Sunday Homily - August 15, 2021 - Inside and Outside

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10

James 1:17-27

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

I.

I want to tell you a story

 about a very talented man.

The man was a towering 6'6" tall,

 260 lbs.,

  and could throw a football, no joking,

   70 yards kneeling on one knee.

A supreme natural talent,

 he played at the Louisiana State University,

  the LSU Tigers.

   He won the Manning Award,

    the award presented to the nation's best quarterback,

     and was a part of the LSU team that won the Sugar Bowl that same year.

Scouts from ESPN raved about him

 as being on of the most sure-fire picks

  that any NFL team could make in the NFL draft,

   where college players are selected by NFL teams.

He had every physical talent you could ever wish for.

 A true video game player at quarterback.

And with the 1st overall selection of the draft that year,

 the Oakland Raiders took him.

And that's where the story starts going strange places.

This immensely talented quarterback

 holds out of training camp for rookies

  because of a contract dispute over money.

   It gets resolved by him signing a 60+ million dollar deal,

    which at the time,

     was one of the richest rookie contracts ever.

But it gets even stranger.

 Stories start circulating about how this talented man

  is not putting in the work required to be a successful NFL quarterback,

   including this shocking story:

his coaches send him home with some game tapes

 to evaluate and take a look at to prep for an upcoming opponent.

  When he arrives, the coaches ask him which play was his favorite

   and what he thought about the game play he watched.

    He gave them a pretty standard answer 

     and talked about Cover 2 defense that he watched.

      Except, to the coaches alarm,

       the tapes given to that immensely talented player

        were blank.

         And the coaches quickly realized

          they had a man who would lie to their face about game preparation

           and not do the work.

This immensely talented quarterback

 lasted only 3 seasons in the NFL. 

And it was well-known even from the beginning of his career

 that in spite of the God-given talent

  the incredible outward gifts

   could never overcome the inward lack of discipline.

Even though this dude had everything you could ever want on the outside,

 what was inside was what doomed his career in football.

Even though the outside looked perfect,

 the inside was his downfall. 

And while this is of course only a story of his NFL career,

 it should be noted that he is still a football coach in his home state of Alabama.

  And that hopefully he has a wonderful career in that aspect.

But it cannot erase a truly disappointing layer of his life,

 one that I guarantee you he wished he had back.

But it goes to show that the outward appearance

 doesn't indicate what is truly on the inside.

II.

Which leads us to Jesus's words this morning.

Now, I do want to say something before moving on:

PLEASE keep washing your hands. 

 Because Jesus isn't talking about basic hygiene

  in his challenge to the Pharisees and scribes.

Instead, the "washing" in question is actually a reference

 to ceremonial washing.

And this is made clearer by the context of Jesus's own words.

First, notice that the Scribes and Pharisees are speaking to Jesus and his disciples

 in the context of a shared meal.

  And the washing that would happen in the ceremonial fashion

   would be happening immediately prior to the meal

    and in the sight of everyone.

     It isn't like the disciples are coming to eat with obviously dirty hands,

      rather it is the outward show of cleanliness that Jesus is criticizing.

This is made more clear by Jesus's use of ceremonial defilement.

 He says, "It is not what is on the outside that defiles a person"

  again, which is pointing towards something far more spiritual

   than hygienic or physical.

Rather, Jesus is getting after the unbalanced nature

 of when someone's inside doesn't match one's outside.

If you are clean and polished on the outside,

 what good is that if inside is still broken and marred by sin?

Likewise, the letter of St. James this morning

 emphasizes this point in a similar way.

"Do not just be hearers of the Word, but doers..."

 In other words, if we really are sanctified by Christ on the inside,

  the our outside should be in parallel with that reality.

   If we just say pious things or only say that we intend to serve others,

    and yet do not practice what we say,

     what good is that?

But rather, friends, we are called to live in such a way

 that both our outside and inside reflect the same holy salvation

  that our Lord Jesus demands of all of us.

We are to live in such a way

 that our inward life in Christ

  is seen in our outward self.

We are not called to only an outward show

 but rather to a change of heart,

  which will result in genuine expression of our faith in Jesus.

III.

So, how do we begin to live in the way

 that Jesus calls us to live?

Well, I would like to give you two practical ways

 that you can start making this shift in your life.

And it is these two things:

 Prayer and Work.

Now, y'all who know St. Benedict and Benedictine spirituality in the Church

 probably know where I'm going with this one.

Prayer:

 if we say that we love God,

  then we should be fostering our relationship with God

   through daily prayer.

Find ways to say your daily prayers.

 And hey, if you need a place to come start that practice,

  join me right here on Tuesday-Friday for Morning Prayer at 8:30 A.M.!

   Let's listen to God together

    and love God with all our heart.

And second, Work:

 there is a little red box at our Education Building next door

  called the Little Free Pantry.

   This is a genuine place that feeds those who are poor and less fortunate than us.

     Give to the poor who need it,

      do it without letting anyone know.

       Do it to practice following Jesus in serving the least in our community.

In both of these practices,

 practice what the Christian Tradition calls the reciprocal principle

  of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi:

   "As we pray, so we worship; as we worship, so we pray."

And it is all so that our inside matches our outside:

 that our inward life given only through Christ

  shows truly in our outward actions of service.

That the world may know who we love and serve.

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