14th Sunday after Pentecost “Dirty Hands, Clean Hearts”
August 25, 2024 Mark 7:1-13
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
I like ‘church words.’ That is = words we almost exclusively use in church. Those words remind us Christians that we are ‘not of this world’; we are citizens of a better kingdom, a divine & holy kingdom. And we enter that kingdom here in church, invisibly. This world is passing away, but that kingdom & the living presence of God, is forever.
An example of a church word is ‘sanctuary’. Here, we are gathered in this sanctuary for worship. The Latin root is ‘sanctus’ or ‘holy’. This is a holy place; or better: a place set aside for something holy, which is the gathering of God’s people in His holy presence for repentance & forgiveness, guidance & praise.
Another word is ‘sacristy’, with the root: ‘sacra’, like ‘sacred’. The sacristy is a room set aside for the worship leader to prepare for worship, to ‘vest’ with worship clothing.
So, sometimes it is called a ‘vestry’. Sanctuary, /sacristy, /chancel, /altar, /lectern, /pulpit are all primarily church words that remind us of what God has given to us = a call to come out of the fallen, sinful world, and into His merciful & holy presence for forgiveness, and to be ‘course-corrected’ in our attitude, words & behaviors; and to truly live.
In the Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus refers to a church word from His day: ‘corban’. The full meaning of ‘corban,’ & how it was practiced, has been lost over time. But as Jesus uses it for an example, His point is clear: people were using human ideas to excuse themselves from having to obey God’s command directly, and so to do things their own way. In fact, He says there were many of those man-made excuses for avoiding God’s commands & ways.
Christians today are tempted by the same Pharisee~thinking, and many churches today have fallen headlong into that trap of setting aside the commandments of God to follow their own easier ways of doing things. It ‘looks like’ faith, but it’s easier to do than true, obedient faith. Against such temptations, Jesus quotes himself by way of Isaiah: ‘this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’
One current example of this involves God’s design of marriage & sex. Marriage is God’s design, to shelter & protect that physical & spiritual intimacy. But people say marriage is too hard, too restrictive, and they don’t want to wait with intimacy; so they set aside the command of God, and just ‘live together’.
Many churches & Christians have just given up calling co-habitation disobedient & sinful. It ‘looks like’ marriage & fidelity, but it’s not; it’s a man-made excuse for doing something less-than what God expects of us with that church word = marriage. Again, ‘this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’
What started this discussion with those Mark 7 hypocrites – was: ‘dirty hands.’
In our day, clean hands are important. We expect restaurants to provide a place to wash hands. I wish I would’ve invested -years ago- in a company that makes those hand sanitizer dispensers = they’re everywhere. Employers have strict polices about hand washing for the employees.
So, how well do you wash? Do you have to use warm water and wash for a full 20 seconds = like the Mayo clinic says? And then, there is the argument that too much cleaning lessens our body’s natural immunity to fight off germs. But we know that ‘hand-sanitation’ was not the real issue in Mark 7, for either the Pharisees or for Jesus.
The words of Isaiah 29 come true in Mark 6 & 7. Isaiah wrote: “therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
So, in Mark 6, Jesus has been in the villages around the Sea of Galilee, doing God’s wonderful things by miraculously healing the sick by the hundreds & proclaiming the Kingdom; the whole region is alive with excitement surrounding Jesus. But when the Pharisees come to Him, they are not excited; they complain about the ritual cleanness of His disciples’ hands.
If YOU had the opportunity to stand with Jesus, face-to-face , and ask Him a question, would you be concerned about the proper way to wash up before a meal? Actually, maybe
a more comparable question -in our day- might be concerning the proper kind of clothes to wear for Sunday worship. Is it your burning question to ask Jesus: Should your disciples put on their ‘Sunday best’, like a dress, or a suit & tie’ or is any clothing okay?
In Mark 7, it’s likely that this was not about the disciples not washing their hands at all, but they were not washing their hands in the approved way of these chief ‘inspectors’ of proper washing. In Jesus’ response, He says that in many ways they have put what matters to men before & above what’s important in God’s eyes. And they should’ve known what’s important, and what is the priority of things in God’s eyes, by reading God’s Word properly.
When I was a child, I’m sure I went thru some kind of ‘bath-time inspection,’ but I don’t really remember it. I do remember expecting my children to not just wash the obvious places, like the face, arms & tummy; but to also wash behind their ears & between their toes. While the pharisees were busy inspecting Jesus & His disciples, Jesus gives them an inspection report; along with a lesson on priorities. He recalls the words of Isaiah, when the Lord was teaching Israel to check for true cleanness by first considering their hearts, not their hands. He said: “Well did Isiaah 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.” (vv 6–7).
We like to see those pharisees put in their place; but they’re long gone now, and so Jesus’ words are still speaking to US, His people today, when He says: ‘Well did the prophet Isaiah prophesy of YOU.’ For them, Jesus immediately uses an example of the 4th Commandment, ‘honor your father and your mother,’ and points out the deadly excuse they have of ignoring & reviling their father & mother by this ‘corban’ practice. Instead of taking care of their parents needs, these so-called men-of-faith were using their money & means to look religious, and letting their parents fend for themselves. The commands God gave thru Moses were given =and still are given= to shape the lives & behaviors of His people. Instead, the pharisees were rejecting the hard & unpopular directives of God, and finding easier ways to just look faithful – without being faithful.
The church-leaders of the day were more concerned about whether people’s physical hands are clean – than whether their heart, soul & life have been cleansed of the deadly disease of sin by the Scripture’s call to repentance, & the assurance of mercy in God’s promised Savior. This is the same temptation that we all face when we stop learning from God what’s important to Him.
The expression, ‘lip service’ means to say you agree with something, but then to do nothing to support it. Politicians often give ‘lip service’ to an issue, & do nothing about it.
In Isaiah 29, God calls it out. No one =especially God= is impressed by outward ‘talk’ that is unsupported by attitude & action. And besides the personal inconsistency of saying one thing but thinking & doing another, there is also the idea here of betrayal, living a lie, or treating someone with contempt – like when we just put on our ‘happy face’ when we see them, for show; when inwardly, our heart is closed to them.
This is pretty common for sinful people; but it’s not right. It’s maddening to be around someone, who inwardly opposes you, but in public will be so friendly, shake your hand, or grab a hug. They’re ‘acting’, which is the origin of the word Jesus uses: hypocrite. Of course, Judas Iscariot comes to mind, as he greets Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane with the traditional kiss of friendship, while -at the same time- is leading the temple police to arrest Jesus. We might say that Judas showed the largest separation ever between lips & heart.
We might say that, unless we’re looking in the mirror. Both Isaiah and Jesus use the word ‘you’, and so calls each of us to examine our own lips & heart, and head & hands, to see how we are doing. In what ways have you lost sight of God’s priorities? What traditions of men, what excuses of our own, have we allowed to substitute for God’s plain Word? God’s Word demands obedience. In what ways have we used short-cuts to make our faith-life easier to live – rather than just obeying God’s word?
And then, in a related way, in what ways have we stopped caring about the heart & soul of another person, and focused too much on ‘inspecting’ them to see if their hands are clean? Yes, we often identify someone else’s flaws, but tend to overlook our own. Before we call-out others for being hypocritical, we should ask ourselves if we’re guilty of something similar. The commands & ways of God are the one standard for all of us.
So, ‘the proof is in the pudding.’ Actually, that’s not the original saying: ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’. When the heart is obedient, the hands will be clean enough. But replacing God’s old Word with man’s new ideas dishonors God, and the result is an imposter-faith. Like the pharisees, we might convince ourselves that our ways are okay, and we might even fool others into going along with us; but God is not fooled, and we will continually bump up against the Spirit, & Word of Truth, who -thankfully- is always trying to correct us.
To make this general point, Jesus uses one of our most fundamental relationships:
“He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.”
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) —then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.’ ”
When our own ideas guide us, when our heart is following after man’s tainted views,
it will affect our family & friends. Instead of gratitude, honor, & love toward those who gave us life, and who sacrificed of themselves to raise & nurture us, we look for excuses & loopholes so that we can be free of the burden of caring for our parents.
And when Jesus adds, ‘and many such things you do,’ He includes what the Bible says in Ephesians 5 about how husbands & wives are to care for one another; He includes what the Bible says about parents caring for children, and the young caring for the elderly, and the caring relationship between /citizen & ruler, /boss & worker, /teacher & student, /and even fellow church members. Jesus uses ‘corban’ as one example among many of what a hypocritical life looks like – when God looks at it; and His inspection is what really matters.
It stings when Jesus says, ‘well did Isaiah prophesy of you…’ But our Lord points out the fake ‘cleanness’ because His goal was to make all His hearers truly clean. Outward is something, but it’s not enough. And the inward can only be addressed by the very words & actions of the holy & merciful God. Human traditions & man’s ideas about faith will not save us; but God’s word, & the very person & work of Jesus, does cleanse & save us, & all people.
When God speaks, He exposes the ‘dirt between our toes’, hiding in our heart. And then He speaks again & says: ‘now look at my cross & empty tomb, and repent. My blood atones for all your sin, and cleanses your heart, your mind, your life & what you do with your hands. Altho your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Return to me. Now, whoever listens to my words & puts them into practice will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And with many other such words of mercy & guidance, our Savior Jesus continues to do wonderful things with His people; with wonder upon wonder of cleansing the hearts of sinners, and giving you & me clean hands to live holy lives.
Amen.