The Old South Church in Boston

The Old South Church in Boston

"The Company You Keep"

Sermon by Lael P. Murphy

February 27, 2000

Mark 2: 13 - 27; 23 - 28*

It was Jonathan Swift, the English poet and satirist, who once wrote, "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." Finding ourselves in a climate of cultural and political finger-pointing as we do these very weeks, it's no doubt that religious convictions seem to provide more fuel for dividing people than bringing them together. As campaign rallies continue to turn creeds into one-sided stances, candidates trying to win voters by rolling over each other's "faithful" proclamations, it really can seem as if there's only enough religion to bring division instead of integration. The "us-against-them" mentality so quickly takes shape, care and compassion are tossed to the side.

In some ways we see a similar situation unfolding in our Scripture reading this morning. There is Jesus, after all, pitted once more against Jewish authorities. A heated debate quickly takes form, centering around the company and practices of this radical prophet. "Who does Jesus think he is?" we can hear those scribes demanding. "A traditional Jew, eating with Gentiles and then allowing his disciples to break the law on the sabbath. What kind of ministry is this?"

From an opposite perspective, our own Christian understanding of reconciliation and renewal can cause another kind of self-righteousness knee-jerk reaction to form. "God's love is for everyone!" our spiritual sensibilities may be shouting. "Stop shutting people out with your old, dead rules! Don't you understand the love Jesus is trying to offer this world?!"

Judgments. They flare up so quickly. They divide so cleanly. Like the cutting sharp knife it only takes a second to severe humanity, making it "us" and "them." They're on that side -- the wrong one. Come to our side -- we're right.

Looking at the verses before us today I believe we're challenged to find a little more compassion in our hearts -- for those on the other side as well as for those on the outside that Jesus is seeking to bring into the fold. Appreciating the long history of what's being broken by the actions in our story today we can better reflect on the magnitude of Christ's actions. Just what was he doing? Why was it causing such division?

Keeping company with non-Jews. Breaking the laws of the sabbath. Sometimes I think we don't take the time to truly value the richness of Hebrew ways, the depth and meaning of Jewish practices. In readings like this one it's so very easy to demonize the authorities who question Jesus. For me, I know, it's always tempting to simply make them the bad guys, the evil ones who so foolishly follow their old traditions. Using texts from our Bible -- the New Testament, not the "old" -- we find so much fodder for this fire. From statements in some of Paul's letters to Christ's own words, we can be pitted against our heritage. But how does this just help to make more outsiders in this world? Why, when we so deeply believe Jesus came to bring God's offer of love and reconciliation, can we find it tempting to use his teachings to put others in the wrong?

Considering the many ways the people of this world find God's healing touch and purpose for their lives we can appreciate how the Orthodox Jews found much to contend with in Christ's behavior. Jesus was a Hebrew man, after all, one who openly chose not to follow the holy laws of their shared tradition -- in the name of God nonetheless. By sitting with non-Jews, eating foods that were not properly prepared, Jesus was brazenly breaking away from his tradition's road to salvation, offending not only his people, but their God. So what if he was bringing good news of inclusion and forgiveness? Who cared if his prophecy was revolutionary and reconciling? This man, this so called "Christ," was a heretic and troublemaker. That's what the nameless, faceless authorities in our reading today were trying to convey.

It is in such a spirit of explanation that Lionel Blue wrote a book titled To Heaven, with Scribes and Pharisees. In it he states, "To the outsider the attention which Judaism lavishes on food is excessive. But insiders know that the question of food involves, however clumsily, the meaning of ritual, the relevance of purity, and the survival of holiness. These details seem so small, almost trivial, but Judaism is a religion of detail." This is the truth we must remember behind the accusations falling at Jesus' feet this morning.

I imagine we've all heard the expression, You are judged by the company you keep. Whether these words were applied to our own actions or to the choices someone else was making, the phrase reminds us in a startling way that for many in society the company we keep is a key indicator of our standing in life, our position and priorities. Jesus choosing to keep the company of Gentiles rather than Jews was a radical stance, one that for some people caused an irreparable separation. Breaking with tradition, his actions ruined his credibility. The choices he made went against the grain of Jewish ritual, purity and holiness. It didn't matter that he did so in order to usher in a new time, a new way to God.

For the author of Mark it did matter. This early gospel was the first to proclaim the truth of Christ's radical ministry of reconciliation -- an ethic of care and compassion. Looking closely at this chapter that was written nearly twenty years before the materials in Matthew and Luke, thirty before John, we can see how this author strikes out with bold determination. Within the first sixty-three verses of this gospel Mark describes Jesus exorcising a foul spirit, healing an entire city, calling fishermen and tax collectors to be his disciples, pardoning sins and explaining his ministry. This author chooses not to go through the pastoral account of the birth story or the historical analysis of Jesus' lineage back to David or Adam. Instead -- at the start -- he gets right to the heart of Christ's life and ministry. "This is great prophet," Mark's saying. "Here's our Messiah. It's a new day, with a new tradition to worship God."

For this reason the passage here offered a double teaching. First, obviously, it was a declaration that Jesus was breaking with his heritage to bring God's mission and mercy to those outside the fold. Then, and perhaps even more importantly, it served as a warning to the early members of Mark's Christian community. Here was a group whose majority was that of converted Jews. Dissension was taking root, as some leaders believed that all Jewish practices had to be maintained as they followed this new path to salvation. That meant newcomers -- in other words, the Gentiles and pagans -- had to become Jewish before they could join them at table and worship. It was a double conversion process, you see. First to the Hebrew ways, then to those of Christ. The author of Mark, like Paul and many others, were quick to say, "No way!" Instead they taught that Jesus came to bring a new order, one that accepted people as they are, where they are. Circumcision, the laws of the sabbath, the rituals of temple worship didn't need to be a mandatory requirement for everyone. In this passage Mark was working to teach that it was okay that the disciples of Christ were a diverse clan. The only thing that mattered was that they were faithful, devoted servants of the Christian way.

"Judged by the company you keep." Within the theology of Christian renewal and integration we can see that our actions often do speak louder than words, that who we reach out to and how we treat them is one of the most significant ways we practice our faith. No, food restrictions and sabbath rituals are not a significant part of our tradition. But loving our neighbor, offering care to the poor and comfort to the forgotten, is. As Christ's words remind us this day, we are called into action, challenged to bring justice and mercy to the broken of this world. Who needs a physician? Do the healthy? The whole? No, it is the hopeless, the feeble and afraid who are in dire need of healing and care.

Theologian John Bennett states, "The distinctive element in Christian ethics is the primacy of love, the self-giving love that is known fully to Christian faith in the cross of Christ." Mark's passage this morning is a powerful reminder of this truth. The central ethic of our faith is one of inclusion, of the all-embracing love of God, offered to the world each and every day. Like the focus of Harold Kushner's book, "Who Needs God?" we remember that we all do, as men and women hungry for hope, purpose and community. Knowing our own paths of searching we remember those struggling outside these sanctuary walls: the addict who wakes up aching for a fix, the child who's home was washed away by flooding waters, the woman -- or the man -- beaten and bruised by a violent partner. Through the good news brought to us through Christ we know that it's the abused and forgotten who are the focus of our faith. In these verses and in so many others like them Jesus says, "take my love to the corners of the earth. Give it to everyone! Let no one go unreminded, untouched."

This ethic of inclusion is what we see at work throughout Mark's gospel. Bringing together the old with the new we witness Jesus laying the foundation for a faith that is well expressed by William Barclay in his treatise, Ethics in a Permissive Society. He writes, "People are always more important than things; men are always more important than money; workers are always more important than machines." With words like these we remember that the Christian way is one of compassion, forgiveness and the merciful extension of care and concern. That is the simple challenge -- the foundational law-- of our faith tradition. We give glory to God through our love for one another, strangers and friends alike.

Rowland Watkyns, a man in the seventeenth century, once offered the whimsical adage,

Bad company is a disease;
Who lies with dogs, shall rise with fleas.

In the context of today's reflection we can remember that bad company rests not so much with a particular type of person but rather in a certain state of mind. Rigid judgments, cruel intentions, self-righteous and bigoted certainties are what make religion a vehicle of hate rather than compassion. That's what we see both Jesus and our gospel writer striking out against today. For just as every age is filled with finger-pointing claims and counter-claims it is also offered the unending mercy of God, that as we accept the care and forgiveness of our Creator so we are asked to share that love with others. The company we keep, in many ways, is so reflective of the salvation we seek. And so we reach another moment in time, right along with those Jews and Gentiles of our biblical story, where the choice is ours. May we choose to keep God's company, living then, in harmony and care with all the world.

Let us pray.

Gracious God, you invite us to you realm with such benevolent care. You extend your mercy and trust in so many gentle ways. Help us to accept it, that through Christ we may come to know your love and that through Christ we may then share it with others.

Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Mark 2: 13 - 27; 23 - 28

Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples -- for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

One sabbath he was going through the grain fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathaar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions." Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."