I remember, as a boy, riding with my uncle in his truck when a black cat ran across the road in front of us. My uncle quickly reached down and pulled his pants leg up to his knee. I guess he saw my surprised and confused look because he immediately said, “If you pull up your pant’s leg, nothing bad will happen to you.”
I also remember seeing people spill some salt and immediately take some salt and throw it over their shoulder to thwart any bad luck.
Are you ready for this Friday – it’s the 13th, you know?
Do you remember the common denominator of all forms of spiritualism, which we talked about a few weeks ago? “Spiritualism is the pursuit of knowledge without the use of reason and the investigation of evidence.”
The Dictionary of Theological Terms defines superstition in this way:
“An irrational belief or practice, judged according to the standard of the word of God. The word comes from two Latin words super, ‘above’, and stare, ‘to stand’. Any belief or practice that ‘stands above’ God’s revealed truth is superstition.”
Your day and the events of it are not controlled by the color of a cat that crosses your path. Nor is it controlled by a particular number of a certain day in the month.
The Israelites once thought they controlled the action of God by having the ark of the covenant in their presence. They soon learned that God is not controlled by any such superstition. In the same way, the Lord’s Supper is a time to remember. It is not some kind of “good luck” charm that brings magical blessing to us.
Our life is to be governed by the revealed will of God.