Tradition Rather than Traditionalism
- davidwperk
- Oct 25, 2023
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Proper 24, the week of the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
7But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 988)
AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48
Lam. 2:8-15; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Matt. 12:1-14
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dorcas (Tabitha) of Joppa. (See below.)
David's Reflections
How could one best honor the biblical commandment to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy in Jesus’ understanding? God had rested on the seventh day of creation, the first Sabbath. Judaism in Jesus' day had taken the view that radical rest and cessation of labor was the best way to honor the Sabbath.
Jesus consistently demonstrated the ability to think critically about his religious heritage. He had concluded, contrary to the traditions he had been taught since childhood, that the best way to honor the Sabbath was to heal, to make whole, to do good. The concept of Sabbath rest had become symbolic for what God's kingdom would be like in the end, when the entire creation would enter into rest. Whatever brought the experience of that final sabbath into present experience was consistent with its meaning.
Jesus' invitation in yesterday's reading to come to him and rest was an invitation into the Sabbath rest of final salvation, the wholeness and completeness of a new creation completed by God's saving work in Christ, a new seventh day. The writer to the Hebrews uses that same image to challenge the readers to enter into the Sabbath rest of Jesus' salvation by exercising faith in him (Hebrews 3-4).
How ironic and revealing is the last verse of today’s reading. The religious leaders were so enraged at Jesus’ challenge to their traditional understanding that they conspired to kill him. Their emotional violence contradicts their announced intent to guard the sanctity of the Sabbath. Their misdirected devotion to their traditional understanding made them willing to kill another human being to protect their understanding of how to revere a holy day. What a stark values conflict!
Jaroslav Pelikan once quipped, “"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”+ Assuming Pelikan’s distinction, Jesus’ adversaries were in the grip of traditionalism, the dead faith of the living. May we avoid a similar failing.
This passage challenges us to be aware of our religious traditions, of the vital connection between the traditions and the Scriptures and of the ways the church can err and need to revise her traditions in light of fresh readings of Scripture. The Episcopal Church did that in the 1950’s when we revised our canons regarding remarriage of divorcees and again in the 1970's when we revised the canons to allow women to be ordained. Long-standing traditions got revised in light of a deeper way of reading the same Scriptural evidence.
With our roots in the English catholic tradition, Episcopalians/Anglicans have a rich traditional heritage. As a denomination deeply impacted by the Protestant Reformation, Holy Scripture plays a central role in our life, but we do not have to justify everything we do from Scripture. That would be to take what former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey once called an "archaeological" approach (in his marvelous book, The Gospel and the Catholic Church), being required to "dig up" biblical evidence to justify every practice. But, we are required to sift all our traditions and practices continually in light of our ongoing attempt to find new light in Scripture and in reason quickened by God’s Spirit.
Clinging to traditional practices and refusing to move into fresh understandings of Scripture would be traditionalism, the dead faith of the living. Embracing fresh understandings based on deep reading of Scripture would make our traditions the living faith of the dead. Traditions that treat all people with dignity and strengthen our efforts to reach those still outside the circle of God’s saving love—now that’s the living faith of the dead.
+Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition (New Haven, CN: Yale UP, 1984), p. 65
Collect of the Day, Proper 24, the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 235)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dorcas (Tabitha) of Joppa. (New Testament)
Collect of the Feast of Dorcas
Most Holy God, who did raise from the dead your servant Tabitha to display your power and confirm that your Son is Lord; Grant unto us your grace, that, aided by her prayers and example, we may be given a new life in you, to do works pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
For the Poor and the Neglected
Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 826)
A Prayer for Light
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. (BCP, 111)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 12:1-14
12:1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ 3He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. 5Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? 6I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’ 9He left that place and entered their synagogue; 10a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?’ so that they might accuse him. 11He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.’ 13Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Comments