Honoring Him with Our Lips, Our Hearts, and Our Traditions

Pentecost 15

September 6, 2015

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Honoring Him with Our Lips, Our Hearts, and Our Traditions

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Brushing your teeth is good. Most families begin teaching their kids how to brush their teeth as soon as they have them. And usually this teaching involves traditions: where to keep the toothbrushes, how long to brush, and so on.

But as kids get older, they get smarter. Parents don't watch them brush as closely as they did when they were little, so they start to go through the motions. So a family has a music box in the bathroom so that the kids can brush while The Duck Song plays. When the parents hear the song on the box, they assume the kids are brushing. But then they do a check and discover that little Victor is just pretending to brush his teeth. He's waving around his brush in the air, but his teeth stay yucky. This will lead to a serious talk with Victor about keeping his teeth clean.

Keeping clean was a big deal for the people that Jesus walked around with. An important tradition was the washing of hands. They washed the backs of their hands to symbolize the washing away any impurity that their hands might have bumped into during the day. So when Jesus' friends didn't even try to pretend to wash their hands, Jesus' enemies said,

“Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” (Mark 7:5)

The problem wasn't the tradition itself, but turning it into the main thing as though this ritual hand-washing was like magic. Like with imaginary Victor and his dad, Jesus turned off the music and had a serious discussion with these accusers. They were only going through the motions. It wasn't that they sometimes daydreamed while performing the ritual hand-washing; it was that they thought the hand-washing made God like them. But this was as effective as using The Duck Song to actually clean little teeth.

Because He died to wash away our sin and make us clean and new, Jesus wants us to honor Him with all that we are: the words and songs that come from our lips, the desires and hopes and thoughts of our hearts, and the traditions and routines in our lives.

When you go to a dental cleaning, you'll dread it if you haven't done your routine teeth brushing at home every day. You know that the dentist will be judging your lip-service and be disappointed. Little Victor can fool his parents, but not the dentist.

King David wasn't going to the dentist when God inspired these words. But they were certainly words that were sung by David often in his palace.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. . . . Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:10, 2)

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." (Psalm 122:1)

The very best routine that makes us happy to go to church on Sunday is to enjoy God's Word every day. Let His promises wash over you and make you clean day after day. Create helpful traditions in your home that support daily time with Christ. Maybe you take time to meditate on the Gospel of St. Mark before you brush your teeth. Or perhaps your devotion on Genesis comes before bedtime. Or when you wake up, you read the Catechism. Like the best dentist ever, Jesus knows how we pray. He forgives us for our failure to pray, and this leads us to desire to pray to Him all the more!

There are many traditions about brushing teeth; there are many when it comes to God. Good traditions point out our good Savior.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!