EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past nearly four years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Aug. 25, the 14th week after Pentecost. For the summer, we moved to live Wednesday night services that were simultaneously livestreamed.
This week's gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
The Tradition of the Elders
7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they 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,[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.[c]) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live[d] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Message:
Some strong words from Jesus tonight, and it's hard not to feel a big, ol' finger pointing right at you, isn't it? ... Let's let's unpack it.
In 1971, for Earth Day, cartoonist Walt Kelly, who drew the comic strip "Pogo" for newspapers, penned probably one of the most famous lines ever uttered by a comics character. For those who are unfamiliar with the comic strip, or don't remember it, "Pogo" was a popular strip that appeared in many daily newspapers for decades. The strip was published from 1948 until 1975, and so by 1971, when this particular cartoon strip published,
the comic strip had a pretty good following.
It starred various animals of the forest, and although popular with both kids and adults, the comic strip could at times be very politically satirical. And for Earth Day that year, the comic strip writer Walt Kelly wanted to make an important statement. The cartoon strip was just two frames. In the first frame, two woodland animals -- a porcupine and the star character which was a possum named "Pogo" -- are walking in the forest. The first character looks at the second character, "Pogo," and says, "Ah, Pogo, the beauty of the forest primeval hits me in the heart." ... Pogo quips back, "It gets me in the feet."
In the second frame, the two friends are now sitting off to the right-hand side of the frame, looking back at the forest floor that is just littered with a mountain of trash left behind in the forest by careless humans. The porcupine says to Pogo, "It is hard walking on this stuff," referring to all of the trash. ... And Pogo responds, "Yep, son, we have met the enemy, and he is us."
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
This is the first thought that came to mind this week as I studied the gospel text. Because, if you strip away everything else in the text tonight, Jesus is telling us that the problem with evil in the world is that it's not out there, it's in each of us. Jesus is telling us that if we set aside all of our petty grievances with all of those other people. ... If we set aside our human
customs of washing hands before we eat. ... We may recognize that we are actually the problem.
Before we go much further, I should back up and discuss a few more things in
detail about the text: The scene in tonight's gospel opens with some Pharisees, which we know are Jewish spiritual leaders, seeing some of Jesus' disciples eating without first washing their hands, which according to the Jewish laws was taboo. And they questioned Jesus about this.
But we must remember that their questioning is more than just about personal hygiene. The Pharisees are actually questioning whether Jesus' followers are properly following Jewish tradition. And while this may sound silly to us today, some 2,000 years later, before we just brush this off as trivial, you have to understand that the Jewish customs had guided life for these people for thousands of years. After all, these customs and traditions were handed down since Moses. And so the Pharisees are truly concerned about this sight, but as the text tells us, Jesus has a new message to offer.
It's really important to understand that if you go back and look at your text there were three different sections of text. And they weren't all in numerical order.
In that first section of text, Jesus is actually conversing with the Pharisees. And then in that second paragraph of text, Jesus is actually talking to his disciples. And then in the third section of text, Jesus is talking to everyone ... all of us, including those of us that are his followers today ... 2,000 years later.
So, this new message that Jesus has to offer isn't pointing directly back at just the Pharisees. This new message that Jesus has to offer applies to everyone. ... All of us that hang our hats on these human customs these human traditions that we make out to be divine law.
And so, what Jesus says is that he's protesting against the thought that human customs could be given the weight of divine law. And, in fact, he actually has good news and bad news for the Pharisees, and each of us. ... The good news is that defilement, or the breaking of human customs -- defilement, we should know, is not equated with sin. And that's really not what is happening in the Pharisees' mind. They are actually really, truly questioning these kind of human customs, these kosher laws, that the Jews had developed to form a community. ... And they're not necessarily equating them with sin.
But interestingly, later on, Jesus makes that movement, and we will get there. But for now, Jesus' good news is that the defilement, or the breaking of human customs, isn't as big of a deal as the Jewish people had believed. ... That's what he's saying in this message to the Pharisees, because the truth is that the power of life is stronger in Jesus than it is in all of those human customs.
Now this is something we all should be grateful for!
But, the bad news is Jesus is telling them, the Pharisees, and us that the problem with evil is not in those early earthly customs. ... For instance, it's not their in unclean hands before eating a meal that is the problem, Jesus says. But rather, the evil actually is in each of us. He tells us that we are so busy focusing on the trivial missteps of others and ourselves that we do not realize that the power of sin in our own lives is a much greater concern.
A quote from the text: "For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Those things are actually the things that defile Jesus tells us. ... This isn't about the things you touch or put in your body or didn't wash. Jesus says this isn't about human customs that we inflate to divine rules. ... What is happening in this text is that Jesus is pointing a finger squarely at each of us and saying, "You know what ... check your own heart before you start picking apart someone else for their behavior."
Faith Family, I don't believe there could be a more timely message for us as Christians, right now. Temperatures are rising again. ... We each see it in political discourse over the pandemic and other matters. Division is rising again. Just at the point we thought we were
getting over the hump, and maybe starting to mend as a country, division is rising again. ... Well, let's be honest, political discourse about anything seems impossible now. The temptation to point fingers at the others is so easy. ... If only they believed and thought like me! ... Finger-pointing is so easy!
But here is Jesus telling us that true uncleanness, true defilement, comes not from those other people who disagree with us. True defilement does not come from their actions or beliefs ... doesn't come from those external things that we find wrong with others. ... But true defilement comes from the intentions of the human heart. ... Our own human hearts.
Faith Family, Jesus gives us a new way of thinking, a new way to understand what to truly be concerned about in this world. And what we should be truly concerned about is what emanates from our very own hearts. ... I quote Jesus: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
Faith Family, let's show the world a different example. ... Let's take Jesus' lead. ... Let we who are washed in the Word be the first to continue to ask God to create clean hearts in us. Because that is what Jesus asks of us.
And that is the Good News for this Wednesday, Aug. 25, the 14th week after Pentecost. ... Amen.
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