The True Measure of Religiosity

The gospel lesson for this week in the Revised Common Lectionary is Matthew 15.10-20. The key verse, in my opinion is Matthew 15.11. Jesus, speaking in critique of the Pharisees, says that "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."

To understand Jesus' statement, one must first understand purity laws and regulations. In ancient Judaism, many practicing Jews measured their religiosity; their holiness by their adherence to purity laws. There were a huge number of rules that had to be followed concerning food and drink--what foods you could eat on what particular times, the manner of preparation of the food, and in particular, the cleansing of the food and the person prior to the ingestion of food and drink. The regulations on these issues were so complicated that there had to be a priestly class of individuals to comprehend and communicate them.

Jesus' response to these practices was simple and straightforward: the whole point of this system of ritual was so that practicing Jews could remember what was most important; love of God and love of neighbor, to live a holy life, and to be just in personal and collective relationships. The rituals themselves did not make someone holy.

Jesus was not telling the practicing Jews of his day anything that they did not know already. The Pharisees knew it too. In fact, Matthew 15.11 is in some ways a statement of one of the Pharisees' most common preaching motifs. But somehow in practicing their religion, for both the Pharisees and their listeners, the regulations became more important than the practices that they were meant to inspire. The regulations became an end in themselves.

There is a similar problem among practicing Christians today. Christians today have rituals and practices, just like ancient Israel. Christians, for example, attend worship services on Sunday morning. Sometimes holiness is measured today by the rate of participation in Church. Our holiness is measured by how often we are in worship, how much money we give, and whether we teach Sunday School.

Now everyone from our Bishop on down knows that this, standing alone, is not what makes a person holy. We already know that. Showing up at Church is a means to an end, just like the Jewish purity laws and regulations were a means to an end.

We need to be reminded about what our faith is really all about, just like ancient Israel. To analogize from Matthew 15.11, what matters is not what we do inside the walls of the Church, but what we do outside. What matters is love of God and love of neighbor. What matters is being ambassadors for Christ in our communities.