This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s, Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 2nd September 2012; St Oswald’s is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The readings for today are: Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 Psalm 15 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Prayer: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit let these words speak for you, and let them meditate in our hearts to bring you honour; in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Our readings for today’s sermon are taken from the Gospel of Mark Chapter 7 verses 1 to 8 and 14 to 15 and 21 to 23.
When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and 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.)
So 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?” He 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; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “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.” 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.”
Introduction
In today's Gospel, Jesus is in Galilee. No surprise there, but what is different is that the Pharisees have made a great effort to travel all the way down from Jerusalem to visit him; … well not visit him per say; they want to sound him out; … they want something on him; … and they want him out of their way; … to support a conspiracy to kill him.
Mark 7:1 says: “Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault”. Straight away they find fault and although it does not say, they were happy about finding this fault.
As you know, I was a server in Holy Trinity in Ayr for years before I came here. Now after years of setting up the Communion table somebody came up to me, breathed very heavily, grabbed one of the chalices and turned it around about ninety degrees; and then walk off muttering.
My first reaction was, “what was that all about” but I went onto look at the chalice closely, I could see a very small cross, engraved on the base. I found out later that this small cross was supposed to face the congregation. Ok that was the protocol; but what annoyed, really annoyed me was that I was not setting up the communion table; I was clearing the communion tables and placing the elements on the credence table which were well out of the way and hidden from the congregation to whom this cross was to be pointing.
What a palaver, I was thinking “so what”, nobody can see it; not even me; and is this worth a falling out over. Fortunately nothing came of it, it but bothered me. Why would somebody get so upset over something so minor and trivial that no one would ever notice? I could only conclude that it mattered to them.
What I am getting at here is we are here to worship God, and God accepts us because of Jesus, and nothing else.
As I said, nothing came from it other than my curiosity; but I am sure you have all witnessed a fray or an argument or even a fight over something very trivial; something blown up well beyond all proportion.
I am sorry to say it has happened to me many times, and I am sure it will happen again; but what I have learned is not to look at the situation which is causing the trouble, but look to the person who is over reacting. Here lie’s the key. In this short passage, Jesus is giving us a lesson in social skills; and he spots the Pharisees straight away for what they are.
The bible tells us that Jesus looks into the spirit of a person rather than the outward appearance, and the more we are in him, the more we are to develop these skills also.
Verse 5, which I am sure was spoken in a rather undignified tone: “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?”
Straight away, the Pharisees have got something on Jesus and they were using it against him. I am sure they expected Jesus to agree with them and kowtow to them like everybody else, after all, they were used to speaking down to people; people who were genuinely trying to please God. But Jesus was ready for them; he knew what spirit they were; and instead of running to them, he ran from them, standing up for himself.
In Verse 6: “He answered and said, Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do”.
Jesus is quoting the Old Testament here and basically saying, your outward appearance suggests you are holy and worshipping God; but you hearts are of your own selfish pride, using God to meet your own ends.
I personally know people today who use God to further their own ambitions, and I am sure you do too; and there are more of them than you think; and it is therefore important that we stand up to them. … If they are quick to quote condemning scripture at you; quote Roman 8:1 back and get them to explain that one. Romans 8:1 or course is “There is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus”. That usually gets a rage or a muttering or … “that’s not what I meant”, can’t talk to you.
Now I am not getting at traditions here, particularly church traditions because I know as an engineer many traditions have not just appeared; they have been carefully thought out in the past, and have proved to be the best solution to certain problems. And so, as long as they work, do not fix them.
Traditions are good, but we must all remember that traditions were created to solve a problems at a particular time, and as time and circumstances change, you may need to look at whether the traditions as you know may need to change.
But where traditions do become a problem is when they start adding to or subtracting from the “word of the Lord”.
That person who I mentioned earlier about turning the chalice was obviously disturbed; and it was certainly upsetting their peace of mind before the Lord. I am not saying that we should set up the communion table anyway to suit ourselves; what I am saying that if it is not set up properly, do not lose your peace of mind with God because of it. I also know if that person set up the table themselves, it would be set up properly. Make up your own mind, but do not beat yourself up, … or anyone else who does not life up to your expectations.
If you are upset by a small misdemeanour that has been done accidentally, then you have a problem. And I have got to say it to get this mornings message across: do you honestly think God is going to say, “I love you so much, that I sent my son to die on a cross to redeem you, to atone for you, and provide a place for you in eternity; but because you did not turn the chalice the correct way round, I am going to disown you”. Come on. That was meant to be a joke, but some people do think that way and it is totally wrong.
Another one which is a load of nonsense is the saying, (and you have got me going now), “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. How many times have you heard that said? How many people have said, “Oh, I better wash myself and be clean, and maybe God will love me, (or love me more).”
No, God loves you because of Jesus, … everybody else sitting around you might not because of the smell, but God will love you. and by the way, the phrase, “cleanliness is next to godliness”, was first recorded in a sermon by John Wesley away back in 1778, but … the idea is ancient, founded in Babylonian and Hebrew religious tracts, … and it is still invoked today, often as an admonition to wash or clean up, and besides … John Wesley was a great Christian minister, and being clean is a good thing, … but that phrase is not in the bible.
One day I thought I would look in the bible to see where that verse came from, and I was very angry to find it is not in the bible. It is a man made verse, a man made philosophy which sounds good. This really annoyed me, because if you think about it, how many people in the past have put themselves down believing God not to love them because they are unclean? I am not talking about the present, but about the past, the days before running hot water and soap. I am sure damage has been done because of this verse, and the assumption that it is from God.
The phrase “cleanliness is next to Godliness” by the way actually comes from a Phineas ben Yair, a rabbi whose writings can be found in the Talmud; the central text of mainstream Judaism.
But this saying was made popular by John Wesley in a sermon away back 1778; and virtually every Christian parent since, has quoted it to their children. This saying is not scripture; it has been added to scripture, and added as scripture.
But Jesus’ biggest attack on the Pharisees came in verse 8. “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Or as the New King James Version translate this as “[You are] teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men.”
The real problem is that the Pharisees had been teaching obedience to human traditions as if they were divinely commanded. Their traditions were a real problem because they treated traditions like additions to the Word of God; additions that suited them.
And Jesus was not impressed: their political views, their great charitable deeds, their church attendance and their attempts to be holy did not make them, nor us, a “better persons” before God.
Do you see where I am going with this? It all comes back to the same Gospel message, that it is our relationship with Jesus, that will make us presentable to God; washed or not.
That little Pharisee that is in us all, the one who loves to raise his face now and again to elevate our status before God needs to be ignored. In fact Jesus tells us in Verse 9 "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, to keep your tradition"
If you are adding to the word of God because it suits you, then there is a grave warning in the book of Revelation 22:16 which says, “If anyone adds anything to the word, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.” and that is quite a warning because the plagues in Revelations are horrific!
Do not get me wrong, I am not teaching against traditions; because Jesus himself accepted traditions when he preached in the local synagogues or they would not let him in; what Jesus was against was the additions to scripture by plausible man made philosophies; or the replacement of scripture for these philosophies. If Jesus was anti-tradition, he probably would have thrown out the order of service and created his own; and we know he did not.
And so finally we finish with the real matter; which is discerning the ceremonially unclean, with the spiritually unclean. Verse 15: “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him “unclean” by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.”
And then Jesus goes on to explain what he means in verse 21 “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside, and make a man ‘unclean.”
After listening to a list of sin like that, Jesus’ audience should have figured out that all the ceremonial hand washing in the world could not undo the spiritual uncleanliness, which infected their hearts.
The entire reason Jesus entered into our world was not to be a rigid traditionalist or a radical tradition-breaker, but to be our Redeemer and Saviour.
Jesus came into our world to take away all the sin that originated in these unclean hearts; by washing it away by the blood he shed on the cross. We are clean because of Jesus, we have been made righteous in the sight of God, and we can confidently enter the throne with thanks giving in our hearts.
What a wonderful message to proclaim, that is the Gospel, the good news, Amen.
Let us pray.
Father we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he died on the cross to set us free. We thank you that we are no longer under the dominion of Sin and are free to worship you in any manner we can.
We thank you also that Jesus showed us the way; to stand up for ourselves, and not be put down by the so called righteous who only want to promote themselves.
Father we also thank you for developing our senses, senses to recognise the self righteous; being perceptive to their attacks.
Father we ask this morning that you equip with the necessary tools and weapons to defeat these attacks; and strengthens us never to give in to them; seeing them for what they are; manipulative devices of the devil.
Father let us submit only to you; in Jesus name,
Amen.
