December 9, 2005

CLEAN HANDS AND DIRTY HEARTS

Mark 7:1-23

As we have been tracing Jesus’ ministry through the Gospel of Mark, we have seen that there was increasing opposition and hostility toward his ministry from the religious hierarchy in Jerusalem. They complained about his healing on the Sabbath day. They were aghast when he assumed the authority and power to forgive a man’s sins. They even went so far as to accuse him of doing his miracles by the power of Satan.

In the section we read this morning, this conflict is once again the central focus. It emerges over what appears to be a trivial issue. These Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem observed Jesus’ disciples eating food without first washing their hands. At first glance it appears to be as silly as a childish family argument, as one brother tries to get another brother in trouble: “Mom, Johnny didn’t wash his hands before dinner!”

In fact, there is far more at stake. The issue actually has nothing to do with hygiene or germs, but rather the practice of ritual or ceremonial cleansing. The concept of “clean” and “unclean” were religious categories and defined a person’s fitness to pray and worship and stand in the presence of God. In the Old Testament law, certain foods and substances and objects were pronounced as unclean. To touch blood, or to come in contact with a dead body, or to eat certain foods rendered a person unclean. The law then prescribed a set of actions or sacrifices whereby the individual could be cleansed and once again be fit to approach God in worship. This was God’s way of teaching the people of Israel the reality of his own holiness and the importance of his people living holy lives, set apart for him.

What happened, however, was that over time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law took this concept and began to embellish it and add to it. To the idea of known defilement they added the concept of unknown and accidental defilement. When you went out in public you might have touched something or come in contact with someone who was unclean. This unknown contamination, they taught, needed to be removed by certain rituals of washing. They were very detailed in their prescribed methods, describing certain ways to wash, and even stipulating how much water was to be used and so on.

These prescribed rituals became an essential part of Judaism. During Jesus’ days these teachings were in the form of oral tradition. But they continued after Jesus’ days, and were codified and written down in the 2^nd century AD in what was known as the Mishnah. This document clearly shows how seriously they took this matter, with a large portion of the writings given over to these rituals of cleansing. One great rabbi was honored because when he was in prison, and part of his daily allotment of water was spilled, he chose to use the remaining water for washing rather than drinking. It was written that one who neglected hand-washing was “as bad as a murderer.”

We need to understand this background and also realize that there is not one word about such ceremonial washing in the Old Testament. It was all an addition by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, thus becoming a “tradition of the elders.” Thus the Pharisees were scandalized by the fact that Jesus’ disciples failed to observe the traditions. We read their accusation in verse 5: So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?”  To their way of thinking, this was a very serious charge.

How did Jesus handle it? In no way did he deny the charge. Rather he uses the occasion to confront the Pharisees with two fundamental errors in their system of belief and practice. And as we dig a little, we will find that these same two issues or questions are very relevant to our understanding today.

The first issue that Jesus confronted was I. The Question of Authority. What is the final, binding rule of authority by which we determine our actions and what is right and wrong? Jesus accuses the Pharisees of a very serious error in this regard, and he makes the point three different times.

Look at verse 6: You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.

Then in verse 9: You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.

Finally in verse 13: Thus you nullify the word of God by your traditions that you have handed down.

That these accusations were true can be born out in Jewish writings. Here is a direct quote: “The sayings of the elders have more weight than those of the prophets.” Here is another one: “An offense against the sayings of Scribes is worse than one against those of Scripture.” According to Alfred Edersheim in his classic book: The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Jewish traditionalism placed the oral traditions above the written Law. They worshipped the Law, but their real authority in every day practice was their traditions.

This was the first issue that Jesus confronted and condemned in the Pharisees on this occasion. Now, of course, he knew that they would protest that there was no actual conflict between their traditions and the Scripture, so he offers them an example.

(Read Mark 7:9-12) What is Jesus referring to here? The clear teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures was the requirement to honor our parents and this included caring for them in their old age. So what was this practice of Corban that Jesus refers to? This was not taught in the Old Testament. It was one of their traditions. To call something “Corban” was to take a vow by which a person committed himself to give a certain amount of money or property to God and to the temple worship. Now, what people were doing was pledging to God the portion of their resources that should have gone to care for their aging parents.

What came next is a little less certain. Some scholars believe that this was like setting up a “trust” fund. You didn’t have to actually give the money right away. You could keep it, use it to generate more income, or whatever. The one thing you couldn’t do was give it away to anyone else. It was “devoted to God.” It was the equivalent of a religious tax loophole. Others take a more charitable view of the Pharisees, indicating that the amount that was pronounced “Corban” was actually expected to be given to God. But the bottom line was that this was giving to God which was not commanded or required in the law. It was over and above the tithe or required offering. It was a way of earning spiritual bonus points, and if done in certain ways, winning human praise for the giver. But in the process, the Biblical responsibility to care for one’s parents was neglected. As Jesus said, man’s traditions and priorities had taken precedence over God’s word. And Jesus added, You do many things like that.

The question of authority looms large in the life of every Christian and every church. It was one of the key battle lines of the Reformation. Along with the principles of “sola fide” and “sola charis”, by faith alone and through grace alone, the Reformers raised a third cry: “Sola Scriptura”; The Scripture alone as the final rule of authority in faith and practice in the believer’s life.

Let’s be clear. The problem does not lie in tradition itself. God is not anti tradition. There are good traditions and helpful ones. The problem comes when we elevate human tradition to a level of authority equal to or greater than the Scripture, the Word of God. When we do that, error will inevitably replace truth and we will end up living our lives on a false foundation.

Jesus, in this passage, is particularly speaking to the problem of man’s traditions replacing the truth of God in our lives. But tradition is not the only pretender to the throne of authority in our lives and in the life of the church. There are other challengers for the place of authority in our lives. For example the latest, newest, most popular fad or trend sweeping the church can become our authority. If everyone is doing it, it must be right. The teaching of a powerful, dynamic leader can become our final authority. Our own experience of dreams or visions or revelations can become our base of authority. I could go on. They all have one thing in common. They take something that is human or man-based, and place it on a level of authority higher than the Scripture.

Now apart from these broad categories, I am deliberately not going to give any present day examples of this principle in operation. The reason for that is that we are all quite good at spotting the errors in other people’s traditions and faith systems and then feeling smug. But we find it remarkably difficult to spot our own errors. Rather I want to challenge each one of us to honestly ask the question: Is there anything that I have set up in my life as a source of authority equal to or greater than Scripture? Is there any area of life in which I am nullifying the word of God to follow my traditions or another man-based authority source? I am not saying that we must abandon all tradition. Nor are we required to ignore contemporary church trends, or turn a deaf ear to effective human teachers, or ignore the more mystical leadings of the Spirit. But what we are required to do is to subject all of them to the scrutiny of the Scripture as our final authority.

Well, that is the Question of Authority which was so relevant in Jesus’ day and still so important for us to resolve correctly today. But there is another issue that Jesus confronted in the Pharisees world view and belief system that day. That was II. The Question of Defilement. What defiles us? What makes us unclean? What makes us unfit to stand in the presence of the holy God of the universe?

The Pharisees took the Old Testament teaching on holiness and the rituals of cleansing in the Law and drew wrong conclusions. They objectified sin and uncleanness as something external, something “out there.” The very word “Pharisee” came from a root meaning separate. If they could just build up a wall of separation between themselves and that corrupt world, they would be clean and holy to stand in the presence of God. So their whole system of laws and traditions became an elaborate scheme to separate themselves from sinful people and unclean objects. This led to the heavy emphasis on washing of hands and other cleansing rituals.

Now Jesus lays a bomb at the base of their entire religious system and world view. We find it in verse 14-15: Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean’.

This saying not only upset the Pharisees, but it also puzzled Jesus’ disciples who had been raised in that same world view, so when they get a chance in private, they ask Jesus to explain. He responded in verse 18-19: “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.”

You see, the Pharisees’ view was that they were basically good people. It was what came to them from the outside that contaminated them. Jesus said, “No. These things can’t really defile you because they simply pass right through the body. What defiles us, what makes us unclean and unacceptable in God’s sight is what comes out of our hearts. (Read verses 20-23)

The real source of our defilement is inside of us. It is the sin in our own corrupt hearts and thoughts which comes out in the form of wrong words and actions. That is what defiles us and makes us unclean in God’s sight. This is a fundamental difference in world view and understanding. It affected the world in which Jesus lived and it is a debate that still rages today. Is man basically good or basically corrupt? If we are basically good, then the key strategy is to separate ourselves and our families from contaminating influences and let our basic goodness emerge. But if man is basically corrupt, that strategy will never work. Why not? Because when we have cut ourselves off from those external, corrupting influences, when we have cleaned up our environment, the fundamental problem remains; the sin and corruption in our own hearts. And that is the corruption that makes us unacceptable to God.

When I was young, we lived on a mission station in Tanzania. It was a rather remote location, and we had a fair population of snakes in the area; Puff adders, mambas, pythons and the occasional cobra visited us from time to time. I was never terribly afraid of snakes in the yard. I learned to treat them with healthy respect, take precautions and avoid the obvious hiding places. We could spot them, avoid them and kill them when necessary. But there was one thing I dreaded. That was the cry, “There is a snake in the house!” Suddenly, my whole security system was breached. There was no place safe. I was afraid to go to bed, I was afraid to open a drawer, or sit in a chair, because the snake could be lurking there. The Pharisees treated sin like it was snake in the yard. It was something “out there” that could be identified, defended against and defeated by rigorous precautions. But the reality is far different. Jesus gives us the bad news. We’ve got snakes in the house! And they are breeding there! The evil is inside us.

I remember hearing a testimony many years ago that powerfully illustrated this reality. I was working in a youth ministry in the inner city of Newark, New Jersey in the U.S. I had the privilege of being a part of a vibrant church that was reaching many young people for Christ. At an open air meeting one evening, one of these young people gave his testimony. I still remember his words. After describing his years growing up in a rough neighborhood he said this. “I used to think that my problems were caused by the fact that I lived in the ghetto. But when I read the Bible, I realized that my real problem was that I had a ghetto in my heart.”

So what can we do about the evil inside of us which makes us unclean before God? Well, let’s realize what won’t work. Running away to a monastery won’t help us. Separating ourselves from so called sinful objects or people won’t get to the root of our problem. Have you ever bought a tube of medicine at the Chemist/Drug store that said “For external use only”? External medicines only solve external problems.  We have to admit that we have an internal problem. We have a heart problem. What makes us unclean and unacceptable to God are the evil thoughts and desires in our hearts. We need heart medicine. We need medicine that can cleanse our hearts.

The hymn writer asks the question: “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Mark, the gospel writer, hasn’t gotten there yet in his presentation, but that is where he is going. We’ll find it in Mark 10:45 in Jesus’ own words: Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The Question of Defilement still burns with relevance for us today. Where does defilement come from? What is it that renders us unclean and unacceptable before God? And what is the remedy? It is the blood of Jesus. In the words of the Apostle John: The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin...He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 1:7, 2:2)