God’s Word and Joyful Tradition! Jeremiah 15:16a; Mark 7:1-13; Isaiah 29:11–19 

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose words are our delight.

Our message is based on our Gospel Reading from Mark, along with our Alleluia Verse from Jeremiah, Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16

We’re going to talk about the joy and delight that we have in the words of God, and the role of the traditions that surround the ministry of the Word. 

It’s been a bit gloomy in our nation and the world these past 18 months or so with the virus and its various strains, and in the past week or so with events overseas. 

We’ve seen and experienced things that we probably never thought we would.

We never imagined that almost everything would be shut down in our communities the way it was, including, for a short time, gathering around God’s Word for worship.

But God’s Word is not so easily shuttered. This was also an opportunity for us to innovate. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. 

So we praised God and proclaimed His Word online. And that may have reached some who wouldn’t have been reached otherwise. So as we say, sometimes God works in mysterious ways.

Still, how good it was last June, a year ago, when we began to gather again, and rejoice in this place. 

It reminded us of how much we love to gather as a family around the sharing of God’s Word, and the celebration of His Sacraments. 

And it gives fresh meaning to the words of our Introit, Psalm 26:8, O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house, (where you live) and the place where Your glory dwells.

This refers to the inner room or sanctuary of the tabernacle and later the temple, where the ark of the covenant was kept; there God was present in a special way. God’s presence made the temple a place of reverence and joy.

Likewise, here in this place, as we gather in His name, God is present in a special way. 

Here the Holy Spirit comes to us in Baptism, to abide in us and bless us. 

In the Sacrament of the Altar, Christ comes to us in His body and His blood to bless and forgive us, a truly extraordinary presence.

And God comes to us though His Word, which is read and heard and taught and learned and believed and obeyed. And not just in the Scripture readings and sermon, but throughout the service.

We speak and sing God’s Word in the parts of the liturgy, and in the hymns and songs, and prayers; and we hear it in the Absolution. In sorrow we confess our sins, and in joy we are fully forgiven.

In this place of worship, God’s Word comes to us, with all its power to correct us and bless us. And that makes this a place of reverence and joy. 

In joy we welcome and receive the amazing words of God that come into our hearts, and become our joy and delight. As Jeremiah says, Your words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16 

There are words in life that we love to hear, words that give us so much joy; words like “I love you.” “Will you marry me?” “Yes.” “I do.” Or, “You’re going to be a father, or a mother, or grandmother, or grandfather, or aunt or uncle.” And many more words that make us happy.

But no words can give us joy like the words of the Gospel. No words can do for us what the Word of God can do. The words and promises of God bless us like no others.

Back to what we were talking about earlier, these past 18 months, where would we have been without God’s Word for us… to help and strengthen us, to give us hope? 

Where would we ever be without God’s Word? No place good. No good place now, and no good place in eternity.

God’s Word is our rock, His Sacraments our comfort, and the Gospel, our joy. 

And that’s why we hold so dearly to the Word and Sacraments of God, from year to year, and age to age, and generation to generation. 

As we sing in the hymn, God’s Word is our great heritage, and shall be ours forever; to spread its light from age to age, shall be our chief endeavor!

It is our God-given tradition, more than that, we have a Divine mandate, to share God’s Word in love and truth, that the world might hear, and repent, and believe, and live, and rejoice! 

In the Church, we have a number of traditions wrapped around the ministry of the Word, some very old, ancient, handed down from generation to generation, and some more recent. 

And we’ve come to love many of them. They tend to grow on you as you go along in life; you better appreciate the comfort and wisdom of these age-old traditions.

We also have many much needed innovations in the Church, some of which, if they pass the test of time, will become traditions. Traditions are just innovations that have been around for a while. 

The purpose of all the man-made traditions and innovations in the Church, is to point to Christ, and to serve the ministry of the Word and Sacraments. 

If any tradition is used to go against, or stand in the way of, or try to replace God’s Word, then it needs to go, or never get started. 

No made-made tradition or innovation can ever replace, the inspired Word of God. 

But in today’s Gospel, that’s what was happening among the Pharisees. So Jesus confronted them. He said, “You leave the commandments of God and hold onto the traditions of men… making void the Word of God, by the traditions you have done.”  

Rather than God’s Word standing in judgment of their traditions, their traditions had come to stand in judgment of God’s Word. They had it all upside down.

No invention of man can ever replace God’s Word. Traditions come and go, but God’s Word endures forever. While innovations succeed or flop, God’s Sacraments remain for our salvation. 

We have many wonderful traditions and excellent innovations in the Church, but above them all are the words and sacraments of God. 

Nothing, anywhere, can ever replace the words God has for you in Scripture.

So eat them up, as Jeremiah says, Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16 

When the words of Scripture come to you, gobble them up! Or as we say in the Collect for the Word, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them.

Receive them deep within you, into your mind and soul, and let them change and bless you in remarkable ways.

Embrace them as the joy and the delight of your heart. 

Consider them as honey on your lips. As Psalm 119:103 says, How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

What a wonderful Word God has given us. May your heart always be hungry for it, your mind always open to it, and may your soul always rejoice in it. 

May it be our joyful tradition to pass it down from generation to generation without interruption. 

And may God’s mighty Word and His comforting Sacraments always give to you, the peace that passes understanding, to guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our eternal joy! Amen.