Sunday's Sermon

“Purify Your Heart”

August 30^th

Mark 7:1-8 Theme: "That Which Defiles" Scripture Reading: Mark 7: 1 -8, 14-15, 21-23 7 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.) 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?” 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.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

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.”

 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Today’s text can provide for a very good conversation on hypocrisy, tradition, and inclusion. First, when the scribes and Pharisees accused the disciples of eating with unwashed, or “defiled” hands, Jesus asked them to examine the state of their hearts. It is “the things that come out that are what defile” (v. 15), he said, not what goes into a person. 

It is important to note Jesus did not condemn Judaism or its traditions in this scripture text. Jesus, would have been an observant Jew himself, and would have known and followed these customs when possible. He did not criticize the importance of traditions, but was concerned about the spirit in which traditions were enforced, missing the greater point of reverence in relationship with God.

The poor, and Jesus’ disciples were poor, would have had very little opportunity to wash before eating. But the elders were not thinking of that…they were simply judging them as “defiled” or unclean. 

This leaves us, as Christians, with a similar question. Do we judge others because of what we “think” they should be doing when we lack sincerity within ourselves? Jesus continued to demonstrate in this text an ability to cut right to the heart of things and challenge us with what matters most. The depth and quality of what is going on within, in the state of our spiritual lives, makes a difference as we live out our faith in a complex world….and it is not easy. I know I struggle with this. 

One of our members named Leon encountered a homeless man who spent his life in a shelter. From time to time, the member had provided this man with food. One night, the man was too late to get to stay in a shelter. They were full. The man asked Leon if he would let him sleep on his couch for just one night. Leon did that. When I talked to him, they were enjoying spaghetti and the man was going to spend the night. That’s very hard to do in today’s world. I could not ask a strange man to stay at my house for even a night. I would be wary of such an action in today’s world. There was a time, in the not too distant past, when that was not a concern and Bob and I let a stranger who was hitchhiking to Texas stay overnight in our extra bedroom. 

There is also a more nuanced conversation happening in today’s text about inclusion and exclusion. “Unclean” also refers to Gentiles, who were excluded from the Jewish community because they did not follow Jewish customs. Similarly, it was often the poor who were not able to follow tradition in a strict manner due to a lack of proper resources. Jesus stood on the side of the oppressed and marginalized when he criticized tradition for the sake of tradition which missed the point and excluded others with whom God desired to be in relationship. Tradition is not inherently bad, but when it hinders one’s ability to be in right relationship with others, strict adherence deserves a serious evaluation. 

It can be easy for us today to criticize the Pharisees’ response and neglect the ways we can be just as harsh in our judgment and criticism, often without meaning to be. Consider parents with small children who are making a lot of noise in church. Though some may think worship requires of us a silent respect, (and I tend to be one of those) this passage may cause one to pause and first consider what worship really means before making a remark or taking a possibly offensive course of action. Maybe the disruption in routine gives opportunity to rediscover a deeper meaning to worship that may have been missing, and to give thanks for diversity of age and opportunities for loving mentorship.

Or consider a minister who does not follow the ritual of Communion preparation in the exact way we are used to. Will we allow this departure from tradition to negatively impact a sacrament of reconciliation meant to draw us closer to God and one another? Or will we offer grace and live into the deeper meaning of our ritual in the first place?

I recall the time I was presiding at communion a couple of years ago, and asked Johnna, who is a teacher, but also one of our pastors, to help serve. That was against tradition and it violated the man made “rules” the church has made.  But was it all that important? 

Several years ago, before our church adopted “open” communion, I was at a Theology Colloquy at Graceland University and we had a special communion service. We all sat in a circle and meditated. At some period in the service, when prompted by God’s spirit, we were to get up and offer to serve the communion to another. When I felt prompted, I offered it to Bob Mesle. He refused it. That was because he had decided not to receive the communion until it could be offered to all Christians.  I decided that was a worthy response so from then on, I too refused to take it. Others must have followed suit, because it wasn’t too long after that that the church opened their communion to all Christians. 

Today’s text reminds us purity of heart is more important than getting the rituals of faith exactly right. May we continue to grow into the kind of disciples who honor God with our lips and also our hearts!

Central Ideas:

So once again, what matters most is what Jesus taught. It is what is within people, the state of their hearts, where positive and negative intentions grow. That is what is important. We miss the point of our traditions when they are used to exclude or judge others instead of drawing us closer to others and God. Purity of heart is more important than strict adherence to tradition.

We are advised to: "Courageously challenge cultural, political, and religious trends that are contrary to the reconciling and restoring purposes of God." 163:2b

So let us ask ourselves, “How does this council influence or speak to our behavior as a disciple?” Or does it?