Combined Service with Methodist Church

Cheddington 12th Sunday after Trinity 30 August 2009

Gospel Mark 7.1-8,14-15,21-23

¹When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, ²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ ⁶He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
⁷in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”’

¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ ²¹For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, ²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’

Sermon

Jesus’ disciples criticised for eating food with unclean hands and not following the tradition of the elders

Criticism is disciples eat with unwashed hands

• Word actually means common hands or defiled hands
• Not about washing with soap and water
  • Pharisees had developed complex set of laws about ritual purity
  • Did not apply anyway to common people, only Pharisees
  • This is what is meant by tradition of the elders
    • Jesus was a rabbi, so his disciples ought to follow ritual purity laws

Jesus quotes Isaiah 29

• Calls the Pharisees hypocrites
• Teachings are but rules taught by men
• Give lip service to God, but their hearts are far from me

Seems like an over reaction

• But this is not about basic hygiene
• It’s about the Pharisees laws of purity and ritual cleanliness
• Hands washed with the fist and a cupful of water to make clean

What Jesus was reacting against was power of distinction between clean and unclean

• Not a trivial matter
  • People with skin condition unclean
  • Disabled or those whose bodies not intact
  • Women unclean for substantial portion of their lives
  • So were young men
  • Even people who had been sacked from their jobs may be unclean
• Nothing wrong with purity
  • Word to wash here is baptismos – to make holy as well as clean
  • But ritual practices set group boundaries
    • They discriminate
    • They determine who is in and who is out
  • Even ordinary people who work in fields have common hands and are not acceptable therefore to God

Hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another

• We can read this gospel passage as an interesting reflection on ancient food laws
• Or we can examine our own attitudes and see whether or not what we do today would be equally condemned by Jesus
  • Do not our churches have unwritten rules about what is required
    • How we behave during services
    • Where we sit
    • How we receive communion
    • What we wear
  • We all have tacit rules. It is assumed everyone knows and follows them.
    • We hear the welcome of the gospel of Christ to all people regardless of their condition
    • But sometimes we need to ask ourselves difficult questions about whether or not we live out the message or just say the words.
    • Whether or not we walk the talk as they say

The problem Jesus is addressing is the pretence of the Pharisees’ actions

• Proper washing rituals, honouring God with the lips, proper ways of worship – all are pretend actions
  • They are not evidence of those who have their hearts close to God
• We should not conclude that Jesus is criticising tradition – or suggesting we either abandon or keep it
  • Crossing oneself, genuflecting, adopting a certain posture at communion, using certain words
    • there is no good or bad
    • we should do whatever builds our faith and does not hinder others, especially seekers of the truth
    • but these things do not make us more or less a Christian
• What Jesus is saying is that you can do all these things and still have a heart that is far from God
  • Every time there are rules, or right and wrong ways of doing things, we ought to ask ourselves whether they are helping or hindering the spread of the gospel

So what is Jesus saying we should do instead?

• Clue is in what Jesus accuses Pharisees of doing
  • They have let go of the commands of God
  • They have held onto the traditions of men
• Surely what Jesus is saying is that they got it the wrong way round.
  • We should let go of the traditions of men – word means separate ourselves from
  • We should hold onto the commands of God – word means hold dear
• It’s like the rich young man in chapter 10:
  • He followed the law – held onto traditions of men
  • He could not let go of his wealth – he could not separate himself from his possessions, and trade them in for treasure in heaven

There is a difference between Religion and Faith

• Religion is following certain traditions and rules
• Faith is following the heart, led by the gospel of Christ
  • The gospel of Christ is not Religion – it is in fact an announcement of the end of Religion. Religion is an attempt at control
  • Faith is the announcement that, in his death and resurrection, whatever Religion tried to do and failed Jesus has accomplished once and for all

Where does our treasure lie?

• Following our hearts means two things
  • One is letting go of whatever stands in the way of Faith
  • The other is to ask what is of ultimate value to us? What is our treasure?
• We cannot go in a new direction, unless we first abandon the old one
  • And we cannot seek new treasure unless we first let go of what was of ultimate value to us up to now
• Washing part of us, or obeying a number of rules, will not put us right before God.
  • As Charles Wesley said: Sanctification is an utter consecration of the whole person to God. Holiness means Wholeness.
• Or as Jesus put it, in the Sermon on the Mount In Matthew 6

¹⁹ "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6