unfortunate “fact of life” (J.D. Vance quote - NYT) that we must live with? Or do we have the power and the moral imperative to do something to interrupt this pattern? 

What can we do? Do we throw our hands up in despair or fatigue or hopelessness. Or do we respond with love, with righteous anger, with mama bear ferocity to protect our kids?

We must examine our own hearts. 

We must re-think our values. 

I have been wondering, again, this week – Who or what are we protecting with our “right to bear arms” laws? 

The spirit of gun rights laws are for protection of the populace, yet the letter of the law is being interpreted in ways that put that same populace in harm’s way. 

What can we do differently? We must find a compromise between gun ownership rights and the rights of individuals to safely assemble at schools, houses of worship, movie theaters, bowling alleys, and shopping malls. 

What is in the hearts of people that procure weapons of war, weapons of mass destruction and seek to kill not in the name of peacekeeping but as an act of rage? 

What is in the hearts of people, law abiding citizens, caring individuals, that refuse to face this recurring tragedy but simply offer “thoughts and prayers” while giving a prayer of thanks that it did not happen in their town? Not in their town this time. Not yet.  

What is in our hearts now that is alienating us from God? Is it fear of change? Is it lack of compassion? What is it?

There is serious conflict between what we say that we value – human life – and what we do value – the right to bear increasingly powerful weapons that serve only to kill, and kill with impunity. 

The enfleshed: ministry that matters commentary that I read this week notes:

“It was terribly difficult for white Christian slave owners to acknowledge the wrong of enslavement in the American South in the nineteenth century. It was painfully difficult for the architects and defenders of apartheid in South Africa to truly listen to their victims in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990’s.”

Are gun ownership rights our current state sanctioned violence against our own citizenry? Why don’t we protect our young, our old, our innocent from this pernicious, preventable evil? 

Hypocrisy – is saying that this MUST STOP but doing nothing to stop it. 

This is not a red or blue issue, this is a human issue. There is compromise to be had. It is not an all or nothing equation. Those painting it as such are being disingenuous.  Those of us that believe that change is possible and necessary need to lead by example, need to lead with our hearts, and need to lead with our votes. 

I often mention the theologian Richard Rohr, who taught me many years ago that if something was true for Jesus it also is true for us. Each week we concentrate on only a few verses of one or two pages from our Bible. It is a great practice to read the entire book that one is contemplating to keep the lesson in context. When I listened to the Gospel of Mark this week one point stood out. From the very beginning, Jesus was performing healing miracles, and soon his disciples were healing those in need as well. Now more than ever we need to bring our healing powers to those hurting in this world. 

Our language, our laws, our actions should heal individuals and communities rather than fracture individuals and communities. 

I am guilty of inaction or at best, of not enough effective action. You may feel the same dis-ease. Let’s gather together and be the change that we want to see in the world. Our National Church leadership and our Maine Conference churches are already doing this work. Some of us have already done some of this work. We can continue the fight, add our voices to those others. Together we can create a better world, if we do not stop trying, if we do not lose hope, if we continue to manifest love in the world each and every day. 

Not Amen…

Rev. TJ Mack – September 8, 2024

Prayer in the wake of gun violence

(from the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice)

Lord, in our shock and confusion, we come before you.In our grief and despair in the midst of hate,in our sense of helplessness in the face of violence,we lean on you.

For the families of those who have been killed we pray.For the shooter—help us to pray, Lord.For the communities that have lost members—their anger, grief, fear—we pray.For faith communities striving to be your light in darkness beyond our comprehension, we pray.

In the face of hatred, may we claim love, Lord.May we love those far off and those near.May we love those who are strangers and those who are friends.May we love those who we agree with and understand,and even more so, Lord, those who we consider to be our enemies.

Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy.Heal our sin-sick souls.Make these wounds whole, Lord.

Amen