Hands, Hearts, and Hygiene
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Read Mark 7:1-23
Read Mark 7:1-23
We often get this passage backwards—we think that the Pharisees were focused on the outside—ritual and behavior—while Jesus is focused on the in keeping the inside clean. But that’s because we get confused about the point they are arguing. We think Jesus is abolishing dietary laws.
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
There are several problems with this:
This is a very casual way of abolishing very important laws.
Jesus has just accused them of nullifying God’s word.
The issue wasn’t their menu, but their hands.
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: 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 hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
“ ‘You will make yourselves unclean by these; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.
There are no clean or unclean foods. It’s the animal that is unclean.
Unclean animals are not considered food.
You are defiled simply for touching the animal, regardless of whether you eat it.
If you touch them, you must bathe and quarantine to keep uncleanness out of the temple.
Now look at the Pharisees:
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
The Pharisees have changed the focus:
A person can have pollution on their hands, but not be polluted.
They are concerned that pollution will transfer from hands to food to body, and pollute the person.
Their priority is to keep the body pure.
Anxiety draws our focus INWARD—to my SECURITY and DIGNITY. (v. 1-3)
This mentality changes the way they view others. Now other people become threats to my inner purity or righteousness.
Anxiety tempts us to see OTHERS as THREATS and LIABILITIES. (v. 4-5, 11-13)
When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
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 defiled hands?”
But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
God draws our focus OUTWARD—to my ACTIONS and BEHAVIOR. (v. 10, 14-19)
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’
For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
Notice, Jesus is not talking about what counts as food. He’s talking about whether food can carry pollution.
This was the logic of the law: the danger is not what goes into you, but what comes out of you. The #1 source of pollution in the Law was human beings.
The THREATS we fear actually come from our own ANXIOUS HEARTS. (v. 20-23)
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Sand bags
The Pharisees are too focused on keeping the outside from polluting their inside, and they are missing the fact that the pollution is coming from the inside.
Following Jesus
Following Jesus
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Our teacher can transform HEARTS and BEHAVIORS—when we FOLLOW him. (Mark 2:13-17)
