Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; James 1:17-27
Jesus is in Galilee, and some Pharisees and teachers of the law have made the trip down from Jerusalem because of him. Their visit is not because they want to learn from him or because they are interested in becoming His followers; they have come to check on Him; they have already decided that Jesus is someone dangerous. The author of Mark’s Gospel has already told us in chapter 3 verse 6 of the conspiracy to kill him. Therefore, they came to Galilee to obtain evidence they could use to prove their case against this new Galilean teacher.
Now, to be fair we have to say that as lawyers or teachers of the law, these men had the responsibility of protecting Israel from potential false prophets or false messiahs. However, on the other hand, they also had the responsibility to point the people to the real Messiah, when he came. In Jesus’ case, the way they actually evaluated Him as the Messiah was all wrong. First, early in Jesus’s ministry just because He healed a man on Saturday, they decided He was a dangerous man and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Him. Second, they did not evaluate Jesus using the scriptures, even when they knew what the scriptures said about the long-expected Messiah. They evaluated Jesus using the measure of their religious traditions.
The problem Mark shares with us this morning is that these teachers saw Jesus’ disciples eating with hands that were defiled or unwashed. What they criticized was not a huge moral or spiritual failing. What these disciples omit to observe was a human origin custom, a pious custom not a specific law.
The hand washing in question was not a hygienic measure as we do now. It was a practice meant to wash away “spiritual contamination” such as those caused by touching something or somebody considered unclean. The Law of Moses mandates hand washing, yes, but only for priests attending to their duties within the area set aside as sacred. We can read it in Exodus 30:17-21. The Pharisees, however, extended the practice to other circumstances. It was a way to distinguish themselves from the surrounding pagan population. Therefore, these scribes or teachers of the law with the Pharisees gathered around Jesus and asked him why his disciples fail to keep the tradition of the elders. Jesus calls together the people around him, the crowd, so they can hear the warning he felt compelled to offer them. In effect, what Jesus tells the crowd is this: “Look out! Purity is not a matter of keeping external rules; nobody gains impurity by eating with dirty hands, purity or impurity comes from inside, from our hearts. Dr. Barclay in his commentary to the New Testament calls this the most important principle of the New Testament. What Jesus means by heart, is not the muscle inside our chest that pumps blood. Jesus understands heart in the Hebrew sense as the center of all our emotions, the inner self of a person.
He announces that the heart is where the problem lies. According to Hebrew theology, our hearts are full. Full of emotions, feelings, desires and very often, these feelings and desires are poisons that kill our spirits and the spirits of people around us. Jesus lists these poisons. He names such evil intentions as fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, and pride and when we express all these feeling with our mouth and our words become actions, impurity goes inside of us. The heart of the Pharisees and teachers of the law was full of manmade traditions. For them their interpretations had the same authority that the Law, that is why Jesus told them, “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.”9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
Isaiah said, “Your hearts are far from me” Jesus said, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come” Therefore, I can say without any doubt that in this occasion Jesus is addressing the problem we, humans have with our hearts. Again, heart as the Hebrews understand it, heart as the center of all our emotions, feelings, and passions.
In today’s reading from Mark is implicit –I believe- an invitation, if purity or impurity comes from inside, from our hearts, Jesus is inviting us to check what is in our hearts. Everybody has seen -I believe- the commercial of Capital Bank credit card “What’s in your wallet?” Jesus is asking us today “what’s in your heart?”
Human hearts need to be empty and detoxify from the poisons flooding forth from this world. All that is going on in the world today is a heart problem. Wars, riots, murders, and lack of empathy are the result of poisoned hearts. The writer of James in chapter 4, verse 1 asks, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this: that your passions are at war within you?” or within your hearts where your passions are, Jesus would say.
The problem of this world my brothers and sisters is not external as sometimes we believe, and we always blame others, the problem is inside of us. What we need is to allow God to create in us a new heart. And how can this happen.? The Bible tells us how this can happen. Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” In other words, by removing the manmade traditions and placing the word of God in the center of our lives.According to Jeremiah 31:33, the center of our life is our heart. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Proverb 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
What is in our hearts will define who we are, that is why it is important to have as a daily discipline to invite God to search our hearts as David did in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Nowadays it’s so easy to fall in the same trap the Pharisees and teachers of la law fell and allow manmade commandments, manmade customs to fill and lead our hearts; nowadays it’s so easy to fill our hearts with hate and divisiveness especially with all the messages we hear and see in social media and TV.
In the midst of all this division and hate, we must keep our heart protected at all times and at all costs. James tells us that a way we can do it is by practicing the word of God, by being doers not only hearers. When we practice God’s commandments, we exercise our trust in Him; when we exercise our trust, we realize His faithfulness and His love for us, and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and love for Him and for what it’s His.
What is in your heart? Jesus is asking us today…come and search and see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting, should be our answer…