“Christian” is a word that for some folks, has many differentlevels of meaning. For all of us, itmeans we have passed through the waters of baptism. For others it means baptism yes, and it means alife that is constantly in process, a life in which, we are growing to be morelike Christ. We hear the Spirit’s callto be like Christ, but the transformation of life and spirit must first andalways, take place in the heart. Accepting the identity of Christian, of “follower of Christ,” ouroutward actions, the life we live every day, must become a reflection of the heart.
Jesus affirms that outward actions reflect our inwardheart, as he challenges the folks about some of their traditions of ritually cleaninghands before eating, and the tradition of washing cups, and pots. For Jesus, these little actions were no morethan empty gestures that had loss their original intent. The intentions of the people, who wererequiring these traditions, had shifted from being an outward sign of the heart’slove of God, to an action that found its purpose in the accolades of those who sawthem doing it. For some of the peopleJesus was challenging, what they did, the traditions and service they wereoffering was not because of a heart drawn to God, but a desire to gainadmiration of others. Can you think of emptygestures in our traditions or in our culture that have somehow have lost theiroriginal intent? The problem with some of these things is not in theactions/traditions themselves, it is the theology, the intentions behind them.
It is in the human heart that our intentions emerge andit is from there, our actions emerge. Modernscience reminds us that it is not in the heart organ itself where we processthought, intentions, or emotions. Thoseprocesses in the brain however; we recognize there is more going on there aswell. It is through the spirit, the connectednesswe have to God, which has a significant role in how our intentions manifestthemselves.
The word intentionmeans “an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result,the end or object intended, or the purpose.” When we consider an action we want to accomplish, it becomes manifested becauseof our thoughts, our desires, and our dreams. Our actions always come with a purpose. For instance, if we make a choice to give something to someone,hopefully, in our brain, in our spirit, the intention is to share, to give ofourselves, to follow God’s mandate to care for others.
Consider for a moment why you are here today. We all woke up this morning and made a choicewhether to come to church or not. Hopefully, within our spirits our intentionsof coming to worship today, was so we could join in this fellowship of sharingcommunity with other Christians, to worship God, and to offer praises to OurLord. In each of these examples, we donot merely need to act, we need to take a moment and consider why we have done,what we have done. We always need to examinethe purpose behind our choices. Sometimesour outward actions get a little off track and we do things for empty reasons. Kind of like washing cups, pots, and bronzekettles. We sometimes lose sight of thereasons behind what we do.
We as Christians must never forget that we must examineour hearts and the intentions of our heart, our spirit. Jesus said, “‘this people honors me withtheir lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me,teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” Some folks like to use this scripture as somemisguided justification for eliminating traditions, traditions that have a legitimateconnection to the intentions of the heart. I for one, do not believe Jesus was offering a justification for gettingrid of traditions. I believe Jesus waschallenging those early followers and us his current followers, to examine whywe do what we do.
Jesus is asking us to look at our heart and examine ifthe purpose behind our actions reveal the desire to grow in a deeper love ofOur Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to grow in a deeper love with our neighbors,and to be a community of reconciliation and grace. If what we do as a community, if the traditionswe hold on to support these intentions, then we retain them. If what we do comes in conflict with the heart’sdesire to love God and love neighbor, we should abandon them for new ways ofbeing.
In either case, we should begin everyendeavor with an examination of our hearts and ask, “Why do we do this?” We approach this examination with cautionbecause Jesus said, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evilintentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness,deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, andthey defile a person." Our hearts directwhat we do.
Examining ourhearts has implications for both us as a community, and us as individuals. Sometimes we act in ways that in our own mindsis pure and in line with God’s ways, but is that always the case? A group of Christians had a grand idea tobegin doing something new in the community. They were certain absolutely that this was of God and it was in serviceto their neighbor. However, there weresome folks in the group, who before beginning, had not done the hard work of examiningthe heart before embarking on this endeavor. A few of the members of this group were struggling with why they wereeven involved in the ministry and they questioned whether it was based on a desirefor self-grandeur. They eventually becameblind to how their actions and reactions were affecting others. They needed a heart examination.
The spiritual practice of self-examination is deeplyrooted in our tradition. St. Ignatius ofLoyola was a loyal disciple in 15th and 16th centuries,who after a conversion experience in battle, began discerning how God wasworking in his life. He became a great spiritualdirector and he developed a process (The Daily Examen) which is a prayerfulreflection on one’s own life and actions. The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events ofthe day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in theChurch that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience.
We are all called to engage in an ongoing examination ofour lives, not just on Sunday, but each day of the week. We must search our heart’s intentions fromwhich, our actions emerge. If we findthat our objectives are to love God, love neighbor and in so doing, be aninstrument of grace and reconciliation, then we retain those actions thatemerge from our hearts. If we find thatour objectives are anything else, if our objectives become merely self-serving,if they create division, if we begin to undermine God’s work, then we must abandonthose actions that emerge from our hearts. The spirit of being a disciple, a follower of Jesus is to accept thereality that our hearts must be remade, reformed, so that we may truly followJesus. In the Epistle of James, we are encouragedto not be “hearers who forget, but doers who act.” We must not forget that our purpose, our divinecalling is to love God, and right alongside that to love neighbor. At the end of the day we need to look back andquestion just how well we have been faithful to our life purpose. Difficult? Yes. Uncomfortable? Absolutely. Countercultural? Without a doubt? Is this what Jesus did? You canstake your life on it.
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