Taking It Literally
Sermon
There is a famous story about an old priest and his cat in which the two were so close that the cat went everywhere with the old priest, even attending worship with him. When the old priest was officiating at the altar, the cat would curl up on the floor just in front of the altar and this soon became its favourite spot. All the younger priests who were assisting at the Eucharist would carefully step over the cat and continue with their duties.
This went on for many years until the old priest died. But the cat continued to sleep in front of the altar exactly as before, as a variety of younger priests came and went. All of them stepped over the cat.
When the cat eventually died, the priests were so used to stepping over it every time they took part in a Eucharist that out of habit they continued to step over the cat even though it no longer existed. When younger priests joined the academy they were too nervous to ask why everyone lifted their leg up high at a certain point in front of the altar, assuming that it was part of the liturgy. And so they too followed suit.
Years and years later, all priests still had an exaggeratedly high step just in front of the altar. Nobody knew why, but all sorts of theories were thought up to accommodate the action and newcomers were carefully taught the correct way and the correct place in front of the altar to lift up their leg. It was considered to be one of the most important and holy parts of the liturgy and woe betide anyone who dared to question it.
Thus silly habits can sometimes arise and become enshrined in our collective consciousness, habits which have an origin which is no longer relevant or habits which were never meant to be taken literally in the first place.
It can be foolish to take literally things which were never meant to be taken literally, but it can also serve to obscure the real meaning of the original.
The 'Great Commandment' of Deuteronomy chapter 6 has been put into the mouth of Moses who is thought to have lived around 1500 BCE, but was probably written down around the time of Josiah, the king who set about reforming the corrupt Israelite religion. Josiah was king from 640-609 BCE, shortly before the exile. He 'found' in the temple at Jerusalem an ancient document containing the Jewish law and immediately set about incorporating this law into the lives of his subjects. Sadly his reforms were short-lived, for after his death his eldest son Jehoiakim reversed the reforms, persecuted the prophets, introduced forced labour and eventually was unable to prevent the Babylonians invading and dragging the people into exile.
The Book of the Law was revisited some 200 years later by Ezra, after the people had all returned from exile. Ezra was a scholar and a priest and an expert in the Torah, the Law of Moses. He began to teach the Law with the Levites providing interpretation, a task later taken on by the rabbis.
The centre of the Law was the command to recognise God as the only God (known as the 'Shema') and to love God with every aspect of being. This was deemed so central and so important that Jews were instructed to: 'Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.'
These instructions may not have been meant to be taken literally. They were probably intended to be understood in a figurative sense, (cf Exodus 13:9; Exodus 13:16.) but later Jews understood them literally. They tied 'phylacteries,' boxes containing strips of parchment on which these words were inscribed, onto their wrists and foreheads.
For many Jews, God did become the centre of their lives with love for God filling their being and determining their every action. But as we know from Jesus' clashes with some of the Pharisees, tying phylacteries onto their wrists and foreheads had the effect of fulfilling the letter of the Law without in any way fulfilling the spirit of the Law.
In today's reading from Mark's gospel, a scribe asks Jesus which is the most important commandment. Jesus recites today's verses from Deuteronomy and follows them up with a verse from Leviticus (Leviticus 19:18) suggesting that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. The scribe agrees with Jesus, whereupon Jesus tells him that he is not far from the kingdom of God. But in the equivalent story in Matthew's gospel, the question is put to Jesus by a group of Pharisees, in order to trap Jesus into an unwary response.
Christians do not use phylacteries, but Christians do often continue to take literally passages from the Bible which were never intended to be taken literally. The danger of this is that by hiding behind literalism, Christians can sometimes assume that they are doing all that the law of Jesus requires. But now, as then, the important thing is keeping God at the centre of our lives and worshipping only him. If we do that, perhaps it hardly matters whether we are literal in our interpretation of the Bible or not, for we will be responding to the God within and basing our whole lives upon him. And this is what matters.
This went on for many years until the old priest died. But the cat continued to sleep in front of the altar exactly as before, as a variety of younger priests came and went. All of them stepped over the cat.
When the cat eventually died, the priests were so used to stepping over it every time they took part in a Eucharist that out of habit they continued to step over the cat even though it no longer existed. When younger priests joined the academy they were too nervous to ask why everyone lifted their leg up high at a certain point in front of the altar, assuming that it was part of the liturgy. And so they too followed suit.
Years and years later, all priests still had an exaggeratedly high step just in front of the altar. Nobody knew why, but all sorts of theories were thought up to accommodate the action and newcomers were carefully taught the correct way and the correct place in front of the altar to lift up their leg. It was considered to be one of the most important and holy parts of the liturgy and woe betide anyone who dared to question it.
Thus silly habits can sometimes arise and become enshrined in our collective consciousness, habits which have an origin which is no longer relevant or habits which were never meant to be taken literally in the first place.
It can be foolish to take literally things which were never meant to be taken literally, but it can also serve to obscure the real meaning of the original.
The 'Great Commandment' of Deuteronomy chapter 6 has been put into the mouth of Moses who is thought to have lived around 1500 BCE, but was probably written down around the time of Josiah, the king who set about reforming the corrupt Israelite religion. Josiah was king from 640-609 BCE, shortly before the exile. He 'found' in the temple at Jerusalem an ancient document containing the Jewish law and immediately set about incorporating this law into the lives of his subjects. Sadly his reforms were short-lived, for after his death his eldest son Jehoiakim reversed the reforms, persecuted the prophets, introduced forced labour and eventually was unable to prevent the Babylonians invading and dragging the people into exile.
The Book of the Law was revisited some 200 years later by Ezra, after the people had all returned from exile. Ezra was a scholar and a priest and an expert in the Torah, the Law of Moses. He began to teach the Law with the Levites providing interpretation, a task later taken on by the rabbis.
The centre of the Law was the command to recognise God as the only God (known as the 'Shema') and to love God with every aspect of being. This was deemed so central and so important that Jews were instructed to: 'Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.'
These instructions may not have been meant to be taken literally. They were probably intended to be understood in a figurative sense, (cf Exodus 13:9; Exodus 13:16.) but later Jews understood them literally. They tied 'phylacteries,' boxes containing strips of parchment on which these words were inscribed, onto their wrists and foreheads.
For many Jews, God did become the centre of their lives with love for God filling their being and determining their every action. But as we know from Jesus' clashes with some of the Pharisees, tying phylacteries onto their wrists and foreheads had the effect of fulfilling the letter of the Law without in any way fulfilling the spirit of the Law.
In today's reading from Mark's gospel, a scribe asks Jesus which is the most important commandment. Jesus recites today's verses from Deuteronomy and follows them up with a verse from Leviticus (Leviticus 19:18) suggesting that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. The scribe agrees with Jesus, whereupon Jesus tells him that he is not far from the kingdom of God. But in the equivalent story in Matthew's gospel, the question is put to Jesus by a group of Pharisees, in order to trap Jesus into an unwary response.
Christians do not use phylacteries, but Christians do often continue to take literally passages from the Bible which were never intended to be taken literally. The danger of this is that by hiding behind literalism, Christians can sometimes assume that they are doing all that the law of Jesus requires. But now, as then, the important thing is keeping God at the centre of our lives and worshipping only him. If we do that, perhaps it hardly matters whether we are literal in our interpretation of the Bible or not, for we will be responding to the God within and basing our whole lives upon him. And this is what matters.
