Scripture: Luke 11:37-40
While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to share a meal with him, so Jesus went and took his place at the table. When the Pharisee saw that Jesus didn’t ritually purify his hands by washing before the meal, he was astonished. The Lord said to him, “Now, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your insides are stuffed with greed and wickedness. Foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside?
Thought for the Day: Time has past since Jesus was at the home of a Pharisee, but here in chapter 11, another invitation is made. Much of the tension between Jesus and some of the religious leaders of the day was in regard to ritual. This once again raises the question: Why ritual? Every religion and every movement within each religion goes through times when their unique brand of ritual no longer serves its original purpose. Whether it is baptism, communion, confession, marriage or any other faith-based ritual, we too often allow a fresh new way of expressing the ritual to become, over time, a rule. What starts out as a beautiful new entry point into the grace of God is chiseled into stone and quickly loses its beauty. I don’t believe Jesus was opposed to washing his hands before the meal. There was wonderful symbolism in the act. Yet that symbolism had been forgotten as certain religious folks made the ritual into a rule where, as gatekeepers, they could determine whether or not your hand washing was correct. Christianity has killed over the proper way of doing communion, yet I believe the only proper way of doing communion is not worrying about whether your doing it properly. Instead, you believe that somehow through remembrance, breaking bread, and sharing in a common cup, God can be experienced. If you don’t have a cup, that’s ok! If you don’t have a table, no worries! If you just try to retell all the different meals Jesus shared with others, and remember the love he shared around those meals, I think that could be communion. Sadly, there is something within human nature that wishes to control, not for the sake of opening doors for people to experience God, but to limit who can go through the door. And if you remember Jesus, it seems like it was only those who were playing gatekeeper who were told to go to the end of the line…but funny how they were still invited, but behind the leper, prostitute and the tax collector.
Prayer: Let me enjoy your grace, O Lord, and not seek to control it. Let it flow into me and from me as only a gift can. Amen.
THIS SUNDAY
