When I told my kids I would be preaching, their sarcastic response was, "So Dad, what else is new?". I had to remind them that when I was preaching to them I knew what I was talking about.

I can't speak to you as a scriptural scholar because I am not, I can't speak to you as a religion academic because I am not. I do have a life long experience, and that is a pretty big number, a life long experience of being in the Christian faith and more precisely, in the Roman Catholic tradition. For about the first 45 years of my life, and prior to Vatican II, I was a well defined, traditional Catholic---the pay, pray and obey kind. Spiritual and religious matters were determined by clerical members of the institutional church. No decision making on my part was required and CERTAINLY not requested. Vatican II was not necessarily the pivotal point, but it was about at that time Marcella and I began the journey into religious liberation and self responsibility. And now we are with you here at Journey, endorsing Journey's liberalized philosophy, still embracing Catholicity, so you know it has been quite a transformation.

This of course will be obvious to you, but any statement or declaration I make shall be prefaced with the phrase, "in my opinion"------ when it is not verbalized, it is implied. I make no claims for anyone, other than myself, in matters spiritual or religious. Nor do I, in my opinion, --- see, it's easy to use,---do I believe anyone, whether Pope or Peasant, should make declarative statements about Spirit or religion without the same preface-----without implying the statement made, is his or hers, only! God-- and Truth with a capital T, can be possessed by NOBODY!! Perhaps, SOMEDAY in our evolutionary process, but NOT YET. Louis Evenly, a Catholic Cardinal and author of "The Gospels Without Myth" said, "Spirituality is not transferable, only communicable." ---Spirituality is NOT transferable, only communicable.

The essence of our individual belief and faith, can be, SHOULD BE, and is, determined, ONLY by one’s self!!! Our decisions, whatever they may be, are never made by anyone else!!!

In tonight's reading. Mark has Jesus coming down pretty hard on the Pharisees. In calling them a hypocrite he said to them, " you pretend to have virtues of moral principle and religious beliefs that you really do not practice or possess". Jesus is accusing them of living a lie! The law of the Torah was intended to enable the Israelites to live righteous lives which Jesus clearly supported, but the Pharisees had corrupted the law. They disregarded ethical considerations and were seen to be devoid of mercy. They imposed an intolerable burden of legal observance upon the common people, and the purpose of the law is to LIBERATE people. If the law is life-giving(as Jesus' law is) then following the law frees a person totally, to live fully and wholly in their lives. But life for the Jews became slavery to the legal precepts and oral laws, which were invented by the self acclaimed EXPERTS of the law. The Pharisees were totally convinced that their laws, both written and oral, and religious observances were correct.. They believed God would intervene on their behalf if only they conformed to law and ritual. Spirit of the law and compassion were secondary.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus violated many of their oral laws. He mixed freely with tax collectors and sinners which made him ceremoniously unclean. He shared meals with Gentiles and social outcasts, He broke the Sabbath by healing people and He and his disciples ate with defiled or unwashed hands. In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was guilty of law breaking and blasphemy. He, Jesus, could not possibly be an advocate for God and the Torah .

Have any of you been in the Pharisaic camp? Have any of you placed more emphasis on the rule than the Spirit? I have!!! Eating meat on Friday was a serious sin, not unlike murder, and saving the soul required a trip to the confessional. Such a Pharisee type law would have Jesus, I believe, saying something like this: "Next Friday prepare your hamburger, but also prepare one dozen more, take them to the St. Francis Dining Hall, and there, share your meal with the hungry. Even today, certain fundamentalist Christian groups proclaim salvation to be attainable ONLY through their particular brand of Christianity, and I remember a time in my earlier years when my church insisted anyone outside of the Catholic faith was probably doomed. I did not disagree---if it was a church law and proclamation, it must be true! Sounds like a Pharisee does it not? Jesus would undoubtedly say to these exclusionists, the Father's love and care embrace both Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner, go, be as ONE, united with God.

All of the Good News, the entire content of New Testament scripture, no matter how diverse and unreal many of the stories about Jesus seem to be, the distilled essence of the message is simply this, Jesus is COMPASSION.!!

In all of the virtues of Compassion---- caring, love, empathy, justice, equality, we see Jesus above and beyond all else!!!! The primary challenge of our Christian life is in the attempt to emulate this compassionate Jesus. He is our direction to the Kingdom of God...