GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his
disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.
(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they
thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the
market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they
observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)
So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your
disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with
defiled hands?" He said
to them,
"Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is
written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me; in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment
of God and hold to human tradition."
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to
me, all of you, and understand: there
is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that
come out are what defile."
"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."
SERMON
Part of me wishes the Pharisees were right. That all it took to
be faithful was to follow the rules. Can you imagine how much easier it might
be if instead of, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, your strength and
your might,” we had, “Wash your hands before you eat.” The Pharisees followed the
church elder’s rules, whose temple ritual was to wash their hands and food from
the market before they ate, and to wash the pots afterward. These days we know
those things are a good idea, and that in some ways they do make one pure, or
at least healthier. What they don’t make is someone a Christian. It would be a
whole lot easier to be a Christian if all we had to do was to wash our hands.
It would be a whole lot easier if all we had to do was follow the rules.
We have these types of rules and Pharisees in our Church today.
Some people believe you must end yours prayers, ‘In Christ’s name we pray.’
Others believe you cannot wear a stole unless you are ordained. Still others
believe eating without first praying is some kind of grave sin. Some say you must
be baptized to take communion. Others think that cussing will keep you out of
heaven. Still others find guitars in worship unpleasing to the Lord. We all
have these rules for our faith of what being a good Christian looks like. And
as your pastor, one who has broken all the rules above and many more, I don’t
much believe in the rules. I do think it would be easier.
Instead, somehow our heart has to follow the rules. For example,
it is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to be prideful. It
is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to envy. It is easier
to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to slander. It is easier to wash
our hands than it is for our heart not be greedy. It is much graver for our
heart to steal, to murder, to lie, to trick, and to commit adultery than it is
to not wash our hands.
Jesus is asking the
Pharisees do something much harder than the Pharisees are asking him. He is
asking the Pharisees and us to have clean heart. He is asking us to worship him
in all our thoughts and our feelings. He is asking us to be like him - a task
too deep to ever achieve, yet a task too worthy not to try. For not to try
would be to give up, to be satisfied with the status quo, to be hopeless for
change in the world, to think that simply washing our hands was enough. It is a
daunting task before us, a task we can never fully fulfill, but it is not a
task we are left alone to try.
Somewhere buried in the text Jesus is showing us how. It is not
what he is saying that matters as much as what he is doing. He is sticking up
for his disciples for they have done more than wash their hands. They have left
everything and followed him, and in turn he is showing them the way. Amen.
