Sermon for February 16

The reading

Mark 7:1-23

1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they 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; 4 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. ) 5 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?" 6 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; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8 You 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! 10 For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother'; and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 11 But 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 ) -- 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus 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: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

The message

Today, we continue our journey to Easter through the Gospel of Mark.  At this point, we see the conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities (in this case the Pharisees, an elite group of scholars and experts in the law, one of several groups constantly fighting for power).  In this conflict we hear Jesus answer a question that many of us have, that many followers of Christ answer differently and even people outside the Christian faith ask and answer.  The question is how does a person live out their faith, how do you respond authentically to God’s grace, love and power, what do you do now that you know about Jesus and the kingdom of God.

The Pharisees had their answer to this question, living out faith meant obeying and keeping a series of rules, regulations and restrictions.  This argument between Jesus and the religious leaders is about some of those rules and regulations. In this case, ritual washing and codes for how food is processed, prepared and eaten. I’d like to start with saying this is not flu, germ and disease prevention, please continue to wash your hands after using the bathroom, blowing your nose, before eating, after taking the train, touching anything that has been near or in a preschool etc.  The type of washing that the pharisees are talking about is concerned with ritual purity, not public health.  Parts of the Torah, the laws in the old testament were meant to regulate life and point people to God’s power and grace. They do include laws regarding food.  Part of Leviticus 11 for instance: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,  “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: ³ You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. ‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁷ And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. ⁸ You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.  

The Torah does not mention how to wash your hands, dishes, cups, bowls and plates.  Those laws were ones that the Pharisees created and added to the law during their quest for purity and remaining undefiled. These additions are not explicitly in the Torah but the Pharisees insisted their rules had the same standing.  Jesus is angered and must protest the claim that somehow, these human traditions had the same authority as God’s word. Jesus asks who gave them the authority, the right, the responsibility to make and then demand people follow these traditions like they were God’s law. 

Of course, this conflict immediately escalates as Jesus goes beyond how you clean your hands, dish cups and bowls.  These human traditions did not stop at how we clean our hands, dishes, cups and bowls so neither does Jesus.  Jesus looks at the practice of Corban, which allows breaking one of the 10 commandments, After this, Jesus goes even further, dismissing and replacing the whole idea of ritual purity, giving authority back to God. 

Jesus tells the pharisees You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!   And then shows them how.  Putting the word of  Moses  "Honor your father and your mother'; and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.'  Against the tradition But 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 ) --  then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother,  thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this." 

Jesus goes on to clarify how we live out our faith properly. Obedience or life in the spirit does not come from trying to follow the pharisee’s complex and ever changing series of extra rules, it comes from the heart, not from how we wash our cups but what we do, not from how we wash dishes but how we treat others, not from when we wash our hands but how we use our resources, not from skipping that pork sausage but what we say, not from who we exclude but who we include.

In a complete upheaval of the ways things are done, by the time we get into the first years of the church, the dietary law itself will no longer be a part of how we follow God. This major change happens because of this conflict, Paul’s fierce, unstopping advocacy, Peter’s vision of clean and unclean animals and the Holy Spirit descending on the Gentiles apart from the law.    

In many ways, this reading, the actions of the pharisees and Jesus response, should sound familiar to us.  A system of non-biblical laws created and enforced by the Roman Catholic Church and placed on par with scripture is what provokes the protestant reformation a little more than 500 years ago.  The Medieval Roman Catholic church had developed their own human traditions, a series of rules, requirements and intermediaries added to and considered on par with scripture. The not so comforting and complex system of penance, the aggressive sale of indulgences and the church’s claim to ultimate authority were the last straws. After that people like Luther, Melchthon, Calvin, Zwingli did something. They said something, printed lots of things, dismissed human traditions and recognized the ultimate authority rested with God and God’s word.   Your sins were forgiven because Christ died and rose again, not because you had properly confessed all of your sins and completed the penance.   

Jesus answer to that question, what does it mean or look like to live your faith happens in community, Does your life, your actions announce the comfort of the Gospel with others, do you show God’s love to the others, did you see someone suffering and stop to help, sit there and say God loves you.