Mirror, Mirror

14th Sunday after Pentecost

September 2, 2012

Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

“For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see yourself for who you are or do you the person you wish you were? Do you notice the blemishes and wrinkles more than you’d like? Maybe you look at yourself and remember a younger you. Or maybe you imagine what you’ll look like when you’re older. I don’t think there’s anyone that at some point hasn’t looked in a mirror and wished they saw something different.

That’s why I’m always fascinated by self-portraits. Besides my sheer amazement that some people have the skill to reproduce a human likeness with a paintbrush, self-portraits are an opportunity to look in the mirror and create what you imagine instead of what you see. Some, maybe even many, have certainly been attempts at realistic physical likenesses. But others subtly or more boldly depict what the artist imagines him- or herself to look like. Some self-portraits depict a hint of madness, others more than hint. Some depict pain or sadness that seems to overwhelm. Exuberance and zest for life come through in others. Some are so abstract I can only imagine what the artists sees in the mirror. Whatever comes across, it’s a chance for the image we see in the mirror to depict how we really feel or how we really wish to see ourselves. The inside becomes visible.

The problem is that the insides aren’t always as nice as we’d like. Today’s readings remind us of a lot of ways that we fall short. Jesus’ list of the things that come from inside us is not pretty: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice (which is the hoarding of wealth), wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. It always amazes me when we manage to muster up a “Praise to you, O Christ” or a “Thanks be to God” after reading texts like these. Jesus seems to be reminding us that one way to depict ourselves, perhaps the most honest way to see our reflection, is by the things that come out of us.

Pick your vice from Jesus’ list. Or two or three. I have my own favorites. And probably most of us have elements of all of them to some degree or other when you get right down to it. And thousands of years of recorded human history seem to suggest that there isn’t much hope of ridding ourselves of that anytime soon. This is a pretty bleak reflection of humanity.

The reading from James has a suggestion that we work at replacing those faults with actions for good. Actions that help the orphan and widow and I think you can fill in here the poor and imprisoned, the outcast and stranger, the hungry and homeless: words you’ve heard before, words we all would love to embody. Something in us knows that that caring for one another, especially the least and most vulnerable, ought to be the natural outcome of our faith. This congregation is committed to striving for that. “Serve with Love” is part of our mission statement. You are generous people and together we try to live it out. And we’ve done some good work in the community on our own and in partnership with the other churches and places like the Survival Center.

And yet, all those efforts get tainted, too. That’s Jesus’s reminder to Pharisees who had taken a good practice and made it into something it wasn’t – a burden, a cause for division, a reason to point fingers at others, a reason to feel they were better than others. They had, with all good intentions, begun to live out Isaiah’s prophecy, becoming a people who honor God with their lips but not in their hearts.

The law begins to feel like a burden when we look honestly at ourselves and our world: things we know we should do, things we know we shouldn’t. Trying to serve God and messing that up, too. But God gives us the law anyway. And that’s the crux of the matter for us: because through the law, God draws us into community. And not just any community, not just any club or organization, but the gift of the law draws us into God’s community. God sees us for who we really are AND calls us to be a part of God’s people. God sees what comes out of us. Probably more than we’d like, probably more than we even know ourselves. And yet…God chose the Israelites. Jesus chose the disciples and even the hypocritical Pharisees to be the people of God. And God chooses us.

God sees who we are – not just the outside, not just the front we put up, not just our attempts to show others the person we want to be, but who we really are. And also chooses to see us as God’s children, God’s community.

I think our challenge from these readings today is not, first and foremost, to become the best and brightest social justice advocates, even as I pray that we will be bold witnesses of the kingdom in word and deed for the sake of the orphans and widows. And I don’t think our primary challenge in these readings is to wallow in a realistic picture of ourselves, even as we weekly come together to acknowledge our failings and hear God’s words of forgiveness.

I think our primary challenge from these readings today is much more difficult; it’s to look in the mirror and see what God sees. James says that “If any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves, and going away, immediately forget what they were like.” We touch the waters of the baptismal font or taste the bread and wine and we remember who we are in God’s sight. But we soon forget. We forget that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. We forget that God has seen us for who we are and called us to be the people of God anyway.

Being doers of the word comes from a profound recognition of who we are – broken people claimed by God to be imperfect witnesses. And our struggle is to hold the two in tension. The more we try to cover our impurities with good actions, the more we end up like the Pharisees who I have to believe Jesus pities for their lifeless interpretation of the law. But the more we dwell in God having called us as we are, the more our faith flows out in love to those around us.

So the next time you find yourself in front of a mirror, take a minute to stop and think about who you really are. Imagine the invisible cross marked on your forehead at baptism made visible. Hear God’s call to you, as you are – short or tall, thick or thin, wrinkles and blemishes and everything else. See the brokenness and see the redemption, side-by-side. And when you walk away from the mirror, from the moments where God’s reality shines through, try to remember who you are – forgiven and beloved people of God.