O Lord who may abide in your tents? Who may dwell on your holy hill?

What’s our policy on who is welcome here? Well, I hope I speak for us all when I say that ours is an ‘open door’ policy. The people that meet and greet you at the door are there to welcome you in, not to filter out anyone that they think is not suitably dressed or might not know how to behave during our service, or even might be disapproved of for the way they live their lives or for something they have done or not done.

On only one occasion was I present at a Church service where I was aware I was actively unwelcome. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. I was working as a locum in a remote part of Scotland. I won’t say exactly where. I knew that in the very small community where I was working that there were two faith groups: the Church of Scotland members and an independent Christian Fellowship that met in the evening on a Sunday. I was fairly sure that probably I wouldn’t think exactly along the same lines as the people who attended the Christian Fellowship but, as far as I was concerned, they were still Christians and I decided I might enjoy going to a service that I hadn’t had to prepare. I dressed smartly and hurried along. I met various people I knew quite well on the road, they said ‘hello’ as I passed them but when they realised I was going into the hall along with them I was roundly snubbed. Throughout the service I was conscious that the preacher was addressing many of his comments on ‘sinners’ to me and at the end of the service, although folks turned and spoke to their neighbours, I was completely ignored. I felt terribly conspicuous and, when tea started to be served and no one invited me to stay, I left and spent a rather miserable evening staring at the fire and wondering how I was to face these same people the next day.

The next morning when I went to the shop I met a couple from the night before. They greeted me like a long-lost friend and studiously avoided any mention of the previous evening’s service. It was as if it had never happened. I was very confused and spoke to the shopkeeper who was a member of my own church. When I started to tell her the story suggesting that perhaps it was the fact that I wasn’t wearing a hat that had so disturbed the congregation, she agreed that that was probably the case. She added however that, although those who attended the Gospel Hall were all ‘very nice people,’ as far as they were concerned they were the only ones going to heaven and the rest of us were damned!

I was absolutely furious.

It seemed to me to be the epitome of arrogance and utterly two-faced to live in complete harmony with your neighbours as if you loved and cared for them every day of the week while being quite comfortable about criticising them in the strongest possible terms each Sunday evening.

Our readings today talk about the law. In Deuteronomy the Lord God tells the people as they advance towards the land that they are to occupy on the other side of the Jordan how they must conduct themselves when they get there. They must not forget who they are, whose they are. They must remember God’s laws so as not to bring his name into disrepute. Further, they’re charged with teaching these laws to their children so that they too will remember where they came from and not be contaminated by those who worshipped other Gods. It’s quite a feat to plough through all the laws and rules in the Old Testament but these rules were laid down to keep the people safe. To keep them together and on the right track when they mixed with other races, many of which were worshippers of pagan Gods.

In the days when Jesus was here on earth all young Jewish boys would learn the full story and would begin to learn all about how to appear to be Jewish, how to advertise their faith and their lineage to the outside world, a world that could only contaminate them. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were there as guardians of the law to guide and to interpret. It was their life’s work to know and study all that there was to know about the Law of Moses and how to keep it. The problem was, that over the many centuries since the Exodus from Egypt, the protecting spirit of the Law of Moses had got lost and it was the letter of the law that dictated how people should live. The Law had become their God. They served the Law instead of it serving them.

The rules that we live by in our modern day society are there to protect us and to allow us all to live safely in harmony with each other. Do not kill or steal or harm. People have not changed and so the spirit of the Law of Moses is alive and well.

The letter of the law has, however, changed.

Why?

Well, because we live in a different world today, just as the people of Jesus’ time lived in a different world to that of their ancestors as they struggled to find a place to settle after they had won their freedom from slavery in Egypt. Jesus tried to make them think, he tested their laws against the overarching principle of love. The externals versus the internals. He asked them to examine their motives rather than carp and pick on every little misdemeanour.

An encounter with Jesus is something that tests us all. We think we know what we think about this or that. We think we have things sussed out. We think we know how to judge what is important in life and then we meet with Jesus Christ and find out we were wrong!

And that’s what is happening here in our reading from Mark. Everything that Jesus did tested the law that the Jews tried (and mostly failed) to live by. Jesus was a complete menace to the Jewish authorities. It may be that the Romans thought that he was a harmless crank, but the Jews knew how dangerous he was. He was challenging everything that they stood for, everything that gave them status and power. In their hearts maybe they already knew they had been wrong. Some of them were secretly followers of Jesus (remember Joseph of Arimithea who provided a grave for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion). But how to give up your job, your position in society, your wealth, everything that you had built up? How to admit you had been wrong for almost all of your life? Not an easy thing to do. I often wonder what I would be prepared to do in defence of my faith. How would I measure up if I had to admit I had been wrong and leave all to follow him? There are times when my sympathy is definitely with the Scribes and Pharisees!

If you’ve been watching the Paralympics you will have seen that there is certainly no relaxation of the rules of sport when it comes to dealing with people who have disabilities. Even when there are differences of opinion over one thing or another, like the speed cyclist who had a decision go against him and disallowed him a fresh start when it really did look like it was the cycle release that was at fault, it seems like the rules must be adhered to and the decision of the judges is final. It doesn’t always seem fair, but human beings make mistakes on both sides and so sometimes it won’t be fair and we may judge wrongly. Not so with God, but we do not have God’s mind; we do however have the example of Jesus Christ who was constantly pushing the boundaries of the day.

One doctor who was interviewed about the Paralympians admitted that these amazing people were also pushing the boundaries of what was believed possible, changing our minds about the rules and norms of our society. Jesus and his disciples were doing lots of amazing things but they were thumbing their noses at the norms of their day. They were ignoring the many rules about ritual washing of hands and dishes, they were healing on the Sabbath, they were working on the Sabbath, they were eating things that were forbidden. Jesus never missed an opportunity for teaching, just as we tend to do with our children! I see it in the school all the time when something goes wrong. If a child gets into trouble or causes an accident by bending the rules, it often comes up at the next assembly time. An example is made (not of the poor child I hasten to add) but of the situation. An example is made out of love and concern. Our schools take very seriously the fact that they are responsible for the care of our children. They want them to be safe and to feel secure and protected so that they can learn in a happy environment.

So what am I saying?

We need rules. We need laws. We want society to be safe. In sporting terms, we need rules to help us offer a level playing field for the competitors. Sometimes in society and in sport we make a wrong decision because we are human and it doesn’t always seem fair, because we are human.

We sometimes get it wrong.

But in terms of our faith, Jesus is telling us in this incident from the Gospel of Mark that we need to examine our motives for the things that we adhere to. We will not be judged by our actions, but by our motives. What is in our heart when we decide what is important and what is not?

Do our rules and norms here in this church serve the rule of love? What is in our hearts when we criticise those around us? What do we say about people we disapprove of? Are we fond of gossip? Do we just love it when ‘people get their comeuppance? I used to have a friend who couldn’t wait to tell me about someone else’s misfortune and the story always began with these words. ‘I don’t like to gloat but…..’

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us God of our lives
When our hearts are cold and indifferent
Forgive us when we appear to be kind and loving
When we are really self-seeking
Forgive us when our minds are closed to new possibilities
When we are convinced we are right and refuse to listen to your challenging voice
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world
Have mercy on us
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world
Have mercy on us
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world
Give us your peace.
Amen.

And until we have the law inscribed on our hearts we must needs pray along with the writer of the hymn.
“Come down O Love Divine,
Seek thou this soul of mine and visit it with thine own ardour glowing..”