Mark 7:14-23
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.The Gospel reading today is a continuation of the reading from last week. Jesus is attacking the oral traditions which were recorded in writing in the Mishnah late in the 2nd century AD.
To review there were two sets of laws the Mosaic Laws God handed to Moses in Leviticus and the oral traditions or hedge laws that protected the Mosaic Law. In the Mosaic Law there were laws concerning cleanliness and others that concerned symbolic purity. As if God's Laws needed protection, the Pharisees added to them in their oral tradition. As an example the Mishnah records in great detail how to wash during eating. What started as washing before a meal in the Mosaic Law was improved upon with washing after a meal, and then improved again to wash between each course of a meal. Even the manner in which the water was to run down the wrists was recorded in detail.
These intricate laws were an outward showing of righteousness that didn't necessarily reflect the same righteousness of the heart. This pious show of the oral traditions was a burden on the people. The oral traditions frustrated the common people because there were so many of them that it was nearly impossible not to break one of the laws at every turn. The people carried a heavy burden of guilt; there was no hope of keeping all of the laws, and thus no hope of going to heaven.
Jesus attacks the Pharisees for obscuring the commands of God with man-made laws in the oral traditions.
In this part of the reading Jesus makes special mention of what makes man clean and unclean. In a parallel to the vision Peter sees in the book of Acts, Jesus is telling the people that all foods are clean. Nothing eaten or even coming from outside the body makes someone unclean. Only what comes out of their heart can make them unclean.
Of course we are speaking in terms of spiritual cleanliness. If I trip and fall into a mud puddle I'm definitely going to get dirty. That doesn't make me spiritually unclean but what may come out of my mouth could show that I'm unclean of heart.
It's our wicked thoughts, words, and deeds that defile us, not the environment around us or the food we eat. When Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well about a spring of living water, it was the spring of the Holy Spirit. That spring fills us up and then we also become a spring of precious clean water flowing from the heart to others around us.
If we continue on a path of uncleanliness in the spiritual sense we are also a spring. The spring flows just as mightily but it spews forth poisonous water that can infect others or drive them away. As in another analogy Jesus and the prophets used the tree that bears good fruit and the tree that bears bad fruit. No one is going to harvest bad fruit for themselves. The farmer will chop down the tree and plant a new tree in its place. Like the clean waters of a spring or good fruit of a tree Jesus wants us to have that cleanliness of heart so that we have a right relationship with Him.
Did you take notice to the list of things Jesus specifically calls unclean? In verse 20 we see listed, evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. Arrogance and folly really means both intellectually and morally. We all are guilty of at least 25% of the items listed. Of course this is not a score card it's not like golf where the low score wins. He is saying each is as bad as any of the others. The only winners are those that trust in Jesus to erase the points and tear up the list on their behalf.
In our confession we admit we are sinful creatures worthy of damnation but also receive absolution for our sins because Jesus intercedes for us. We are both sinners and saints, sinners because we are part of fallen creation and yet we are saints by our redemption in the death and resurrection of Christ.
I can see where this leads to two very different reactions. Those who dwell on being the sinner and those who leap with both feet into the role of saint.
At one extreme the sinner is never worthy. The sinner never makes any attempt to reach out because their fear is rejection based on their broken life. They fail to truly accept the precious gift of grace Jesus offers. Satan loves how these people beat them selves up in effect they are not working against him so they are for him.
At the other extreme the saint who takes hold of the righteousness and runs with it. They really don't know where they are running to but they are running. During their run their misguided self-righteousness offends and even bumps people off the path. Satan finds delight with these folks as well. They are doing, or perhaps undoing is a better word. By their judgments and actions their lips may honor God but its evident their heart does not.
The true disciples understand that they are sinners as well as saints. They are bold in that they risk rejection because of their past but move on. They are wise in that they know they are redeemed but no more righteous than the next person. Their deeds and words reflect the heart of a true disciple sharing God's love, proving there is grace and mercy.
Our poor sinner is like the beaten commoners of Jesus' time burdened with guilt without hope. The Law holds them down as well as the oral traditions and judgments of their fellow man. Unfortunately our over zealous saint follows the road of the Pharisee serving up judgment and harsh words. The zealous saints can be as hypocritical as the Pharisees of two millennia ago.
The true disciple has to walk the line between sinner and saint. Realizing that mistakes will occur but those mistakes are erased by a loving Savior Jesus Christ. This is what we are asked to strive for but we can only do it with the help of the Holy Spirit. The unclean is purged and we become springs of living water.
The disciples have a special role in this world to lift up the broken sinners and show by example that there is hope and mercy provided by Jesus. At the same time the disciple must stand against the obscuring oral traditions that drive away those in need of the Gospel.
Jesus was honest that the role of disciple was difficult but He promised the rewards are heavenly.
In the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
