Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 30, 2015 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Deut 4:1-2, 6-8; Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23,106]SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015 TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME [Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23] "Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves." The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century was a complex event, but one of the major "theological triggers" had to do with what was called "works righteousness." This term was applied to the idea that an individual could earn their salvation by good works. Major reformers like Luther and Calvin held that salvation could come only from faith and not from anything a human person could do. Another emphasis was on the written word of God, the Bible, and the term "sola scriptura" (scripture alone) was used to hold that it and not "tradition" was the only source of divine revelation. Because of these two things: "works righteousness" and "sola scriptura," the Letter of James, which provides our second scripture today, created a problem for the reformers. The Letter of James places a heavy emphasis on actions and taking care of others. Religious observances only were empty! (Luther wanted to exclude the Letter of James from the New Testament!) The Pharisees, in today's gospel scripture, placed great emphasis on external observances. Jesus challenged them to pay more attention to their inner motivations. This inner-outer tension in matters of faith and morals remains with us even in our own time. We cannot buy our way into eternal life by external actions alone. Our faith must be the source of our good deeds. Otherwise we may be very altruistic, but there are atheists who do good deeds of great value. Matching our faith to our actions is a continuing challenge but we cannot have one without the other. AMEN
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