Unholy Laws

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loved you with his very life. Amen.

I was walking trough the grocery store the other day, looking to but some fresh fruit, mostly bananas for my kids. And I was passing through the aisle there was this posse, gaggle, I don’t know the word, group of college aged students.

They were having a theological conversation, and when hear someone else talking about God, my ears perk up, and I listened in for a moment. One of them said, “You know, we need to live our lives in such away, like, that one guy said, “preach the gospel and if necessary use words.”

That phrase, “preach the gospel and if necessary use words” is a popular idea and it’s been around for a while. Maybe you’ve heard it before. I remember when I first heard the idea. I thought it was profound and game changing. It calls the Christian to task for how they are to live their life, that the way you behave, matters. There is this sense of living as a Christian will cause you to look different than someone who isn’t Christian.

And as cool as it sounds, “preach the gospel and if necessary use words” is really a bad idea, and it’s, at its core, wrong. This phrase is the closest modern parallel that I could think of to try and frame our text today from Mark in modern words, in a modern concept.

This text from Mark 7 sounds strange to our ears at first glance. What’s the big deal about washing hands. Over the course of the past year, all of us have gained a new appreciation for washing hands with posters everywhere reminding us to do so. What’s the big deal? Why does give the response that he does when asked why Jesus disciples don’t wash their hands. Jesus responds with this this, Mark 7:6-7, “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; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Hypocrites, he calls them. You’re pretending to be something you’re not. You’re acting. You don’t care about hands. And then he moves on to talk to them about this “Corban” practice, which I don’t really have time to unpack. Jesus is telling them, you have this teaching, this tradition, and you want it to be like one of the 10 commandments. And you stop worshipping God, but start worshipping your own ideas instead. It’s not even well intentioned. You’re hearts are far, FAR from me. Just like, Preach the gospel and if necessary use words.

Here’s what I mean. The ancient Jewish leaders that Jesus was interacting with had placed rules into place that made it impossible for people to follow God’s commandments. Over time, following the exile into Babylon the ancient Jews built this additional wall, hedge as its sometime called, around the commandments God gave in the bible. Like a failsafe. Like, if you break an outer rule, you still haven’t actually sinned because you haven’t yet broken the inner rule. But Jesus points out, the problem is, those outer rules make it impossible to keep the inner. If the rules say, “You can’t use this money to care for your parents, even in tragedy” how then can you honor your father and mother.

If God says, “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” or “they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching” how do you do this if you can’t use words?

This is a good time for us to reflect and see where these words from Isaiah 29:13, that Jesus quotes, where do we see them play out in our lives? What rules do we have in our lives, written or unwritten, what practices does your family do that makes it so you and your family are unable to follow God’s laws?

And that’s a very hard question to ask because it forces you to run what you do in your daily life square against God’s laws. God’s laws. And it’s time to measure up. Let’s just talk the about the 3rd commandment. “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. What rules or practices do you and your family do/have that prevent from worshipping every Sunday?

pause

It was a great weekend for Kyle and Charlene. As summer was winding down they managed to squeeze one more trip with the kids. After a day of hiking and swimming, they are sitting around the campfire in their comfy chairs, while the kids roast marshmallows over the warm fire. “It’s a beautiful night” Kyle says. “It is, say, what should we do tomorrow?” “I saw card by the bathroom, there’s a church nearby, what do you think, should we go? No, I think I just want to sleep in and enjoy the trip, we’ll go to church when we get back home.”

pause

Ken and Denice had very busy lives. Each of them worked long hours just to try and make ends meet. Between work, and more work, and the kids at home needing attention, they are kids after all, they never seemed to have enough time. “We’re always tired” they tell each other. Sunday rolls around and the alarm blurts out its unwelcome notes. And as they lay there bracing themselves to face the day, the daunting task of preparing the kids weighs on them. We work so hard, the kids are sleeping so peacefully, and that snooze button is pressed, once, twice, 10 times. Now it’s too late to get redy for church, we just don’t have time.

And what these stories show is that Isaiah wasn’t just talking about the ancient Jews he’s talking about me. He’s talking about you. You have traditions, practices, habits, whatever you want to call them, that prevent you from keeping God’s laws. Isaiah spoke truly, even about us in our time. Our hearts are farther from God than we want to admit.

-pause-

And that’s why Jesus came. To point out our sinfulness. To call us to repentance, and then to save you from your sins. God knows full well the extent of your sinfulness, in fact he knows it better than you do,and that is precisely why he sent Jesus, why the Son of God became a man.

It’s why Jesus lived the life that he did. It’s why he went to the cross. To die, for you. To pay for your sins, to cleanse you of your sins. Jesus paid the price God demands. It’s why Jesus rose from the dead, to give you a new life. A life forever bound to him. Just as your sins were bound to him when he died, so your life is bound to him. Just as he is alive so you too will live.

God knows we don’t deserve this. But out his sheer love and mercy, and gracious nature, God gives you this gift, the gift of salvation.

And as if that were not enough God gives you more and more and more gifts that we celebrate when we gather here.

When we are here we get the Holy Spirit, in abundance! The word of God is alive, it’s not just words on a page read to you, but it’s the way the Holy Spirit works in you. The words proclaimed change you from the inside out in this almost mystical way. God is making you into someone new!

Here, your sins are forgiven. God himself has promised you that when your sins are forgiven here, each Sunday morning, they are forgiven before him in heaven too. Real. Genuine forgiveness. God won’t hold your sins against you anymore. Your repentance is seen and each Sunday you can walk away from here confident that you walk away righteous in God’s sight because of the mercy and forgiveness you receive.

And still there’s more. In a few moments our service will move to the climax, the highlight of our time together. We will receive the Lord’s Supper. God’s holy meal, the bread of life as we talked about that last few weeks. Here, around God’s sacred altar you will receive more forgiveness! A meal that causes your faith to grow. Forgiveness you can touch!

When you eat food it becomes a part of you, your body takes it and it sustains you and causes you to grow. That’s what Jesus does in this sacrament. He becomes more part of you, he sustains you, he causes you to grow, he slowly replaces your flesh with his, furthering you on this path to everlasting life.

Here you were baptized. Not some ritual washing of the hands or dining couches of our text, but a washing of your conscience, your soul. Create in me a clean heart O God, he does that in baptism. Uniting you to Jesus as we already discussed.

Each week we gather and each week we leave a new person. New in Christ, forgiven, transformed. Changed from the inside out. And most importantly, we leave our faith strengthened, more prepared to trust God’s promise that one day, we will see him with our own fleshy eyes and stand in his presence in paradise.

God’s practice don’t contradict, they don’t prevent, rather they encourage and strengthen. Jesus here in Mark invites us believe this, that his way, is a better way because it is a way of grace and forgiveness and love without end. Amen.