Bacon and Notre Dame

Bacon

Today, I want to touch into a very controversial topic. There would have been people who turned their backs on Jesus because of this item of discussion. But, I feel like we need to talk about it today.

*sigh*

Bacon. That’s right. Bacon.

And in a world filled with hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, droughts, floods, disease, division, bombings, and more… bacon hardly seems like something for us to worry about. But it might give us more insight than what we might notice at face value.

Now, I’m not going to go down the controversial rabbit hole of how crispy bacon should be. We’ll save that for another sermon.

But today, we’re going to consider bacon. And I’m going to start off with a question. Do you know why Christian are allowed to eat pork products but Jews are not? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not just because someone tasted a perfectly cooked piece of bacon and started rewriting scripture.

If you were wondering if the text we have today has something to do with us being able to eat bacon, you’re right. This is the oldest of three passages in scripture which gives us permission to eat pork, shellfish, and some other previously forbidden delectables.

In this conversation between Jesus and this group of pharisees and scribes, Jesus says, and let me quote, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile...”

And there it is. There is nothing that you can eat that is going to make you unclean. There is nothing that you can put into yourself that will cause you to be separated from God. There’s your permission to not wash your hands before you eat! Though… please, wash your hands before you eat. But here’s your permission for pork and beans, BLTS, ham sandwiches, BAR S hot dogs, scallops, oysters… even rocky mountain oysters if you so desire. And so it was that the new food group of bacon was added to our diet. Though we might overlook this text and not realize how it has impacted our modern-day diets… it truly has changed our landscape. And yes, this truly would have been a controversial subject at the time.

Why?

Why is this important today? Well, if you like pork, bacon, ham, lobster, crab, scallops, or a variety of other non-kosher foods… these words from Jesus actually frees you up to eat them.

That said, I don’t know if Jesus truly had bacon ice cream or lobster mac and cheese on his mind when he was speaking to those pharisees and scribes some 2,000 years ago. Let’s hear his words with a bit more detail:

Mark 7:14b-15

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

Jesus is talking here about where sin, brokenness, evilness itself comes from. And, ironically, as Jesus frees us to eat bacon he speaks a word that is also difficult to hear. He says, “The things that come out are what defile.” In other words, the brokenness and sinfulness for which we need forgiveness for is not simply sin that has been thrust upon us… but sin that WE ourselves have spoken and acted into existence. And if we weren’t sure if this is what Jesus meant… we can jump down a little farther in the text:

Mark 7:21-23

21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Quasimodo

We were recently watching Disney’s animated movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame. About half-way through the movie, the self-righteous villain, Judge Claude Frollo, sings a hauntingly dark song called Hellfire in which he finds himself torn between his sense of piousness and a yearning to have the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda for his very own. And we hear his struggle in grappling to understand his sin-stained heart.

ARCHDEACON & PRIESTS Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti (I confess to God almighty) Beatae Mariae semper Virgini (To blessed Mary ever Virgin) Beato Michaeli archangelo (To the blessed archangel Michael) Sanctis apostolis omnibus sanctis (To the holy apostles, to all the saints)

FROLLO Beata Maria You know I am a righteous man Of my virtue I am justly proud PRIESTS (Et tibi Pater (And to you, Father)) FROLLO Beata Maria You know I'm so much purer than The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd PRIESTS (Quia peccavi nimis (That I have sinned)) FROLLO Then tell me, Maria Why I see her dancing there Why her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul PRIESTS (Cogitatione (In thought)) FROLLO I feel her, I see her The sun caught in her raven hair Is blazing in me out of all control PRIESTS (Verbo et opere (In word and deed)) Like fire Hellfire This fire in my skin This burning Desire Is turning me to sin It's not my fault (Mea culpa (Through my fault)) I'm not to blame (Mea culpa (Through my fault)) It is the gypsy girl The witch who sent this flame (Mea maxima culpa (Through my most griveous fault)) It's not my fault (Mea culpa (Through my fault)) If in God's plan (Mea culpa (Through my fault)) He made the devil so much Stronger than a man (Mea maxima culpa (Through my most grievious fault))

Protect me, Maria Don't let the siren cast her spell Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone Destroy Esmeralda And let her taste the fires of Hell! Or else let her be mine and mine alone (song pauses, guard knocks on the door) GUARD Minister Frollo, the gypsy has escaped. FROLLO (speaking) What? GUARD She's nowhere in the cathedral. She's gone. FROLLO But how? I... Never mind. Get out, you idiot! I'll find her! I'll find her if I have to burn down all of Paris! (song resumes) Hellfire Dark fire Now gypsy, it's your turn Choose me or Your pyre Be mine or you will burn (Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)) God have mercy on her (Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)) God have mercy on me (Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)) But she will be mine Or she will burn!

“It’s not what goes in the mouth but what goes back out.”

Brokenness from Within

As we hear the battle being waged between the traditional catholic confession of sin and Frollo’s own efforts to put the fault of his sinfulness not only away from himself but upon both Esmerelda and even God… we are reminded every so hauntingly of the temptation of painting our brokenness, our sinfulness, our separating from God’s Will as being the fault of another. And this is, indeed, an easy rabbit hole to fall into.

It’s easy to look at the problems in the world… it’s easy to look at the problems in our community… it’s easy to look at the problems in our own life… and lay the blame at someone else’s feet. The Hellfire song from the Hunchback of Notre Dame is hauntingly accurate with the ease to which we can allow ourselves to let slip the blame away from ourselves and instead pin it to others around us. The fall of society is because of this group or that group.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus encourages that we put a light on our own sins. That we keep our own evils in the spotlight. Even Satan is not seen as the great cause of wrongdoing in the Gospel of Mark… instead… it’s the people. The cause of the wrongdoing are the priests, the pharisees, the scribes, the elders… the people. The cause of all of the wrongdoing and the need for Christ to go to the cross is because of the sinfulness within us… that is expelled into the world around us through our words and deeds. These are the moments that we respond with anger or coldness to one another. These are the moments that we see one another not with a heart of compassion but a sense of burden and unfairness.

These are the moments that we are happy to have our sins forgiven, but by God we will hold our neighbors accountable for their sins… remember the parable of the steward who was forgiven his debts but then demanded those who owed him money to still pay up?

Recognizing that the brokenness comes from within is a painful reality and, truthfully, one that I do not like. But it is what Jesus speaks to in today’s lesson.

And at the end of this passage… whether or not we get to eat bacon becomes the least of our worries. Because in a way, it was easier when we could consider ourselves pure if we just made sure we didn’t eat certain foods. But when our righteousness is based not on forgoing bacon but instead it is based on how we treat our neighbor… it becomes more complicated.

Good News

Where does evil in this world come from? A woman who ate an apple from a forbidden tree? A snake in the grass, tempting us with the possibility of something more? A can labeled pork and beans? The democrats? The republicans? The Taliban or the ANA? No. Our sinfulness is not something that we can point at others and say it is their fault. Because it is not what goes into us that defiles… but what comes out. And that’s why Jesus calls us to put a spotlight on our OWN sinfulness. Let us remind ourselves of our OWN sins before we look to the sins of others. Let us remind ourselves that WE fall short before we scold someone else for falling short.

But more importantly, let us be reminded of the Good News that Christ entered this world to redeem us from OUR sins. That means that whatever sin you feel like might be outside of the scope of God’s love… that God has it covered.

I had the opportunity to visit with a gentleman some time ago who asked me about how to receive God’s forgiveness. Now, this man had been a church goer most of his life. He knew about receiving forgiveness… he received it almost on a weekly basis at church. BUT, there were certain sins in his life that he wondered if God would be willing to die for. Because he had somehow got it in his head that God had only come to forgive the “normal, every day sins” but not the big ones… you know… the ones that keep weighing us down with guilt. I’d imagine most of us have one or two of those at least.

And the answer to his question is that Jesus Christ came to die not only for the “normal every day sins” that don’t bug us… but that Jesus died for the really big ones too. The Good News is that there is NOTHING outside of the scope of God’s love and forgiveness. And it is BECAUSE of this Good News that we can look to our own sins and recognize our fault because we know that God will take care of it. We don’t have to try to blame someone else for the brokenness in our lives… we can recognize our own mistakes along the way… we can understand how we came up short… but we can also know that God is right there with us, beside us, and will never say that God is done with you.

So eat your bacon and don’t be a Frollo. Be accountable for your own brokenness… for your own sinfulness. There is no sugar coating our sinfulness. It hurts to own up to what we have said and not said… done and left undone. It hurts. But in the painful brightness of that spotlight, you can also trust in the ultimate grace and forgiveness of Christ who covers all. So take that which burdens you, seek forgiveness, and know God’s love.

Peace be with you.