7 February 2017 - apex worshiper

 [ Today's Readings ]

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"
This seems so well meaning it is almost hard to disagree at first. The elders have these traditions because, originally, of a desire to be pure before God. It is almost as if they asked the disciples of Jesus why they don't say grace before meals. But now, even if the original intent was good, the question has become an occasion of comparison and judgment rather than something done for God. Mere externalities can't make up for hearts that are far from God.

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

It is easy to run to the externals when we see our hearts full of greed and selfishness.

Yet you say,
'If someone says to father or mother,
"Any support you might have had from me is qorban"'
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

These more fundamental things must be given priority. We see that family is central to the hiearchy of creation.

God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it."

Man is the pinnacle of creation. His role is to steward it and return it as an offering to God. Relationship is at the very peak of the hierarchy. Love defines relationship rightly lived. Anything that detracts from this should be shunned. Anything that promotes it should be encouraged.

Work is important. The desire for purity is important. But these must be lived in reference to how they impact our relationship with God and one another. God gives us the Sabbath to help us understand how our relationship with him takes precedence over any actions we take on our part.

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.

God has truly made us little less than the angels. In giving us rule over the work of his hands he entrusts us with unimaginable riches. Yet to truly steward them rightly we must keep our eyes fixed on God himself.

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!