The 22nd Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

The tie in between today’s readings: There is No Liberty Without God

Psalm 15:1-5, Deuteronomy 4: 1-8 , James 1: 17-27, Mark 7: 1-23

God Almighty rescued His people from Egyptian slavery and took them into the desert to form a Theocracy. Have you ever wondered what a Theocracy looks like? In today’s Old Testament reading, Deuteronomy 4: 1-8, the Lord is preparing His people to take possession of the Promised Land. They have a priesthood to worship Him. His laws will guide them. Prophets and Judges will maintain order and God, of course, is their king. If each person sticks with the framework, they will not only posses their inheritance promised by the Almighty, but they will live free in a society with a shared moral code as outlined in Psalm 15. He is setting up Israel to become a beacon to the world. Israel will be great because Israel will be good. They will be a holy people set apart to the glory of God, as long as they can avoid incidences like the one at Baal-peor.  

Baal-peor is the culmination of a very interesting story between a sorcerer named Balaam and Balak the Moabite king (Numbers 22-25). Essentially, a Moab/Midianite coalition would not be able to defeat the Israelite army in the field. Balaam suggested a plan to destroy Israel from within by corrupting the worship of Jehovah with Baal worship. The plan worked extremely well. Israel’s leaders got sucked into the trap and many of the people followed.  In a Theocracy, this is tantamount to high treason.  God slew 24,000 of His own people and declared war on Midian to finish them off for their treachery in the matter. Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord takes dramatic and decisive actions against idolatry and sin because it strikes at the heart of their shared moral code necessary for a free society. Without it, a nation descends into chaos and destruction as Israel eventually did. 

“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it” (Deut. 4:2a). In our gospel today (Mark 7:1-23) Jesus confronts the lip serving Pharisees.  They added to God’s word by forming their traditions, such as observing the Sabbath and ritual washings. The resulting veneer of holiness clouded the true aim of what God wanted. Their teachings about divorce and Corban used a lawyerly slight-of-hand to nullify the intent of scripture. Unlike the open rebellion of idolatry, theirs’s was a hidden contempt for the Almighty. God assures us that He is not mocked. Even today, we are no better as we replace sound doctrines of the Church with our uninformed opinions, jettison true worship for a “go through the motions” religion, and when God presents us with His deep eternal truths, we answer “meh”. The Lord hates this, not only for His own sake, but for ours also. As with ancient Israel, our culture has cultivated fertile soil for sin to undermine our shared moral code. Our practical idolatry with worldly things and lack of concern with Biblical teachings has brought us to the point where we are asking the question: “Is there anything wrong with anything?” We need to take a good look at ourselves.

Isaiah 5:20-24 New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and clever in their own sight.

²² Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
    and champions at mixing drinks,
²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    but deny justice to the innocent.
²⁴ Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
    and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

A free society starts with the individual. In James 1: 17-27, today’s epistle, he compares the word of God to a mirror. Lip service people give a casual glance into God’s looking glass, disregard their unflattering reflection, and turn away unchanged. Preferring sin, morality breaks down. Bedlam ensues. Eventually, society gives up freedom for order and security from a strong centralized government, which in turn, will threaten all established rights or worse. We need to be the people who intently look at God’s word and conform to it. James calls it the perfect law of liberty.

So, now we come full circle. God’s implanted word in our lives will transform us into the Psalm 15 kind of people, who love the Lord and neighbor. Believers come together to form the Church, which fosters a culturally shared moral code. This will, in effect, cause us to be salt and light to our nation and the world, just as Jesus said. We act morally as a law unto ourselves and keep society together without the need of a police state. We can be free because we are good. This is not the current situation in our country. We have lost our common moral code. But it’s not too late. The Lord has given a way back:

2 Chronicles 7:14 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴  if My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36). Take the words and sacrifice of Christ seriously. Confess, repent, and be forgiven. Place your life under the authority of the Most High and be free indeed…while you still can.