Brief synopsis of the readings: Near the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy we find Moses speaking to the people. He encouraged them to follow the statutes and degrees they had been given, neither adding to nor subtracting from them. This will show their wisdom and intelligence to the nations. No other nation has been given this. In Mark’s Gospel Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees and scribes because his disciples did not observe the command to wash their hands before eating. This made them unclean. A clearly irritated Jesus responded by quoting the prophet Isaiah: “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.” He then addressed his disciples and told them that defilement does not enter the body from outside, but comes out from evil hearts.

Is it possible to be too obedient? It sounds like a funny question but it’s worth asking. In previous homilies I’ve talked about how obedience (at least for adults) isn’t enough, that we are called to move beyond obedience to faithfulness. We tend to look askance at married couples who pledge obedience, particularly if only one of them does. But we revere couples who pledge fidelity to each other. It’s as if obedience is a necessary step in the journey toward faithfulness.

We also see elements of this in Scripture. Much of the book of Deuteronomy consists of speeches from Moses exhorting his followers to follow God’s commands. When we think of this we tend to think that it begins and ends with the 10 Commandments but the “law of Moses” consists of 613 commands; they cover everything from how to treat slaves, to what food to eat, to how to wash before meals.

But by the time of Jesus we can see some frustration on Jesus’ part toward the Pharisees and the rest of the “learned class.” Moses was clear: follow the rules and don’t add to or subtract from what you are given. That’s fine but within a few generations they found the need to apply what they had been taught to what they faced. For example they were warned not to worship other gods or graven images. But then should they pay taxes to the Roman Empire when part of that money was used to build statues to their gods?

The Pharisees and scribes (and other groups) made up a class of leaders who were educated and were trusted to make rulings that everyone needed to follow. But there were times when these rulings became silly. In his excellent book The Covenant James Michener wrote about such a scene. A group of rabbis were asked to answer this question: Is it permissible for a man to wear a gold false tooth on the Sabbath? They were forbidden from making themselves more attractive on the Sabbath lest they draw attention toward themselves and away from God. But what if the gold tooth is necessary for chewing? This discussion went on for weeks with no definite answer.

This may be an interesting academic discussion but these men positioned themselves as the authority and insisted that the rest of us were bound to obey their interpretations. Now any child can tell us about the limits of obedience when they are told different things by different authorities. Much of the conflict we see these days in public schools comes from parents demanding that teachers teach their (the parents’) values even if they are perceived as racist, sexist, or homophobic. Whatever values led to the rules eventually get lost as we journey deeper and deeper into the swamp of following the rules.

If this slavish determination of this type obedience causes confusion to most of us, it serves the purpose of making self important people feel more important. I’m often amused by politicians who claim to want to “shrink government” but at the same time brag about how many bills they’ve introduced as if more legislation is always good.

I suspect Jesus’ impatience centered not so much on the obedience of the Pharisees but how their actions moved away from the faithfulness that Jesus talked about. Their rules or interpretations generally didn’t made anyone more kind or more just or more welcoming. Being obsessed with clean hands does nothing to expand your table to include those who hunger. And frankly we rarely see the Pharisees speak about the need to feed the hungry or welcome the stranger.

It’s a struggle we’re still facing. Again and again we find reasons to see strangers as dangerous or impediments to our happiness. But again and again we read about the need to trust God who promises to provide all our needs, not our need to exclude. Ironically a strict adherence to the rules can sometimes allow us not to do what we should.

Several years ago I was on a parish staff and we had a parishioner who struggled daily with depression; some days it took all her energy to get out of bed and face another day. When she reached out to another member of the parish staff he rebuffed her and told me she was a “weirdo.” He listened to her story not to find out how to help her but to find a rationale to not help her. I always felt it was laziness but he insisted that some of her actions (e.g. inappropriate comments) justified his lack of support. If only she would recognize his authority he would be happy to reach out to her.

That’s not what Moses had in mind and certainly not what Jesus had in mind. We don’t know for certain but I suspect that handwashing was intended to give us time to feel gratitude for the food we are about to eat. This was written centuries before we knew about germs and hygiene (though God did and maybe that was the point). Interestingly enough the 14th Century plague we call the Black Death killed between 30% and 50% of England. We know it was spread by fleas but they didn’t. Because of their handwashing custom the death rate was lower in their community. But some felt this showed that the Jews were responsible for the Black Death, that they were in league with the Devil. Conspiracy theories have been around for a while.

In the final analysis nobody is suggesting that anyone preached disobedience. But rules and regulations, or statues and decrees, should serve God and each other, not allow us to justify our own place in society.