29th August 2021 Pentecost 14 (Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost) Hearing and Doing God’s Word
(Scripture Reading: James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1- 8)
By Heeyoung Lim
We are on a journey of faith and mission together walking with Jesus. In today’s world, especially COVID situation, we are often isolated and under lockdown. Jesus is leading us into new ways of being church through God’s Word. I hope we can show the gospel in practical ways, and I pray our church will be more caring, welcoming, loving, and spiritually alive congregation even in this difficult new environment.
James encourages us to take a leap of faith in trusting God to lead us to endure trials and to overcome temptations. He began by addressing them as “my beloved brothers”, and then challenged them to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. This is hard work, especially for those who are quick to judge and impatient with others. A person with perseverance holds up under pressure and looks at God in all circumstances. James is keenly aware of the power of human speech both to build up and to destroy and concerned about anger which is an emotion that can be destructive.
The commands refer both to our relationships to one another and to God. We cannot hear God if we remain distracted with resentment or hatred. Today’s text warns against pretending instead of listening, deceiving instead of obeying, and talking instead of serving. (James 1:17-27) The command to be quick to listen requires for an eagerness to hear and obey God’s Word. (19) God wants His people to triumph over their trials and to live in obedience to his commandments. May we obey God’s Word whenever we hear it and separate ourselves from sin.
We try to obey God’s word, but there would be gap between what we say and what we do in our lives and differences between our faith and actions in our faith journey. Today’s passage invites us to encounter faithful action and persistence. May we continue our faith journey in God’s reign by thinking of the connections between hearing God’s word and doing it. Our relationship with God is the context for faithful living and the set for genuine responses. It is the reason for speaking and acting. The Letter of James expresses the belief that God is the giver of all and all good has its source in our God. “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (17) Our loving relationship with God is based on God’s deep and unchanging love for us.
The letter of James invites us to reflect on following God’s word and receive the implanted word which may refer to the good news about Jesus. (21) It tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (22) It challenges us to do more than listen to God’s word and invites us to believe that God loves us unconditionally and eternally. Our acts of love and generosity reflect our faith that every gift comes from God.
The gospel can be described as a living seed rooted into the human heart at regeneration. Although the gospel powerfully influences in the human heart, it grows by obeying it and renewing their commitment to the Lord. The gospel has power because it actively provides a chance to transform individuals into committed disciples of Jesus.
In Mark chapter 7, Mark points out that the gospel is a matter of the heart and highlights the emptiness of religious performance. The religious leaders discovered that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating. They were upset because Jesus’ disciples were not following the “rules” for ceremonial washings that added to the law and handed down from generation to generation. (3) They were asking Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to traditions of elders?” (5) Jesus gave them the answer by quoting from Isaiah 29:13. He called the religious leaders hypocrites and said, “This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” (6, 8) He continued to tell them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.” Jesus responded by differentiating between the commandment of God and the tradition of the elders.
The observance of religious rites does not produce “righteousness” in a person. Doing religious activities on the outside does not mean being Christian on the inside. Jesus teaches that our relationship to God is not based on religious formality but sincere faith in Him. Jesus made it clear there was a big difference between human traditions and God’s commands. True worship must come from the heart. They were concerned about surface piety and purity, while Jesus was concerned about internal purity. Jesus teaches that the purity of a person is not determined by external actions but an internal heart attitude. He invites us to live out gospel from our heart.
The power of God not only sustains us but also strengthens us to overcome barriers in our life. In today’s text, we see Jesus, the sacrificial servant, setting people free through the gospel’s power. Every barrier can be overcome by the gospel’s power and Jesus transcends all barriers such as racial difference, or religious traditionalism. He has come to set us free.
Religious acts do not produce personal holiness. Our faith is pleasing to God and seeks His grace. Religious legalism can lead us away from God. We can ask the Lord to make our worship of Him meaningful rather than mechanical. God wants to communicate with us, and He wants to hear our prayers. May we search ourselves to see if we have any prejudices about race, culture, gender, or people. We can ask God to help us look at people as Jesus sees them. May we strive always to do as Jesus calls us to do and to share that love with all those we meet.
How do we respond to God’s lavish generosity of love? We can strive to clear away the non-essentials to live as closely as possible to our core elements of faith and essentials of God’s salvation and love. I believe we can find ways to response to God’s love. It can be a good opportunity to remember those who have helped to shape our relationship with God. May each of us and whole Leighmoor congregation genuinely respond on God’s steadfast love. May fresh inspiration come to us for new faithful action as we reflect on the perfect gift of love and words God has given us. Obeying God’s word and loving others will bring blessings in our lives. Loving and caring for the weak and needy will show we are following Christ. May we be both hearers and doers of the Word.
God’s Word is revealed through our lives. As we know, our actions speak louder than our words because actions add value to our words and make them strong. The truth we must follow is the Word of God, and we must obey it. Hearers will be blessed in their doing and the doers can rejoice in knowing that their actions, born of the Word, demonstrate faith. May we reflect on God’s loving intentions for humanity through the hope of renewing our attitudes and actions. I believe that our faith-based lives and practices will be tools to change the world. May we live out the gospel as a loving community in Christ, nurturing one another in faith, upholding one another in prayer, and encouraging one another to serve God.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
(Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)
