Ritual: Not the Solution

Introduction

Biblical Christianity is often misunderstood because it does not introduce religious rituals afresh into the world.

Humanity suffers from a serious problem.

Regardless of when we may live, religion as ritual attracts people.

It makes sense to us.

We can “check” things off our routine.

In our previous two studies, Jesus has faced physical violence from Pharisees over the Sabbath Day laws.

He has also dealt with crowds who wanted to contemplate his identity far less than they wanted him to resolve their physical ailments.

These may sound like different issues, but they are not.

Our problems are not personal failures.

Our problems are the result of something much deeper that resides within our hearts.

Mark’s Background to Set Up Jesus’ Teaching

Jesus has been in Galilee, and he again encountered scribes and Pharisees who came from Jerusalem to question or critique him.

On this occasion to problem came from them “seeing some of his disciples that they are eating loaves with defiled (common) hands, that is unwashed hands.

Mark probably does not intend to say they ate with dirty hands.

Instead, he means they did not wash them according to the established religious rituals guarded by the scribes.

The concern had developed that any contact with Gentiles, especially in the marketplace, would lead to the defilement of the individual.

“Earthen vessels that had contracted impurity were to be broken; those of wood, horn, glass, or brass immersed...” (quoted in Pentecost, 240).

The Pharisees decided to question Jesus about the failure of his disciples to observe this custom.

Ritual and Hypocrisy

Jesus responds to their inquiry by quoting Is. 29:13.

Two important ideas get introduced by Jesus into the conversation.

The spiritual emptiness of ritual.

Ritual is not what God wants. Israel never learned this lesson, indeed, all human beings struggle with the allure of ritual. It makes sense to use that following established rituals should define worship.

The ultimate problem is one of the heart not of a failure of ritual. Dedication to ritual cannot overcome the evil inherent in the human heart.

According to the Talmud, “My son, give more heed to the words of the Rabbis than to the words of the Law.”

Note Jesus’ bold claim in Mk. 2:9.

The Case Against that Generation

Jesus did not make claims; he supported them with examples.

Example #1: Breaking the command to honor the father and mother.

Example #2: Corban claim obligated a man to pay to the Temple what he had promised, even if he wanted to take care of his parents.

The Pharisees were invalidating the authority of the scriptures by doing these, and other, things.

The Case to that Generation

Jesus now makes a different kind of argument to his audience.

What is wrong with humanity, ritual cannot fix or overcome.

Mk. 7:17 shows even Jesus’ disciples struggled with this teaching.

He had to explain it to them. They thought it was a parable.

Human beings are already defiled from within. The failure to observe an established tradition does not defile us from without.

The ultimate problem is one of the heart not of a failure of ritual. Dedication to ritual cannot overcome the evil inherent in the human heart.