What Really Defiles

Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 7?

Mark 7 · chapter mention

Mark 7 verses 1 through 23 is what we'll be looking at this morning.

Mark 7:1–23

That's page 791 in the Pew Bible.

If you're new to the Bible, the big numbers are the chapters

and the small numbers are the verses.

Mark chapter 7 verses 1 through 23.

Mark 7:1–23

Well, let me pray for us and then I'll read.

Father in heaven, what a mighty prayer.

We have just sung.

Take my life and let it be always, only, all for thee.

Father, that is the kind of posture that we desire now

as we come to your word.

That you would give us an openness, a surrender,

a trust in what you are saying to us through your word.

We know that we cannot do that in our own strength and our own desire

so we pray for your spirit to come now

and give us listening ears and hearts

to truly hear what you are saying.

God, thank you for your word,

that it is clear and powerful

and that it does the work you desire

to exalt Christ in our midst,

that we might see him and love him

and be changed more and more into his image by your grace.

We pray this in his mighty name.

Amen.

All right, Mark 7, 1 through 23.

Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him,

that is to Jesus,

with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,

they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands

that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat

unless they wash their hands properly,

holding to the tradition of the elders.

And when they come from the marketplace,

they do not eat unless they wash.

And there are many other traditions that they observe,

such as the washing of cups and pots

and copper vessels and dining couches.

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him,

Why do your disciples not walk

according to the tradition of the elders,

but eat with defiled hands?

And he said to them,

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.

You leave the commandment of God,

and hold to the tradition of men.

And 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 mother,

Whatever you would have gained from me is korban,

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.

And he called the people to him again

and said to them,

Hear me, all of you,

and understand,

there's nothing outside a person

that by going into him can defile him,

but the things that come out of a person

are what defile him.

And when he had entered the house

and left the people,

the disciples asked him about the parable.

And he said to them,

Then are you also without understanding?

Do you not see

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 things come from within,

and they defile a person.

So perhaps this has happened to you too.

You're out at a restaurant,

and you decide to use the restroom.

And there,

next to the sink,

is a sign.

All employees must wash their hands

before returning to work.

Now,

I don't know about you,

but two thoughts seem to simultaneously cross my mind

when I see a sign like that.

On the one hand,

I guess I'm glad that the restaurant cares

about the hygiene of their workers

and the cleanliness of their food.

But at the same time,

I'm thinking,

do the workers really need to be reminded

to wash their hands before returning to work?

What if the sign wasn't there?

Would they forget?

What does that say about the workers?

What does that say about this restaurant

and the food I've just eaten?

Well,

our passage today on the surface

is about washing hands.

But in Jesus' day,

this topic was about much more

than just personal hygiene.

It was about holiness,

about being clean and acceptable before God

and being set apart as God's people.

You see this from the language they use,

that the Pharisees aren't just concerned

that Jesus' disciples have dirty hands.

No,

the word they use is defiled.

Literally,

it's common,

which meant at the time,

ceremonially or ritually unclean.

Now,

there were a number of ways

you could become

ritually or ceremonially unclean,

according to the Old Testament.

Eating certain foods,

having certain skin diseases,

coming into contact with a dead animal

or a dead body,

these things and some others

would render you unclean,

according to the cleanliness laws

of the Old Testament.

And that meant,

if you were unclean,

that you couldn't enter the temple

and you couldn't worship in God's presence

with God's people.

And there were certain things

that you had to do

that you could do

to become clean again,

like sacrifices or offerings

or certain washings.

Now,

the point of all this

in the Old Testament

was to teach the people

and to keep before the people

this great fact

that God is infinitely holy

and we are not.

and that to be in God's presence,

we need a deep cleansing.

We need to be washed.

We need to be purified.

That's what all those laws

were meant to be demonstrating

and teaching the people.

Now,

you might think that

such a topic like this

sounds a little irrelevant today,

right?

After all,

you probably didn't wash your hands

this morning

in hopes that you'd achieve

ritual purity

so we'd let you in the front door

of the church,

right?

But if you stop

and think about it,

the desire

to be clean,

the desire

to be accepted,

the desire

to be free

from stain,

the desire

to be whole,

that desire

is just as real

and prevalent today

as it ever has been.

How many people today

are longing

for just that?

Even if they don't have

any belief in God

or any kind of adherence

to a traditional religion,

we feel unclean

and we're not even sure why.

Now,

the controversy

that Jesus has

with the Pharisees here,

or rather that the Pharisees

raised with him

in verses 1 through 5

kind of falls out

into two parts.

The first part

in verses 6 through 13

is all about

who gets to define

what's clean

or unclean.

And the second part

in verses 14 through 23

is about where

real uncleanness

comes from.

So first,

who gets to define it?

And second,

where does it really

come from?

And if we can see

how Jesus answers

those two questions,

then we'll be able

to see the answer

that Jesus gives

and the Bible gives

for how to really

deal with it.

So first,

let's look at

the question of

who gets to define

what's clean or unclean

in verses 6 through 13.

And the answer

that Jesus gives

in a nutshell here

is not human tradition,

but God's word.

It's not human tradition

or custom

that truly defines

what's clean or unclean,

but God's word alone.

Notice the question

that the Pharisees

and the scribes,

that is the religious experts,

ask in verse 5.

Why do your disciples

not walk

according to the tradition

of the elders,

but eat with defiled hands?

And we see in verses 3 and 4

that Mark,

probably for the benefit

of his Gentile readers,

sort of describes briefly

what some of those traditions

were that they were referencing.

Things like washing hands properly

before eating a meal

or ceremonial washing

when returning

from the marketplace

because the marketplace

obviously was a dirty place.

You could have come

into contact

with anything unclean there.

Things like rinsing cups

and pots,

things like even sprinkling

or washing the dining furniture.

Now, where did these rules

come from?

Well, they did not come

from the Old Testament,

from God's law,

the Torah.

These rules,

they came from a body

of unwritten oral tradition

that had grown up

and developed

after the Old Testament

was written.

And for advocates

of this oral tradition,

you see,

you see,

well, how did that oral tradition

crop up?

Well, it came to be believed

that the Torah,

that God's word,

was too ambiguous

to establish and govern

the Jewish community.

After all,

the written commandments

declared what God decreed,

but not always how

they were supposed

to be fulfilled.

So the oral tradition

grew up

and began to prescribe

in increasing detail

how the intent

of the Torah

ought to be fulfilled

in actual circumstances.

And by Jesus' day,

adherence

to this unwritten

oral tradition

started to become

as important

for groups like the Pharisees

as was their adherence

to Torah itself.

That the oral tradition

was just as authoritative

as God's word.

Some people even began

to believe

that Moses had received

two laws on Mount Sinai,

the written Torah

and the oral tradition,

and that both

had been handed down.

So you can see

why the Pharisees

were disturbed

when they saw

Jesus' disciples

not following

the tradition

of the elders.

But what's Jesus' response?

How does Jesus evaluate

this human tradition?

Verse 6,

And he said to them,

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.

That's a quote

from Isaiah 29.

And Jesus says,

You leave the commandment

of God

and hold

to the tradition

of men.

Jesus calls them

hypocrites.

hypocrites.

That is,

they're saying

one thing

but doing another.

They're saying

that they're upholding

God's law,

but in reality

all they're doing

is holding on

to a man-made tradition.

And this makes

their worship of God,

Jesus says,

empty

or vain.

It's empty

because it's not God

that they're obeying

or following.

It's simply

human custom.

But the problem

gets worse.

It's not just

that they've added

human traditions

to God's word.

Jesus says in verse 9,

you have a fine way

of rejecting

the commandment of God

in order to establish

your tradition.

Jesus is saying

you cannot

hold on to tradition

without letting go

of God's commandments.

Now that's quite a charge.

Jesus gives the example here

of the fifth commandment,

honor your father

and your mother,

and that was

such a serious command

that cursing

or reviling

your father and mother

in ancient Israel

could be charged

as a capital offense.

Clearly this is something

God takes very seriously.

And yet in the first century

there was a practice

rooted in the oral tradition

of korban,

which means offering

or gift

as in an offering

to God.

What would happen

is that if someone

were to declare

that their goods

or their property

or korban,

it was to make

a vow that said

when I'm done

using this property,

these goods,

this wealth,

when I'm done

using this,

it's all going

to be given over

to God

and donated

to the temple.

Essentially the idea

was something like

deferred giving,

right?

Today a person

can will their property

to a charity

or an institution

at their death,

but in the meantime

they get to keep

possession over it

and get to keep

the proceeds

and the interest

that accrue from it

until they die

and then it goes

to whatever charity

they assign it to,

right?

Likewise,

in the first century,

if a son,

for example,

declared all his property

korban,

it would eventually

go to the temple.

But what that meant

was that because

it had been given

to God,

he didn't need

to use it

to take care

of his aging parents.

In essence,

you would vow it

to God

and that would

absolve you

of any responsibility

to use it

during your lifetime

to care for others,

even your parents.

And notice verse 12,

Jesus says,

you no longer

permit him

to do anything

for his father

or mother.

There are some

historical records

that show that

once property

had been sort of

vowed or offered

to God in this way

or promised

to the temple

in this way,

priests would even

discourage anyone

from withdrawing it

from korban

in order to return

it to regular use.

Now you can see

how they perhaps

justified

such a practice,

right?

After all,

doesn't God

deserve our very best?

Doesn't our commitment

to God rank higher

than even our commitment

to our earthly parents?

And so your

offering of your property

to God

supersedes

giving to your parents,

right?

But in reality,

the human tradition

of korban

nullified God's word.

Rather than

obeying God,

they rejected

what God's word

plainly said.

Honor your father

and your mother,

which certainly

entailed

caring for them

in their aging

and in their need.

And this wasn't

an isolated example.

Jesus says,

and many such things

you do.

This kind of thinking

was standard procedure,

Jesus says,

elevating human tradition

and thereby rejecting

God's word.

So who gets to define

what's clean

or unclean?

Human tradition?

Human customs?

No,

Jesus says,

God's word

alone.

Any attempt

to supplement

or add

to God's word

with human tradition

or human custom

will only end up

supplanting

or undermining

or replacing

God's word.

And this wasn't

just a problem

for first century Pharisees.

Church history

has replayed

this danger

again

and again

and again.

Whenever human tradition

was elevated,

God's word

was denigrated.

And as the authority

and understanding

of God's word

decreases,

human traditions

take more and more

and more

of an importance.

So whose voice

then

are you listening

to?

Are you looking

to merely human

voices

to tell you

whether or not

you're clean

and acceptable?

Or

are you looking

to God's word?

The influencers

on social media

your peers

at work

or at school

the great

intellectuals

of our day

none of these

can really define

what's clean

or unclean.

Only

God can.

And that's a

greatly liberating

message.

You don't have

to listen

to the constant

noise

of voices

around you

trying to tell you

how to be okay

and how to be

the real you

and how to be

significant.

You don't have

to keep up

with the

constantly changing

fads of the

world in order

to be whole.

They can't

really define

what's clean

or unclean.

Only

God can.

So what does

God say?

Where does

real uncleanness

come from?

That brings us

to the second

point of our

passage.

In verses

14 through

23 Jesus

tells us

where real

uncleanness

comes from.

Verse 14

And he called

the people

to him again

and said to

them,

Hear me

all of you

and understand.

There's nothing

outside a person

that by going

into him

can defile him.

But the things

that come

out of a person

are what

defile him.

Now at first

this kind of

confuses the

disciples.

They think it's

kind of a

parable, right?

It's a little

confusing.

Okay, Jesus,

it's not the

food that we

eat.

It's the food

that comes

out.

What do you

mean?

Right?

But Jesus

says, no,

no, no,

no, no.

What I mean

is, it's not

what goes into

your mouth

that defiles

you.

It's what

comes out

of your

heart.

The real

problem isn't

foods or

washings or

anything outside

of you.

The real

problem is

inside of

you.

And it's

inside of

me, too.

Now the

truth is,

friends, this

passage should

disturb us.

We are

used to

hearing today

that if we

just get in

touch with our

deepest feelings

or learn to

listen to what

our heart is

truly telling

us, then

we will find

our real

identity.

Then we

will discover

happiness and

fulfillment and

wholeness.

It's not the

externals that

define us.

Yes, we agree

with that, but

then Jesus says,

but it's not the

internal either.

Jesus has

something quite

different to

say.

He says,

getting in

touch with your

truest, deepest

feelings won't

sort you out.

What if the

feelings that

most truly

express who we

currently are

turn out to be

murderous,

adulterous,

envious,

foolish,

arrogant,

and all the

rest?

The fact that

we have these

feelings down in

our hearts

doesn't mean

that they're

validated or

true or right

or good.

On the

contrary,

it means we

have a problem.

A problem

that runs

right through

us.

One writer

put it this

way,

there's a

crack in

the building

which isn't

just a bit

of damaged

stonework on

the exterior,

the whole

structure is

faulty.

Keeping

external purity

laws can be

one way of

papering over

the crack,

but so can

quote,

getting in

touch with

your feelings.

If there's

evil,

it infects

the whole.

You see,

in the

Bible,

the human

heart that

Jesus references

a number of

times in this

passage,

it's the center

of your

personality in

the Bible.

It's sort of

the wellspring

of your

thoughts and

your feelings

and your

actions.

Jesus is

telling us

here that

it's as if

deep down

in that

central part

of who

we are,

there's a

computer virus

running amok

and it's

churning out

code after

code after

code that

begin with

what Jesus

calls in

verse 21,

evil thoughts

or evil

intentions.

It's as if

there's this

self-centered

bent in

everything that

we do.

And after

those evil

intentions,

Jesus lists

six nouns

that in the

Greek are all

actually plural.

The first six

after evil

thoughts,

evil intentions,

they're all in

the plural as

if to describe

evil actions.

Acts of

sexual immorality,

thefts,

murders,

adulteries,

deeds of

avarice or

coveting,

malicious acts.

And then

those six

plural nouns,

those evil

acts,

are followed

by six

nouns in

the singular

as if to

say,

here are the

evil attitudes,

deceit,

sensuality,

envy,

slander,

pride,

foolishness.

Notice there's

a bit of a

progression here,

isn't there?

From intention

or desire

to actions

and then

finally into

settled attitudes

or habits.

So what is

Jesus telling

us then?

Is he telling

us that

everything is

hopeless?

That humans

are just

awful and

we should

give up?

No.

He's telling

us that what

we need

above all

else

isn't merely

clean hands

but clean

hearts.

that's why

the Pharisees

were so

misguided.

They thought

that if they

could just

compile more

and more

traditions and

regulations about

external cleanliness

they could really

be cleaned.

But it was

never going to

work.

I ran across

an article this

week by the

jewelry designer

Alex and

Annie or

Annie and

Alex.

Kim you

know who I'm

talking about

right?

Alex and

Annie and

they said

here's how you

do a

spiritual

cleanse.

They listed a

few things.

One was take

a bath.

The other was

find some good

crystals that

you could sort

of harness

their energy.

The other was

sort of light

some incense

and do some

herbal kind of

incense around

your room.

The other was

write down the

name of all the

people who've

offended you and

then burn it.

Right?

Now none of

those things are

wrong right?

I don't know about

the crystal thing

but you know

those can all be

relaxing or

therapeutic.

But it seems a

little pharisaical

doesn't it?

More and more

external practices

to try to find

an internal

cleansing.

But you know

the other

strategy that we

try today is

justice misguided.

You know we

tell people to

follow their

feelings and

trust their

heart and

then they'll

be whole.

But that can

never work

either.

So what's the

answer?

How do we get

a clean heart?

Well you know

the answer isn't

actually found in

our passage this

morning per se.

In this passage

Jesus only

diagnoses the

problem.

And the

problem is more

radical than we

could have ever

imagined isn't it?

You know it's so

easy for us to

think about

external things we

need to change to

be okay.

But Jesus is

saying you've got

to go much

deeper than that.

But there is a

hint in our

passage that

points to the

answer that the

rest of Mark's

gospel gives.

There's a hint.

Did you notice at

the end of verse

19 how Mark

gives this little

editorial comment?

He says,

thus Jesus

declared all

foods clean.

It's such a

short little

statement that we

miss how radical

it is.

After all, do you

see what Jesus

just did in this

passage?

Mark underlines it

for us at the end

of verse 19 with

this little

parenthetical aside.

For thousands of

years God had

taught the people

of Israel that

some foods were

clean and some

were unclean and

it mattered a lot

which ones you

ate and didn't

eat.

And by doing so

God was teaching

his people that

they needed to be

holy and clean and

set apart in order

to be in his

presence, in order

to be his people.

But now in an

instant Jesus

declares all foods

are clean.

Just like that.

Isn't that

amazing?

After just

excoriating the

Pharisees for

elevating human

tradition above

God's word,

Jesus comes and

says, I'm telling

you all foods are

clean.

Tells you a little

something about who

Jesus thought he

was, doesn't it?

Now that I'm

here, Jesus is

saying, the purity

laws are reaching

their fulfillment.

Under the old

covenant, Jesus is

saying, my father

taught you about

your need to be

made clean.

clean.

But now, all

that is coming

to its

fulfillment, to

its goal.

What those

clean laws were

meant to teach

you, what they

were meant to

point to, it's

here.

The Old

Testament spoke

of purity and

set up the laws

as signposts to

it.

But now Jesus

was offering the

reality.

Does that mean

the laws were

worthless or

pointless?

No.

Not at all.

Think about it.

If you arrive at

a destination, you

don't need the

signposts anymore,

right, that lead

you there.

But that's not

because the

signposts were

wrong, but because

they've led you to

the right place.

The signposts did

their job and they

were good.

But now that you're

there, you don't

need them anymore.

The clean laws were

pointing to Jesus

the whole time.

You see, this is

where Jesus and

the Pharisees

perhaps most

profoundly differed.

The Pharisees saw

the Old Testament

primarily as a

book of rules that

needed to be

explained and

applied through an

ever-increasing body

of human traditions

and regulations.

But the Old

Testament isn't

primarily a code of

behavior.

God's word

primarily is a story

which leads to

Jesus as its

fulfillment.

Yes, God does

give us laws and

they're good.

But we don't get

clean through an

ever-increasing list

of regulations.

We get clean

through the person

of Jesus.

Not through what we

do or don't do,

but through what

Jesus has done.

But how does that

work?

Jesus was able to

fulfill the purity

laws of the Old

Testament because

he was the ultimate

sacrifice that makes

us clean.

When God became a

human being in

Jesus Christ, he was

able in his

humanity to take

all of our dirt and

all of our stains and

all of our guilt and

shame and he was able

to take them and

bear them up on the

cross.

In love, he took

the place of

everyone who would

admit their uncleanness

and trust in him.

And when he died in

our place, all of our

spiritual uncleanness

died with him.

That unclean heart

that we all have

stopped beating

when Jesus was put

in the grave.

But then,

three days later,

he rose.

A new

thing was born

on Easter

Sunday

in our humanity

coming out of the

tomb.

The apostle Paul

says he rose

for our

justification.

You see, a new

covenant was now in

place.

The old covenant

that God set up

through Moses was

now fulfilled by

Jesus.

All its demands

had been obeyed.

All its penalties

had been paid.

Now, the only thing

that was left to do

was simply to trust

in the one who had

done it for you.

This is the new

covenant in Jesus

Christ.

You and I

give him

your sinful heart

and in return

he gives you a new

heart.

A heart of flesh

filled with his

spirit

that beats for him

in the power

of his resurrection.

Now, that doesn't

mean that you'll

never struggle

with sin

as a Christian.

Christians will

battle with sin

until the day

we meet Christ

in glory.

But what it does

mean

is that sin's

power won't

rule over you.

There's a new

principle now

at work in you.

Working out

not evil practices

and evil attitudes

but putting you

on a trajectory

of righteousness

and truth

and justice.

Because you've

been made new.

Because you've

been made whole.

Because Christ

has made you

clean.

And if that's

true of you

in Christ

then you won't

need the external

voices

of human

customs or

traditions

to validate

you.

What a wonderful

thing

to not have

to live

according to

the ever-changing

attitudes and

customs and

traditions

of a world

that can't quite

figure out

what it thinks.

And it also

means that you

won't need to

search your

internal voices

of your heart

either.

You don't have

to go on some

hunt to find

the real you

deep in the

swirling desires

of your own

psyche.

Because you're

rooted in

something much

more sure

and lasting

and secure.

You've found

your identity

in God's word

and God's son

alive and active

in you

through God's

spirit.

And that's the

cleanness,

that's the

wholeness

that you and I

were made for.

Let's pray

together.

Our Father in

heaven, we take

a moment

in the stillness

here together

gathered as your

people

to confess

that we not

only have

unclean

hands

but we have

unclean

hearts.

Lord, we

don't like

admitting this.

We don't like

admitting that

we need a

solution that

goes as deep

as our very

heart.

And yet,

Father, we

thank you

that this is

the very

solution you've

provided in

Christ.

We pray that

by your spirit

you would be

doing your

work in

our hearts

that changes

from the

inside out

by your

grace.

Father, for

those who are

here this

morning who

are still

considering

Christianity,

considering the

claims of

Jesus to be

Lord, to be

the real

cleanser, God,

I pray that you

would help

them to see

Christ in all

of his beauty

and to trust

in him.

Father, and for

those that you

have drawn to

yourself, into

your family, into

your church, for

those who you've

given this new

birth in this

clean heart, God,

I pray that we

would continue to

put sin to

death and walk

in paths of

righteousness for

your namesake.

Lord, and help us

as a church to be

guided always and

ever by your

word.

To not let human

traditions or

customs drive us

by fear or by

pride, but to let

your word always do

its work in our

midst, leading us

and guiding us

into all truth.

We pray this,

Father, in the

mighty name of

Jesus.

Amen.