Mark 7:1-23

The faith tradition I grew up in gave me a prescription on how to approach God on Sunday’s. I would enter the building and would dip my fingers in holy water, doing a sign of the cross. Then I would step reverently into a lofty sanctuary that featured a figure of a naked, nailed pierced and crown of thorn wearing Christ on a cross hanging over an altar.

As I walked the center aisle before entering into a pewed row, I would Genuflect. I would literally bow the knee to the bloodied One on the cross hanging above the altar (Medieval way of honoring a king).

Before my backside settled into the pew, my knees hit the kneeler.

All of that was the “prescription for approaching God.”

Nothing wrong with all of that, unless it was all only external. For me, 16 years of following the prescription meant nothing to me. I was way more interested in when I was going to be able to get out of there, go to the grocery store and grab a donut, get home and get into some comfy clothes so I could watch football for the rest of the afternoon. But I did do what I was supposed to do.

Looking back I actually appreciate the reverence that I had even though it was only for show. Sometimes we can approach this solemn assemble of the called out ones of Christ so casually that we create no space or margin for God actually to show up and show us His glory.

This passage is going to feature a depiction of Jesus that is going to demonstrate His blatant disregard for the moral traditions of the time.

Mark 7:1–23 (ESV)

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 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.)

5 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?”

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; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is 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.”

17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

18 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, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Pray

The very sobering reality that we need to see in this text is this:

Our hearts, in their natural state, are dirty and distant from God.

This is the very opposite message that so often gets communicated to us. Basically, we are under the impression that we are “good” or at the very least, “neutral.” This is the basic message of the world’s way of looking that things. “Follow your heart.”

This isn’t just a secular perspective either. Sometimes even we religious people can subtly slip into this way of thinking. We can reason that humans are “image bearers of God.” We just have to fan that little spark into a flame and things are all good. We are basically good and need to preserve our inherent goodness by protecting ourselves from that which might come at us from the outside to contaminate us. Just do a whole bunch or religious things, and jump through the right religious hoops in hopes of keeping the contamination of the world away from us.

Sometimes it isn’t even subtle. I want to show you something shocking in hopes that you have a visceral reaction to it. This is from 2 weeks ago on 60 minutes. Pope Francis was being interviewed and asked, what is it that gives him hope in the world.

CLIP:

No mention of Jesus. The only thing that gives him hope are people, because people are good, the heart is fundamentally good.

Now, if you hold to the bible as your source of authority, there are alarm bells ringing. SO many places in the Scriptures that we can turn to and blow his source of hope out of the water. (Gen. 6:5, Psalm 51:5, Romans 7:18, Jer. 17:9, Rom. 3:9-20). It’s hard not to have a massive reaction to what was shared on the video.

The reason I wanted to share this with you is because I wanted you to know how the religious leaders of Jesus’s day felt about how Jesus was conducting Himself. They were appalled. They couldn’t take it in. They wanted to pull their hair out. According to their way of thinking, according to their “traditions” Jesus was dangerous and appalling and had to be stopped.

The way a bible reading and believing person would react to the video we just saw, was the way this official delegation from Jerusalem felt when they heard Jesus was allowing ritually unclean people associate with him and even touch him.

They didn’t have a category for what they had heard and then when they showed up on site, they couldn’t believe what they saw with their own eyes. Jesus was clearly not playing by their rules.

Mark 7:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

Doesn’t it make you wonder which ones weren’t doing this? Like some of them were doing this, but some weren’t, so which ones? We don’t know, but what we do know is that this “official delegation” from Jerusalem was keeping track. They knew the names even if we never find out. (Maybe in the age to come we can ask…so ahh which of you…)

Word had gotten out that Jesus doesn’t seem to be playing by the rules of ritual cleanliness. He is touching lepers, healing Gentiles in graveyards and letting ritually unclean people to touch Him and now…some of His very own disciples weren’t playing by the Pharisee’s rules. They weren’t cleaning off their external defilement before they ate. This isn’t about keeping good hygiene, this loosy goosey approach to relating with the God of Israel is not okay. People like Jesus and His disciples are the reason why the Romans are occupying our land. We are being disciplined by God and oppressed because people aren’t keeping the rules that we are handing down.

According to the times, people thought that “uncleaness” was something that was external to them that they needed to protect themselves from. Uncleanness was lurking around every corner and everyone was susceptible to having it leech on to them. So fill up every mote and draw up the bridges to protect yourself from all that nastiness “out there” when it comes looking for you.

Now in the OT there was a “ritualistic cleansing” that priests were supposed to do as they approached the temple. But what was to be for priests was starting to be applied across the board to every Jew everywhere. According to the oral traditions of the times what was once given to the priests had been added to and then applied to everyone.

If any uncleaness from out there infiltrated and defiled someone, never fear, just wash yourself off. That is what we have done for years. Just clean yourself.

Mark gives us an editorial comment.

Mark 7:3–5 (ESV)

3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 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.) 5 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?”

Jesus you are contaminated and your are allowing your disciples to be contaminated as well and you seem to be okay with this. What is wrong with you? You aren’t playing by our rules. Every real Jew does this. Start playing by our rules or else.

Well, Jesus is going to show blatant disregard for their rules and in defiance to their rules and traditions, he quotes the prophet Isaiah.

Mark 7:6–8 (ESV)

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; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

Man what an indictment. No punches pulled here. He doesn’t mince words, but just cuts right to the heart and the heart of the problem is that these rule makers have hearts that are so far away from God. They love their interpretation and application of the law more than the God of the Law.

Jesus calls them hypocrites. They are artificial, duplicitous play actors that were playing a game instead of living in the real world. Yes they had an appearance of virtue, but all that rule keeping only hid an inner contamination. Their hearts were “far from God.” They were dirty and distance.

These Pharisee and scribes who thought they were so pious and clean were so dead and dirty. The traditions and the teachings coming out of their mouths was like toxic fumes in the nostrils of God that made Him nauseous.

And yet…they wanted every Jew to have the same bad breath that they were breathing out.

They were eager to leave the commandments of God in order to “hold onto” what they came up with that He had never prescribed.

And in verses 9-13 Jesus is going to give a for instance example.

Mark 7:9 (ESV)

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

This is one of those instances of Jesus being ironic and sarcastic. Way to miss the boat guys. How so? This is how.

Mark 7:10–13 (ESV)

10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Ok, what is going on here? Basically, Jesus is saying that a tradition that they had come up with allowed them to trample underneath their feet one of the most basic revealed commands of God, namely the 5th commandment to honor ones mother and father.

What is “corban?” Basically “free will offering” that was dedicated to God. It was never a commandment per say, but they did become a popular practice especially a few hundred years before the time of Jesus. People would take a possession that was rightfully theirs and “dedicate” it to God and when they did that, it would make it inaccessible to meet the practical needs of other people.

One commentator says this, “The son can say to his parents that he cannot offer them any help because he has dedicated to God everything that could help them.”

Well that just is bonkers. God commands children to honor their parents and not just when it is convenient for them or when it is in their best interest. And it is more than showing them respect, this is in regards for helping provide for them with physical necessities. This is a clear command found in the very middle of the 10 commandments given to Moses, but a tradition of men had been passed down through the centuries that has found a “religious loophole” and provided justification for a clear bonafide commandment of God to be set aside.

That one for instance would be enough to point out their hypocrisy, but Jesus says, “and many such things you do.”

The religious leaders of the day were way off and so Jesus is going to call it out and correct their false idea of where uncleanness comes from. He is going to say that the problem isn’t outside of them, it is inside them. The real problem with humans is that we have dirty and distant hearts that are petrified and immovable.

Mark 7:14 ESV

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:

He wants us to get it. He is calling all the people to himself, asking them to “hear him.” (all of you…understand). Get this.

Mark 7:15 (ESV)

15 There is 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.”

The problem is us. Maybe our biggest problem is not thinking that we are the biggest problem.

In verses 17-23 Jesus is going to explain to his disciples in hopes that they realize that even their hearts can be dirty and distant from God if they are only interested in keeping the religious rules and not loving the King of all Kings.

Mark 7:17–20 (ESV)

17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 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, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

I refer to this passage as the time when Jesus talked about bowel movements. In verse 19 Jesus indicates that heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. As the heart goes, so the person goes. It is the control center of every aspect of our humanity.

The source of our uncleaness is not external to us, it is in us.

And then Jesus ends this private lesson to the disciples by listing off 12 filthy, vile and destructive, relationship killing sins that according to the Sermon on the Mount, I am guilty of committing.

Mark 7:21–23 (ESV)

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

These are not things I need to protect myself from. These things are not threatening to infiltrate me. They are already in me. I am already compromised. I am the problem. I am 12 for 12 with these sins. I am not proud of it; but it is true. There is no use hiding this information, Jesus knows it already.

The problem isn’t that pornography is easily accessible. The problem is we crave it.

The problem isn’t that people are so annoying. The problem is that we lack patience and forbearance.

The problem isn’t that inflation is too high so we have to a fudge the numbers on our time cards and steal from our employers. The problem is we either think that God won’t provide for us, or we might just be lazy and non-efficient workers.

The problem isn’t that other people are so bad so we need to point it out to other people who are not part of the solution. The problem is that we want to compare ourselves to them and look down our holier than thou noses at them to make us seem good in the eyes of others.

If we are the problem and defiled, distant and dirty, then what is the solution?

Well we need to be cleansed at our cores and that isn’t something that we can do by trying to wash ourselves with our dirty hands. We need an external cleansing, from and external agent.

Who fits that bill?

Jesus offers to these disciples a true and only cure for their dirty and distant hearts. They recognized that they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying and so they asked Him to explain it to them so that they might get it. And He privately explained it to them and they got it. Their individual martyrdom demonstrated that they got it. The loved not their lives even onto death; because they love the King of the Kingdom even more than life itself.

We, like them, have to do the same. We must come to Him and have Him bring about a more thorough cleansing than just us trying to play by the traditional rules of religion.

Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us dirty distance sinners to God.

And when we realize that this is what He has done for us; our hearts become seized by the power of a greater affection. We don’t just seek to jump through hoops to entertain Him, we love Him. Jesus said…

John 7:38 (ESV)

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

When we believe what Jesus has done for us; it transforms our hearts. They become cleansed and “living water” begins to flow “out of them” and into every aspect of our lives.

For this to become our reality, it is essential that each day we make a wholehearted surrender of ourselves to God as Paul told the Romans.

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

You and I can do a whole bunch of religious rule keeping with dead hearts, but we can’t present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him without having a desire to do so.

God wants our hearts. God wants us to lay everything else down and grab hold of Jesus and press on to make Him our own, because Christ Jesus has made us His own.

God doesn’t want our heads bowed, our hands folded, our eyes closed and our bodies dressed in church clothes if our heart are far from Him. He is not impressed with those things. God has no room in His heart for your rituals if it is devote of a real relationship. He want our dirty and distant hearts to be drawn close to His.

Song: Purify My Heart

Benediction:

God doesn’t keep a track record of your quite times so that He can tally them up at the end of a week, or month or a season to reassured Himself that you love Him. You can honor him with scheduled time in your daily planner and yet your heart can be far from HIm.

Don’t check the boxes to reassure yourself either. Don’t desire to do the tradition for traditions sake. Do the traditional things to fall more in love with Him.

A few weeks ago, Fort Casey / Flagler / Warden - all this built for the potential of an invasion. Triangle of fire. All that effort was put forth in order to protect from a potential invasion that never came. But you and I are already invaded. We are already at war and it rages within us. We need to be rescued from ourselves and given new and living and beating hearts that have been cleansed so that we can love that which is truly lovely and life giving.

What are some of your most favorite yearly traditions?

What are some ways that we might elevate religious tradition to the same level as Scripture?

What traditions did the Pharisees expect Jesus to obey? How did he respond to this? How did he use Scripture to challenge the Pharisees?

Sometimes the pursuit of outward righteousness can lead to the feeling of inward self-righteousness. Have you ever seen this in your own life? Have you ever felt like God owed you one because of your religious rule keeping?

It has been said, “rules without relationship lead to rebellion.” Why is it important for us to love God?

Of the 12 sins listed in verses 21-23 are they any you need to bring to light so others can help hold you accountable?

Will you this week, wake up each morning and present your body as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1)?