Mark 7:14-23

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Pharisees and Scribes had developed a code of holiness. The tradition of the elders, as it was called, was handed down from generation to generation. As we heard in last week’s Gospel reading, that code included the washing of their hands after going to the market and before eating. If they did the things the code commanded they considered themselves in good standing with God. In fact, they considered themselves to be holy. If they didn’t do the things the code commanded they were defiled, which meant, they were out of fellowship, or, communion with God. Ultimately, the code gave them a sense of control over their relationship with God. It also gave them plenty of opportunity to meet out a healthy dose of righteous indignation on those who failed to keep it. Last Sunday’s reading was a perfect example, as they called out Jesus’ disciples for not washing before they ate bread.

The Pharisees and Scribes had developed an oral code of holiness. As we heard in last week’s Gospel reading, they were to wash their hands before meals and after going to the market. If they did the things the code commanded they were right, they were good with God. If they didn’t do the things the code commanded...well, let’s just say, they followed the code religiously. The system gave them a sense of control over their relationship with God. It also gave them plenty of opportunity to meet out a healthy dose of righteous indignation over those who failed to keep the code.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees and Scribes for their hypocrisy. Not, mind you, because they didn’t keep the code, but, in a sense, because they did keep it. At the same time, they judged and held in contempt those who didn’t. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said, “this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” In other words, they looked really good on the outside but inside, as Jesus said elsewhere, “(they) cleansed the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside (they were) full of greed and wickedness.”

cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of kgreed and wickedness.

This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus attacked another aspect of the oral code of the Pharisees and Scribes, namely, the dietary laws that they had taken to extremes. At the same time, He directed them away from outward appearances to the condition of the heart. Of course, what He says here to the Pharisees and Scribes applies to all of us. “Do you not see (He says) 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 evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, nsensuality, oenvy, pslander, qpride, rfoolishness. 23 sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart jbut his stomach, and is expelled?”6 (kThus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, l“What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

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6 Greek goes out into the latrine

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The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

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Broadly speaking, today’s Gospel reading is a call to repentance. It is a call for us to confess our sin to God and to throw ourselves before Him for His forgiveness and grace. As Christians, we are, of course, well versed in the practice of repentance. As Lutheran Christians, perhaps even more so. After all, the very first of Luther’s 95 thesis, which sparked the Lutheran Reformation, was about repentance. He wrote, “when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, said, repent, He intended that everyday of the life of a Christian be one of repentance.” Luther could speak so unequivocally about repentance because it is the proper response of the baptized, who recognize that the old nature must daily drown and be put to death that the new nature in Christ might come forth.

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So, as Lutheran Christians, we’re pretty well versed in the piety, the practice of repentance. There is way though, in our repentance, that we can fall prey to the sin that plagued the Pharisees and Scribes. Oh, I don’t mean that we would so grossly and blatantly put all of our confidence before God in our works, although, that too is possible, even for the baptized. What I mean is that, even in our repentance, we can fail to be mindful of the sin that truly plagues us, the sin that binds us and moves us to less than honorable words and deeds.

C.S. Lewis, in an article he wrote in 1940, titled, ‘The Dangers of National Repentance,’ said, “The first and fatal charm of national repentance is…the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing—but, first, of denouncing—the conduct of others.” His point was that there is a way in which sin can be denounced, repented of, if you will, without actually owning it.

“The first and fatal charm of national repentance is…the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing—but, first, of denouncing—the conduct of others.”

“The first and fatal charm of national repentance is…the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing—but, first, of denouncing—the conduct of others.”

“The first and fatal charm of national repentance is…the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing—but, first, of denouncing—the conduct of others.”

“The first and fatal charm of national repentance is…the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing—but, first, of denouncing—the conduct of others.”

Another writer recently set out to explain Lewis’ point by way of an example. He said, “It would be easy for me to go around apologizing for the curse of African slavery in America. A lot of people do. Not only is this easy in the sense that obviously slavery is wrong and so it’s simple to identify as sin and evil, but it’s easy for me because it doesn’t hit home. I wasn’t alive during that time, and I can’t even feel “genetically guilty” on behalf of ancestors, since most of them didn’t immigrate (to the United States) until after the Civil War. It’s easy, because it’s far removed from the real sin that exists in my heart. “

He continues, “It would be much harder for me to go around apologizing for every wicked thought, cruelty and sarcasm and rudeness in words, laziness at work, covetousness of others’ belongings, elitism and being judgmental according to outward appearances. These are things I know are integrated into my heart, soul, mind and personality. They are the things that I really have to repent about.  They are the things that God has saved me from. And they are things that I still struggle against every day, along with every other person on this planet ever.”

“What comes out of a person is what defiles him (Jesus says).” On the other hand, righteousness, goodness, the very qualities that God calls us to exhibit come, not from inside us, but from outside of us. This is really the essence of the Gospel. The hope of your salvation doesn’t come from within you, but from outside of you. Thus, your confidence, your hope before God, doesn’t come from the condition of your heart. Rather, it is the condition of your heart, and the promise of His grace and mercy, that drive you to Him, that you might be and remain a new creation, born anew by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.

love, joy, peace, patience, gkindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 hgentleness, iself-control; jagainst such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus khave crucified the flesh with its lpassions and desires.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Indeed, in holy baptism, you are a new creation in Christ. Any goodness in your heart today is a goodness put there by God’s Spirit. Thus, St. Paul, in , extols the fruits of the Spirit in contrast to the deeds of the flesh. The fruits of the Spirit, he says, are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” How beautiful and laudable those qualities are in contrast to the list before us this morning in Mark’s Gospel.

It comes from outside of you. Indeed, in holy baptism, you have been born anew by water and the word. As such, you are a new creature in Christ. Any goodness in your heart today is a goodness put there by God’s Spirit. Thus, St. Paul, in , extols the fruits of the Spirit in contrast to the deeds of the flesh. The fruits of the Spirit, he says, are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” How beautiful and laudable those qualities sound in contrast to the list before us this morning in Mark’s Gospel.

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Still, it’s not the exercise of the fruits of the Spirit that saves you from sin and death. Rather, it’s Christ, who takes what comes out of your heart into Himself that He might bear the scars and the torment that those things so rightfully deserve. In exchange, He pardons you! He absolves you! And, He gives Himself to you!

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So, called to repentance, we, you are to confess and lament, not only what you’ve done, or, haven’t done, as it were, but who you we in Adam! The phrase, “I, a poor miserable sinner,” has it’s roots in passages like the one before us this morning because, out of our hearts, come things that frankly have to frighten us! Thus, we recognize the misery of producing what is, in every way, contrary to the God who has loved us and saved us by sacrificing Himself for us.

And so, called to repentance, we, you are to confess and lament, not only what you’ve done, or, haven’t done, as it were, but who you we in Adam! The phrase, “I, a poor miserable sinner,” has it’s roots in passages like the one before us this morning because, out of our hearts, come things that frankly have to frighten us! Thus, we recognize the misery of producing what is, in every way, contrary to the God who has loved us and saved us by sacrificing Himself for us.

If these words of confession, “I, a poor miserable sinner,” have their roots in passages like the one before us this morning, God’s word of absolution, of forgiveness, has it’s roots in the cross, in the atoning death of Jesus. “I, in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, forgive you all of your sins. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +