August 30, 2015 --- The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 7:1-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,* thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and 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.*) 5So 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?’ 6He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
   teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’

9 Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” 11But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God*)— 12then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’

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

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’ 

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." 

·        How much is enough? It’s a simple enough question: When is the job done? How much is enough?

·        We’ve all had experience doing dishes, haven’t we? I would think so anyway. If you haven’t had any experience doing dishes, there will be a training seminar just after dinner at my house. The fee will be minimal; bring your own sponge.

·        So how do you know if the dishes are clean enough? For the Pharisees and the scribes, washing plates, cups, and other vessels as well as the hands, was vital but we don’t know how clean was “clean” for them.

·        They did speak to Jesus in a very condemning way about his disciple eating without washing. Jesus takes them to task for obeying their own wishes rather than God’s commandments, using the “Corban” tradition as an example. It seem that at the time a person could declare any and all support they might have given to their elderly parents as an offering to God, particularly for the Temple, and by that, stop supporting their parents. Remember that there was no Social Insurance or old age pension at this time. Widows, orphans, and what we’d now call “seniors” had to fend for themselves unless someone supported them. If no one would help them, the only real alternative was begging.

·        So the Pharisees and scribe of Jesus’ day were highly concerned with fulfilling many traditions such as washing, but were less concerned with the commandment regarding taking care of – or “honouring” parents.

·        There was no way that Jesus or his disciples could change the minds of their critics. They didn’t wash their hands and scrub away all the unclean influences they had encountered around them. And if they had washed their hands, had they washed them enough to no longer be defiled? Were they washed in the proper way?

·        This criticism could go beyond the simple observance of a law or tradition. It could become a way of asserting supremacy and control: you don’t wash and we do; you’re sinners and we’re not; God is not pleased with you and is quite pleased with us.

·        The criticism goes even further. Observance of the tradition allows lines to be drawn. It can be decided who is “in” and who is “out”, who is “good” and who is “evil”, who is “righteous” and who is “sinful.”

·        This simply proves what Jesus says to the crowd: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. It is not the hand or the plate that defiles, but the attitude that flows from within that defiles, despite any outward observance of a law or tradition. In this case, there is plenty of pride   along with self-righteousness and probably folly.

·        What then is the remedy? More striving? Working harder? If so, how much is enough? There is no way to know and there’s no way to be sure.

·        The remedy has to be elsewhere. The Scripture gives us answers. The Law was given to the people of Israel after they had left Egypt. There was no prerequisite behavior and no waiting until they had deserved the freedom from slavery. They were freed from slavery and then received the Law.

·        Jesus died for our sins before there was any question of deserving. The idea of deserving our salvation, of earning our salvation is uprooted by this. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) God’s way is the way of grace, not of what is deserved or merited.

·        This is a joy to hear. Our salvation depends on the righteousness and grace of God, rather than our own righteousness, our own efforts, or our own merit. Our salvation is grace.

·        If we are told our relationship with God depends on how we wash our cups and pots, we are being told a falsehood. If we are told that the presence of the grace of God depends upon our actions, on who we associate with, on what words we use at prayer, and any number of things like that… then that is not grace.

·        So if Jesus says that it is what comes from within that defiles a person, what can we do in that light? What is there to do but respond to grace, repent, and turn again to the freely-given grace of God? Then what? Well, tell me if this sounds familiar: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, God forgives us all our sins. …I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins…

·        No one is excluded from grace. No one is an exception to grace. No one deserves or can come to deserve grace. It is God’s gift.

·        The story of that gift is something worth sharing. That surely is Good News.