Pastor Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Hartland, WI.  53029

Labor Day Weekend – 12^th Sunday after Pentecost

August 31, 2003

CLEAN FROM THE INSIDE-OUT

I don’t know about you but I’m thoroughly enjoying the Harley-Davidson riders coming through town.  Friday morning about a 100 of them passed by my house & I shouted at my kids to come up & look.

I feel like I’m part of history as I watch the evening news and reporters from all over the world, smiles on their faces, go on & on about the Centennial celebration. 

Part of the fun is the look.  Lots of black, black on black.  Orange & black, denim & black, a little bit of pink & black, skin & black, lots & lots of leather in black.. 

I wish I would have had more time to go & people watch.  Some nice looking people out there.  And some interesting people.  Big people, little people;  Long haired people,   no haired people,  lots & lots of tattooed people.

And the beauty of it is, it’s all a wonderful example of the old saying, you can’t judge a book by its cover.  Harley Riders are moms & dads and k-mart  workers and university professors, engineers, homemakers,  and yeah, not to romanticize too much, there are Harley riders who are liars and cheats, and drunks and thieves, too.  Just this morning I read in the paper about a reporter from England who had her Harley stolen at a truck stop.  “Got up & it was gone,”  she said.  So I’m thinking somewhere among the streams of Harley freedom riders there’s a thief riding on a stolen Harley.  Is it the nice looking man with the crew cut on the Ultra Classic on the highway or is it the skinny old Mama parked at the Stop n’ Go.   Those are probably not the thieves, but you can’t really tell from the outside, now can you? 

But we are watching, aren’t we?  We’re always trying to figure out who’s the good guy & who’s the bad guy, who’s the church lady & who’s the Adult dancer, who’s the multi-millionaire & who’s the two bit crook in the crowd. 

 Well this evening (morning) , Jesus gets himself into trouble not by the clothes he wears or the vehicle he drives, but by the lack of religious behavior of his disciples.  You see, Jesus was being watched -- when he came into town, it was an Event, too.  Mark 7:1 tell us that the Pharisees and several religious teachers came & gathered around Jesus and they noticed, that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands in the particular way religious Jews were “supposed” to be doing it.

 Now the funny thing about this story is that it takes place right after Mark chapter 6:30, where Jesus feeds a crowd of 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish;  this story about religious hand washing comes right after Mark chapter 6: 45 where Jesus walks on water,   And this little controversy comes right after Mark chapter 6:53 Jesus heals the sick all over the whole county, they come to him and Jesus touches them, and he heals them.  And the Pharisees and the religion teachers are SO not interested in any of that. 

 It reminds me of the time my friend had a job as a regional sales manager.  The sales people working under her loved her, the top clients that she wined & dined & carefully & honestly explained the product line to, they thought she was the greatest; the sales & profits were up, morale was up, people were having fun doing their jobs for the first time in a long time, and then her immediate supervisor fired her for not getting her monthly report in until a day late two months in a row.  The rest of it didn’t matter, she broke one of the rules.

 Jesus’ tangle with the religious folks also reminds me of  the time another friend, Mike,   spent 50 minutes of his annual evaluation at a Catholic hospital in Chicago where he worked, talking about the clothes he wore.  He was doing a great job as hospital administrator, turning around a small hospital that desperately needed turning around:  people who need to be fired were fired, people who needed to be encouraged were encouraged, nurses were courted, doctors held more accountable, bed counts were up, people were getting good, dependable  medical care:   Mike  didn’t quite walk on water but close to it.  The elderly nuns who ran the hospital behind the scenes adored him except for one, wouldn’t you know, the Sister Superior.  My friend Mike  got to spend 50 minutes of his annual evaluation discussing the fact that he didn’t wear suits often enough, and that a blazer and trousers just didn’t project the professional image of this fine Catholic institution. 

 Jesus is in the business of turning  around not a hospital, but a sick & fallen world.  And this little group of  Pharisees and religious types don’t care about the healing of the world.  They want to talk about ritual hand washings.

But Jesus says God’s not interested in  looking at the length of a Harley rider’s hair or the extent of his tattoos and deciding if he’s a good guy or not.  God’s not interested in having people dressing like a Savior in a professionally cut Italian suit and an $135 haircut to match.  Jesus is very clear that you can’t turn around a sick & fallen world by submitting reports on an exact schedule, or washing your hands just so, or serving the right kinds of food at your party or riding the coolest set of wheels, or wearing a big cross on your t-shirt or having your Harley blessed by set of priests, as I heard some were doing, this weekend.  Catchy idea, but could be dangerous according to my reading of the Gospel today… putting an emphasis on outer washing and outer “optics” at a possible expense of inner needs for renewal.

 It’s what’s inside, guys, says Jesus.  It’s what’s inside that’s got to be changed.  It’s inside that we find  what’s in need of washing and a haircut and a get down on your knees kind of confession, and forgiveness and new life that only a Lord can provide, only blood can make clean, only a resurrection of the hopelessly dead can bring alive.

A little water sprinkling, by itself, ain’t gonna do a thing one way or another, says Jesus.

You & I have no clue what’s actually inside those wondrously interesting & sometimes flamboyant Harley Davidson riders that are flooding our  towns & highways these days, but you and I should be very familiar with what’s inside ourselves, and Jesus nails us with each word:  Listen to them again as I list them slowly (Mark chapter 7:21 & 22) Jesus says,  “Out of your heart come evil thoughts: sexual activity outside of marriage, stealing, wishing someone dead, , greed, meanness, cheating, envy over what others have, insults & bad-mouthing, arrogance, & just plain stupidity.”

Did you get nailed by any of those words?  But wait, the Gospel tells us that  Jesus doesn’t nail us for them – that’s the point.  It’s Jesus who gets nailed because of  these things, Jesus who wears the stain of our sin, it’s Jesus who came to wash us from the inside out, so that we can, as St. James tells us in the words printed on the front of your bulletin: “Listen & obey that perfect law that sets you free.”  Only the cleaning power of Jesus can save you to do that.

 Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.  Enjoy your people watching, and Harley watching and be sure your kids & grandkids watch the news that the Milwaukee area is making all over not just this nation but the whole entire world.  But as you see those Harleys riding by, remember, its not your set of wheels or your haircut or the religious value of your tattoos, it’s the Lord of your interior world who sets you free to live the good life in your exterior world, loving & serving your neighbor.

(John 8:36) says “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  That means clean, really clean, from the inside out.  Amen.   

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