Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 7?
Mark 7 verses 1 through 23 is what we'll be looking at this morning.
That's page 791 in the Pew Bible.
If you're new to the Bible, the big numbers are the chapters
and the small numbers are the verses.
Mark chapter 7 verses 1 through 23.
Well, let me pray for us and then I'll read.
Father in heaven, what a mighty prayer.
We have just sung.
Take my life and let it be always, only, all for thee.
Father, that is the kind of posture that we desire now
as we come to your word.
That you would give us an openness, a surrender,
a trust in what you are saying to us through your word.
We know that we cannot do that in our own strength and our own desire
so we pray for your spirit to come now
and give us listening ears and hearts
to truly hear what you are saying.
God, thank you for your word,
that it is clear and powerful
and that it does the work you desire
to exalt Christ in our midst,
that we might see him and love him
and be changed more and more into his image by your grace.
We pray this in his mighty name.
Amen.
All right, Mark 7, 1 through 23.
Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him,
that is to Jesus,
with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,
they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands
that were defiled, that is, unwashed.
For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat
unless they wash their hands properly,
holding to the tradition of the elders.
And when they come from the marketplace,
they do not eat unless they wash.
And there are many other traditions that they observe,
such as the washing of cups and pots
and copper vessels and dining couches.
And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him,
Why do your disciples not walk
according to the tradition of the elders,
but eat with defiled hands?
And he said to them,
Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites?
As it is written,
This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
You leave the commandment of God,
and hold to the tradition of men.
And he said to them,
You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God
in order to establish your tradition.
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and whoever reviles father or mother
must surely die.
But you say,
If a man tells his father or mother,
Whatever you would have gained from me is korban,
that is, given to God,
then you no longer permit him
to do anything for his father or mother.
Thus making void the word of God
by your tradition that you have handed down,
and many such things you do.
And he called the people to him again
and said to them,
Hear me, all of you,
and understand,
there's nothing outside a person
that by going into him can defile him,
but the things that come out of a person
are what defile him.
And when he had entered the house
and left the people,
the disciples asked him about the parable.
And he said to them,
Then are you also without understanding?
Do you not see
that whatever goes into a person from outside
cannot defile him,
since it enters not his heart,
but his stomach,
and is expelled?
Thus he declared,
all foods clean.
And he said,
What comes out of a person
is what defiles him.
For from within,
out of the heart of man,
come evil thoughts,
sexual immorality,
theft,
murder,
adultery,
coveting,
wickedness,
deceit,
sensuality,
envy,
slander,
pride,
foolishness.
All these things come from within,
and they defile a person.
So perhaps this has happened to you too.
You're out at a restaurant,
and you decide to use the restroom.
And there,
next to the sink,
is a sign.
All employees must wash their hands
before returning to work.
Now,
I don't know about you,
but two thoughts seem to simultaneously cross my mind
when I see a sign like that.
On the one hand,
I guess I'm glad that the restaurant cares
about the hygiene of their workers
and the cleanliness of their food.
But at the same time,
I'm thinking,
do the workers really need to be reminded
to wash their hands before returning to work?
What if the sign wasn't there?
Would they forget?
What does that say about the workers?
What does that say about this restaurant
and the food I've just eaten?
Well,
our passage today on the surface
is about washing hands.
But in Jesus' day,
this topic was about much more
than just personal hygiene.
It was about holiness,
about being clean and acceptable before God
and being set apart as God's people.
You see this from the language they use,
that the Pharisees aren't just concerned
that Jesus' disciples have dirty hands.
No,
the word they use is defiled.
Literally,
it's common,
which meant at the time,
ceremonially or ritually unclean.
Now,
there were a number of ways
you could become
ritually or ceremonially unclean,
according to the Old Testament.
Eating certain foods,
having certain skin diseases,
coming into contact with a dead animal
or a dead body,
these things and some others
would render you unclean,
according to the cleanliness laws
of the Old Testament.
And that meant,
if you were unclean,
that you couldn't enter the temple
and you couldn't worship in God's presence
with God's people.
And there were certain things
that you had to do
that you could do
to become clean again,
like sacrifices or offerings
or certain washings.
Now,
the point of all this
in the Old Testament
was to teach the people
and to keep before the people
this great fact
that God is infinitely holy
and we are not.
and that to be in God's presence,
we need a deep cleansing.
We need to be washed.
We need to be purified.
That's what all those laws
were meant to be demonstrating
and teaching the people.
Now,
you might think that
such a topic like this
sounds a little irrelevant today,
right?
After all,
you probably didn't wash your hands
this morning
in hopes that you'd achieve
ritual purity
so we'd let you in the front door
of the church,
right?
But if you stop
and think about it,
the desire
to be clean,
the desire
to be accepted,
the desire
to be free
from stain,
the desire
to be whole,
that desire
is just as real
and prevalent today
as it ever has been.
How many people today
are longing
for just that?
Even if they don't have
any belief in God
or any kind of adherence
to a traditional religion,
we feel unclean
and we're not even sure why.
Now,
the controversy
that Jesus has
with the Pharisees here,
or rather that the Pharisees
raised with him
in verses 1 through 5
kind of falls out
into two parts.
The first part
in verses 6 through 13
is all about
who gets to define
what's clean
or unclean.
And the second part
in verses 14 through 23
is about where
real uncleanness
comes from.
So first,
who gets to define it?
And second,
where does it really
come from?
And if we can see
how Jesus answers
those two questions,
then we'll be able
to see the answer
that Jesus gives
and the Bible gives
for how to really
deal with it.
So first,
let's look at
the question of
who gets to define
what's clean or unclean
in verses 6 through 13.
And the answer
that Jesus gives
in a nutshell here
is not human tradition,
but God's word.
It's not human tradition
or custom
that truly defines
what's clean or unclean,
but God's word alone.
Notice the question
that the Pharisees
and the scribes,
that is the religious experts,
ask in verse 5.
Why do your disciples
not walk
according to the tradition
of the elders,
but eat with defiled hands?
And we see in verses 3 and 4
that Mark,
probably for the benefit
of his Gentile readers,
sort of describes briefly
what some of those traditions
were that they were referencing.
Things like washing hands properly
before eating a meal
or ceremonial washing
when returning
from the marketplace
because the marketplace
obviously was a dirty place.
You could have come
into contact
with anything unclean there.
Things like rinsing cups
and pots,
things like even sprinkling
or washing the dining furniture.
Now, where did these rules
come from?
Well, they did not come
from the Old Testament,
from God's law,
the Torah.
These rules,
they came from a body
of unwritten oral tradition
that had grown up
and developed
after the Old Testament
was written.
And for advocates
of this oral tradition,
you see,
well, how did that oral tradition
crop up?
Well, it came to be believed
that the Torah,
that God's word,
was too ambiguous
to establish and govern
the Jewish community.
After all,
the written commandments
declared what God decreed,
but not always how
they were supposed
to be fulfilled.
So the oral tradition
grew up
and began to prescribe
in increasing detail
how the intent
of the Torah
ought to be fulfilled
in actual circumstances.
And by Jesus' day,
adherence
to this unwritten
oral tradition
started to become
as important
for groups like the Pharisees
as was their adherence
to Torah itself.
That the oral tradition
was just as authoritative
as God's word.
Some people even began
to believe
that Moses had received
two laws on Mount Sinai,
the written Torah
and the oral tradition,
and that both
had been handed down.
So you can see
why the Pharisees
were disturbed
when they saw
Jesus' disciples
not following
the tradition
of the elders.
But what's Jesus' response?
How does Jesus evaluate
this human tradition?
Verse 6,
And he said to them,
Well, did Isaiah prophesy
of you hypocrites?
As it is written,
This people honors me
with their lips,
but their heart
is far from me.
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines
the commandments
of men.
That's a quote
from Isaiah 29.
And Jesus says,
You leave the commandment
of God
and hold
to the tradition
of men.
Jesus calls them
hypocrites.
That is,
they're saying
one thing
but doing another.
They're saying
that they're upholding
God's law,
but in reality
all they're doing
is holding on
to a man-made tradition.
And this makes
their worship of God,
Jesus says,
empty
or vain.
It's empty
because it's not God
that they're obeying
or following.
It's simply
human custom.
But the problem
gets worse.
It's not just
that they've added
human traditions
to God's word.
Jesus says in verse 9,
you have a fine way
of rejecting
the commandment of God
in order to establish
your tradition.
Jesus is saying
you cannot
hold on to tradition
without letting go
of God's commandments.
Now that's quite a charge.
Jesus gives the example here
of the fifth commandment,
honor your father
and your mother,
and that was
such a serious command
that cursing
or reviling
your father and mother
in ancient Israel
could be charged
as a capital offense.
Clearly this is something
God takes very seriously.
And yet in the first century
there was a practice
rooted in the oral tradition
of korban,
which means offering
or gift
as in an offering
to God.
What would happen
is that if someone
were to declare
that their goods
or their property
or korban,
it was to make
a vow that said
when I'm done
using this property,
these goods,
this wealth,
when I'm done
using this,
it's all going
to be given over
to God
and donated
to the temple.
Essentially the idea
was something like
deferred giving,
right?
Today a person
can will their property
to a charity
or an institution
at their death,
but in the meantime
they get to keep
possession over it
and get to keep
the proceeds
and the interest
that accrue from it
until they die
and then it goes
to whatever charity
they assign it to,
right?
Likewise,
in the first century,
if a son,
for example,
declared all his property
korban,
it would eventually
go to the temple.
But what that meant
was that because
it had been given
to God,
he didn't need
to use it
to take care
of his aging parents.
In essence,
you would vow it
to God
and that would
absolve you
of any responsibility
to use it
during your lifetime
to care for others,
even your parents.
And notice verse 12,
Jesus says,
you no longer
permit him
to do anything
for his father
or mother.
There are some
historical records
that show that
once property
had been sort of
vowed or offered
to God in this way
or promised
to the temple
in this way,
priests would even
discourage anyone
from withdrawing it
from korban
in order to return
it to regular use.
Now you can see
how they perhaps
justified
such a practice,
right?
After all,
doesn't God
deserve our very best?
Doesn't our commitment
to God rank higher
than even our commitment
to our earthly parents?
And so your
offering of your property
to God
supersedes
giving to your parents,
right?
But in reality,
the human tradition
of korban
nullified God's word.
Rather than
obeying God,
they rejected
what God's word
plainly said.
Honor your father
and your mother,
which certainly
entailed
caring for them
in their aging
and in their need.
And this wasn't
an isolated example.
Jesus says,
and many such things
you do.
This kind of thinking
was standard procedure,
Jesus says,
elevating human tradition
and thereby rejecting
God's word.
So who gets to define
what's clean
or unclean?
Human tradition?
Human customs?
No,
Jesus says,
God's word
alone.
Any attempt
to supplement
or add
to God's word
with human tradition
or human custom
will only end up
supplanting
or undermining
or replacing
God's word.
And this wasn't
just a problem
for first century Pharisees.
Church history
has replayed
this danger
again
and again
and again.
Whenever human tradition
was elevated,
God's word
was denigrated.
And as the authority
and understanding
of God's word
decreases,
human traditions
take more and more
and more
of an importance.
So whose voice
then
are you listening
to?
Are you looking
to merely human
voices
to tell you
whether or not
you're clean
and acceptable?
Or
are you looking
to God's word?
The influencers
on social media
your peers
at work
or at school
the great
intellectuals
of our day
none of these
can really define
what's clean
or unclean.
Only
God can.
And that's a
greatly liberating
message.
You don't have
to listen
to the constant
noise
of voices
around you
trying to tell you
how to be okay
and how to be
the real you
and how to be
significant.
You don't have
to keep up
with the
constantly changing
fads of the
world in order
to be whole.
They can't
really define
what's clean
or unclean.
Only
God can.
So what does
God say?
Where does
real uncleanness
come from?
That brings us
to the second
point of our
passage.
In verses
14 through
23 Jesus
tells us
where real
uncleanness
comes from.
Verse 14
And he called
the people
to him again
and said to
them,
Hear me
all of you
and understand.
There's nothing
outside a person
that by going
into him
can defile him.
But the things
that come
out of a person
are what
defile him.
Now at first
this kind of
confuses the
disciples.
They think it's
kind of a
parable, right?
It's a little
confusing.
Okay, Jesus,
it's not the
food that we
eat.
It's the food
that comes
out.
What do you
mean?
Right?
But Jesus
says, no,
no, no,
no, no.
What I mean
is, it's not
what goes into
your mouth
that defiles
you.
It's what
comes out
of your
heart.
The real
problem isn't
foods or
washings or
anything outside
of you.
The real
problem is
inside of
you.
And it's
inside of
me, too.
Now the
truth is,
friends, this
passage should
disturb us.
We are
used to
hearing today
that if we
just get in
touch with our
deepest feelings
or learn to
listen to what
our heart is
truly telling
us, then
we will find
our real
identity.
Then we
will discover
happiness and
fulfillment and
wholeness.
It's not the
externals that
define us.
Yes, we agree
with that, but
then Jesus says,
but it's not the
internal either.
Jesus has
something quite
different to
say.
He says,
getting in
touch with your
truest, deepest
feelings won't
sort you out.
What if the
feelings that
most truly
express who we
currently are
turn out to be
murderous,
adulterous,
envious,
foolish,
arrogant,
and all the
rest?
The fact that
we have these
feelings down in
our hearts
doesn't mean
that they're
validated or
true or right
or good.
On the
contrary,
it means we
have a problem.
A problem
that runs
right through
us.
One writer
put it this
way,
there's a
crack in
the building
which isn't
just a bit
of damaged
stonework on
the exterior,
the whole
structure is
faulty.
Keeping
external purity
laws can be
one way of
papering over
the crack,
but so can
quote,
getting in
touch with
your feelings.
If there's
evil,
it infects
the whole.
You see,
in the
Bible,
the human
heart that
Jesus references
a number of
times in this
passage,
it's the center
of your
personality in
the Bible.
It's sort of
the wellspring
of your
thoughts and
your feelings
and your
actions.
Jesus is
telling us
here that
it's as if
deep down
in that
central part
of who
we are,
there's a
computer virus
running amok
and it's
churning out
code after
code that
begin with
what Jesus
calls in
verse 21,
evil thoughts
or evil
intentions.
It's as if
there's this
self-centered
bent in
everything that
we do.
And after
those evil
intentions,
Jesus lists
six nouns
that in the
Greek are all
actually plural.
The first six
after evil
thoughts,
evil intentions,
they're all in
the plural as
if to describe
evil actions.
Acts of
sexual immorality,
thefts,
murders,
adulteries,
deeds of
avarice or
coveting,
malicious acts.
And then
those six
plural nouns,
those evil
acts,
are followed
by six
nouns in
the singular
as if to
say,
here are the
evil attitudes,
deceit,
sensuality,
envy,
slander,
pride,
foolishness.
Notice there's
a bit of a
progression here,
isn't there?
From intention
or desire
to actions
and then
finally into
settled attitudes
or habits.
So what is
Jesus telling
us then?
Is he telling
us that
everything is
hopeless?
That humans
are just
awful and
we should
give up?
No.
He's telling
us that what
we need
above all
else
isn't merely
clean hands
but clean
hearts.
that's why
the Pharisees
were so
misguided.
They thought
that if they
could just
compile more
and more
traditions and
regulations about
external cleanliness
they could really
be cleaned.
But it was
never going to
work.
I ran across
an article this
week by the
jewelry designer
Alex and
Annie or
Annie and
Alex.
Kim you
know who I'm
talking about
right?
Alex and
Annie and
they said
here's how you
do a
spiritual
cleanse.
They listed a
few things.
One was take
a bath.
The other was
find some good
crystals that
you could sort
of harness
their energy.
The other was
sort of light
some incense
and do some
herbal kind of
incense around
your room.
The other was
write down the
name of all the
people who've
offended you and
then burn it.
Right?
Now none of
those things are
wrong right?
I don't know about
the crystal thing
but you know
those can all be
relaxing or
therapeutic.
But it seems a
little pharisaical
doesn't it?
More and more
external practices
to try to find
an internal
cleansing.
But you know
the other
strategy that we
try today is
justice misguided.
You know we
tell people to
follow their
feelings and
trust their
heart and
then they'll
be whole.
But that can
never work
either.
So what's the
answer?
How do we get
a clean heart?
Well you know
the answer isn't
actually found in
our passage this
morning per se.
In this passage
Jesus only
diagnoses the
problem.
And the
problem is more
radical than we
could have ever
imagined isn't it?
You know it's so
easy for us to
think about
external things we
need to change to
be okay.
But Jesus is
saying you've got
to go much
deeper than that.
But there is a
hint in our
passage that
points to the
answer that the
rest of Mark's
gospel gives.
There's a hint.
Did you notice at
the end of verse
19 how Mark
gives this little
editorial comment?
He says,
thus Jesus
declared all
foods clean.
It's such a
short little
statement that we
miss how radical
it is.
After all, do you
see what Jesus
just did in this
passage?
Mark underlines it
for us at the end
of verse 19 with
this little
parenthetical aside.
For thousands of
years God had
taught the people
of Israel that
some foods were
clean and some
were unclean and
it mattered a lot
which ones you
ate and didn't
eat.
And by doing so
God was teaching
his people that
they needed to be
holy and clean and
set apart in order
to be in his
presence, in order
to be his people.
But now in an
instant Jesus
declares all foods
are clean.
Just like that.
Isn't that
amazing?
After just
excoriating the
Pharisees for
elevating human
tradition above
God's word,
Jesus comes and
says, I'm telling
you all foods are
clean.
Tells you a little
something about who
Jesus thought he
was, doesn't it?
Now that I'm
here, Jesus is
saying, the purity
laws are reaching
their fulfillment.
Under the old
covenant, Jesus is
saying, my father
taught you about
your need to be
made clean.
clean.
But now, all
that is coming
to its
fulfillment, to
its goal.
What those
clean laws were
meant to teach
you, what they
were meant to
point to, it's
here.
The Old
Testament spoke
of purity and
set up the laws
as signposts to
it.
But now Jesus
was offering the
reality.
Does that mean
the laws were
worthless or
pointless?
No.
Not at all.
Think about it.
If you arrive at
a destination, you
don't need the
signposts anymore,
right, that lead
you there.
But that's not
because the
signposts were
wrong, but because
they've led you to
the right place.
The signposts did
their job and they
were good.
But now that you're
there, you don't
need them anymore.
The clean laws were
pointing to Jesus
the whole time.
You see, this is
where Jesus and
the Pharisees
perhaps most
profoundly differed.
The Pharisees saw
the Old Testament
primarily as a
book of rules that
needed to be
explained and
applied through an
ever-increasing body
of human traditions
and regulations.
But the Old
Testament isn't
primarily a code of
behavior.
God's word
primarily is a story
which leads to
Jesus as its
fulfillment.
Yes, God does
give us laws and
they're good.
But we don't get
clean through an
ever-increasing list
of regulations.
We get clean
through the person
of Jesus.
Not through what we
do or don't do,
but through what
Jesus has done.
But how does that
work?
Jesus was able to
fulfill the purity
laws of the Old
Testament because
he was the ultimate
sacrifice that makes
us clean.
When God became a
human being in
Jesus Christ, he was
able in his
humanity to take
all of our dirt and
all of our stains and
all of our guilt and
shame and he was able
to take them and
bear them up on the
cross.
In love, he took
the place of
everyone who would
admit their uncleanness
and trust in him.
And when he died in
our place, all of our
spiritual uncleanness
died with him.
That unclean heart
that we all have
stopped beating
when Jesus was put
in the grave.
But then,
three days later,
he rose.
A new
thing was born
on Easter
Sunday
in our humanity
coming out of the
tomb.
The apostle Paul
says he rose
for our
justification.
You see, a new
covenant was now in
place.
The old covenant
that God set up
through Moses was
now fulfilled by
Jesus.
All its demands
had been obeyed.
All its penalties
had been paid.
Now, the only thing
that was left to do
was simply to trust
in the one who had
done it for you.
This is the new
covenant in Jesus
Christ.
You and I
give him
your sinful heart
and in return
he gives you a new
heart.
A heart of flesh
filled with his
spirit
that beats for him
in the power
of his resurrection.
Now, that doesn't
mean that you'll
never struggle
with sin
as a Christian.
Christians will
battle with sin
until the day
we meet Christ
in glory.
But what it does
mean
is that sin's
power won't
rule over you.
There's a new
principle now
at work in you.
Working out
not evil practices
and evil attitudes
but putting you
on a trajectory
of righteousness
and truth
and justice.
Because you've
been made new.
Because you've
been made whole.
Because Christ
has made you
clean.
And if that's
true of you
in Christ
then you won't
need the external
voices
of human
customs or
traditions
to validate
you.
What a wonderful
thing
to not have
to live
according to
the ever-changing
attitudes and
customs and
traditions
of a world
that can't quite
figure out
what it thinks.
And it also
means that you
won't need to
search your
internal voices
of your heart
either.
You don't have
to go on some
hunt to find
the real you
deep in the
swirling desires
of your own
psyche.
Because you're
rooted in
something much
more sure
and lasting
and secure.
You've found
your identity
in God's word
and God's son
alive and active
in you
through God's
spirit.
And that's the
cleanness,
that's the
wholeness
that you and I
were made for.
Let's pray
together.
Our Father in
heaven, we take
a moment
in the stillness
here together
gathered as your
people
to confess
that we not
only have
unclean
hands
but we have
unclean
hearts.
Lord, we
don't like
admitting this.
We don't like
admitting that
we need a
solution that
goes as deep
as our very
heart.
And yet,
Father, we
thank you
that this is
the very
solution you've
provided in
Christ.
We pray that
by your spirit
you would be
doing your
work in
our hearts
that changes
from the
inside out
by your
grace.
Father, for
those who are
here this
morning who
are still
considering
Christianity,
considering the
claims of
Jesus to be
Lord, to be
the real
cleanser, God,
I pray that you
would help
them to see
Christ in all
of his beauty
and to trust
in him.
Father, and for
those that you
have drawn to
yourself, into
your family, into
your church, for
those who you've
given this new
birth in this
clean heart, God,
I pray that we
would continue to
put sin to
death and walk
in paths of
righteousness for
your namesake.
Lord, and help us
as a church to be
guided always and
ever by your
word.
To not let human
traditions or
customs drive us
by fear or by
pride, but to let
your word always do
its work in our
midst, leading us
and guiding us
into all truth.
We pray this,
Father, in the
mighty name of
Jesus.
Amen.