January 28, 2024: Love First

Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28                     

Rules, Rules, Rules: Do you ever consider how many different rules guide our lives? We have bylaws in church and in all of our organizations and corporations. We have Board Policies and Procedures, Employee Manuals, building permits, civil laws and criminal laws at the state and federal level. We also have the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the International Declaration of Human Rights and so many more. Those of us who are religious have the Torah for Judaism, the Bible for Christianity, the Quran for Muslims, the Vedas for Hindus, the Tripitika for Buddhists, etc. 

When we are unsure about the application of these rules, laws and rights or when they have been violated, we often have courts to weigh in on restitution and punishment. 

It would be really easy to be lost in and overwhelmed by all of the rules of life. Which rule do I follow in which place? Are there exceptions? What if a rule favors some, excludes some, or worse, hurts the innocent?

In our Corinthians scripture today, Paul gives us a bit of advice about some of the rules and in our Mark scripture Jesus exemplifies it. 

Now Paul is speaking about food rules, specifically eating food sacrificed to idols, but really he is speaking about being Christian role models. 

People had been practicing the sacrifice of foods to the gods since ancient times. In ancient Greece the first of the wine was poured out for the gods and the first meat of a feast was dedicated to the gods but then the rest was eaten. Thus people would eat the meat that had been sacrificed to the gods or idols as Paul refers to them here. By the time some people began to follow a singular God, a rule was made that you cannot sacrifice to multiple gods or idols representing them and you cannot eat the food sacrificed to them because it was unclean. 

The Jewish people had many food rules telling them what was clean and unclean to eat as described in Leviticus 11. In some cases, the restricted animals carried diseases, so God was helping God’s people to be healthy, but later, Jesus came to clarify the rules that were no longer needed. 

In Matthew 15:10-11 it says: After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

In other words, it is not what we eat, but what we say and for that matter do, that can make us unclean. 

Paul builds on this in 1 Corinthians when he reinforces what Jesus said - it is not the food that is unclean, but that there are those whose faith in Jesus is new, not yet as strong, who might not recall what Jesus said about food. If those Christians saw other Christians eating in one of the food courts of the time, attached to a temple to a different god, this could harm their belief in Christ. This, Paul points out, is a problem, because it could lead people away from Jesus rather than to him. Therefore, they and we, need to consider not only what we say and do but how others could perceive us. We are Christ’s representatives in all that we do and our actions should represent Christ’s love for all people all the time. Even when we know we are following the “rules”, we need to consider how others might perceive our actions or even if the rules are just. Do they point to Christ or away? Are we speaking and acting in a way that Jesus would?

Our Mark scripture today comes directly after last week’s scripture where Jesus has called Simon and Andrew, James and John to leave their roles as fishermen and follow him. They travel to Capernaum on the northwest coast, enter the Synagogue on the Sabbath and Jesus teaches. The scripture says that “they were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The “they” here refers to the newly recruited disciples but likely also to the other folks at the Synagogue to worship on the sabbath. “They” were astounded both at the authority - likely shown through Jesus’ knowledge and confidence - of this newcomer but also at how differently he taught from the scribes. Now scribes were religious leaders whose literacy and training in Jewish law gave them elite status. Might the idea of gaining “elite” status be what Paul was referring to when he said, “knowledge puffs up”? Full of the knowledge of the law and the power that gave them, could that have led them to love the power more than the people? Could that have made them forget to love God too so that God no longer knew them? Paul reminds us that “anyone who loves God is known by God”?

We don’t know what Jesus taught that day that was so different from either the subject or the style or both from the scribes. But I can imagine that the scribes may have focused on all the rules, the laws that the people must follow while Jesus focused on the people and what they needed to guide them and care for them. Jesus immediately demonstrates this when a man with an “unclean spirit”, what we might consider a mental illness of some sort, cries out “What have you come to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are the holy one of God.” Jesus responds with love for the man who was stricken with this “unclean spirit” or illness by healing him. “Be silent and come out of him” Jesus commands and the man is healed. Note that this “unclean spirit” saw who Jesus really was and understood that the illness would be destroyed by Jesus. 

As we hear in other scriptures, Jesus was breaking the rules in healing on the Sabbath. He was not following the law, instead he was leading with love, doing what was right, what was needed, even though it went against the rules. This is the example we are to follow. 

The law in the segregated South said that black people could not eat in the same places as white people, could not stay in the same places, could not travel in the front of busses etc. but those were unjust laws and people crossed those lines to fight for justice, equality, and positive change, just as Jesus did.

If people had just followed the rules in our country, we could still have slavery or  segregation and women would not be able to vote. Instead, eventually, some people realized that the rules were wrong. That, that “knowledge” was not right. The knowledge of those rules puffed up some while hurting others. But love, as Jesus shows us, builds people up- all people. Love breaks down barriers rather than building them between people. 

God wants us to follow Jesus’ model to lead with love all the time. This is not just for Sunday mornings or for the people who are like us or whom we like but for all people: even people who are different from us, even people whom we disagree with, even our enemies. It means leading with kindness and positive words, not negative ones: words that build up, rather than puffing up. Being a Christian means we have to strive to follow Christ’s model of inclusive love all the time, think of others and their needs in addition to our own all the time even when it sometimes means breaking rules. 

What might following Jesus Christ’s model of loving first look like in our lives?

It could come in the form of a smile you give to the disheveled person you see on the street rather than looking away. 
It could come in the form of not responding to a negative comment or joining in a negative conversation about some person or group of people. 
It could come in the form of volunteer work at a soup kitchen, thrift shop, hospital, or classroom. 
It could come in the form of a check written to help some group in need somewhere in the world.
It could come in the form of a door held open or a hand offered to someone who has fallen.
It could come in the form of a pause in judgment of someone who lives differently from you.
It could come in the form of an invitation to dinner or church.
It could come in the form of calling someone in who has made a prejudiced remark, maybe even unknowingly.
It could come in the form of celebrating differences rather than avoiding them. 
It could come in the form of forgiving someone who has hurt you.
It could come in the form of knowing that we are never done learning.

And when others see people doing these things, even and especially when they are difficult, maybe they will consider following that model of putting inclusive love first.

Amen.

Pastor Michelle Fountain​

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