September 21, 2003 Mark 7:1-8; 14-15; 21-23
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles and dining couches. So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?" He replied, "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 but rules taught by men.’
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
Again 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.’ " 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.’"
Dr. Dobson once said that cleaning a house with young children in it is like shoveling the sidewalk while it is snowing. I can verify that what he said is true. When children get to be around ten months old, they start crawling around the house, opening up drawers, and throwing stuff on the floor. Then right when you get one mess cleaned up, you find the cushions were taken off the sofa and need to be put back on. You can just clean up the house, and five minutes later, it’s trashed again. The thing that is especially amazing is that two young and healthy adults cannot keep up with a ten month old and a two year old child without getting exhausted. These are the kinds of things that can drive a “clean” person absolutely crazy.
The Pharisees were the equivalent of what I would call the spiritual clean freaks of Jesus’ society. What Jesus does to the Pharisees in today’s text, is the equivalent of taking a thousand pieces of spaghetti, crunching them up, and throwing them into their spiritual house. He completely messes up their theological system of cleanliness. For all of you Felix Ungers of religion, you better bolt the doors and close the windows, for Jesus is going to enter your house with dirty feet, and trample on your clean carpet. Jesus is about to drive you crazy.
Jesus Crushes and Cures Your Quest For Cleanliness
I. The Quest
This quest for cleanliness from the Pharisees originated with God. The Ceremonial Law of the Old Testament had much to say about clean and unclean animals. These laws were full of regulations on what kind of animals you could touch, and also what kind of things you needed to do if you became unclean. Among these rites there were also sometimes official washings that were regularly required. You had to wash if you touched an unclean animal, if you walked into a house with mildew, if you had a skin disease, and even if you came in contact with a dead person. There were plenty of “washings” to go around.
Yet this wasn’t enough for the Pharisees - they wanted even more washings to make sure they were clean. Mark informs us that The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches. They connected these “washings” - literally “baptisms” - to every aspect of their eating. This was “the tradition of the elders.” In other words, it was something that their spiritual leaders told them they should do if they really want to make sure they stay ceremonially clean. About three or four centuries before the birth of Christ the Pharisees came up with 613 rules that regulated Israel’s life down to the smallest details - ways to become or keep clean. In the eye of the beholder, then, with all of these rules and regulations it was a very “clean” religion. The Pharisees were set apart from every other religion in the way they visibly and physically had these washings when the others didn’t.
Many years later, in Luther’s day, this cleansing came about from beating the body and denying it any carnal pleasure. Monks would walk around in uncomfortable outfits. They’d beat their bodies. They would tirelessly pray and walk around shoeless and separate themselves from society in the hopes of cleansing their bodies of any sinful thoughts and actions. People would look at them and think, “wow, these are really holy people!” These ideas are still very prevalent yet today. It’s called “asceticism.” The Buddhist monks do the same thing by trying to empty their minds and becoming one with the universe. The Catholics do it by not eating meat on Fridays. The Mormon missionaries do it by shirts and ties on one hundred degree days. Some Baptists and Mennonites try it by wearing longer skirts and never showing their knees. They do it by refraining from any alcohol or not buying Disney movies. They’re trying to set themselves apart from the sinful world by doing physical things or refraining from physical things to make them seemingly more clean.
Whether you think so or not, you also are on the quest for cleanliness. You may try to set yourself apart as holy by not watching television. Maybe you try to cleanse yourself from the world of sin by staying away from bars. Perhaps you try to keep clean by staying away from a neighbor or acquaintance who leads what you would consider a “dirty” life. And you think to yourself, “I don’t get drunk like they do, I’ve kept myself pretty clean.” Your version of cleanliness may be that you don’t cuss like your neighbor does. It might be that you don’t go to the liberal church he goes to. Or your cleanliness might come from the simple fact that you go to church. All of us have these little outward rituals - these “washings” - that we believe make us different from others - set us apart as what we would consider “clean,” unlike the filthy world around us. This could even be called Biblical, for Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
II. The Crush
For some reason, Jesus didn’t buy into the “clean” system of the Pharisees. Like a bunch of slobs, when Jesus and his disciples sat down to eat, they didn’t wash their hands, their pots, or anything. They just started eating! So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?" In anger and disgust, they turned to Jesus and demanded an answer. “WHY don’t you live according to the tradition of the elders!”
Jesus answered them why. "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 but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." For Jesus, it came down to one main point - “where does God’s Word say that I have to wash my hands before I worship?” What was worse, was that these “traditions” of the elders were causing them to let go of the commands of God. In one example that this text doesn’t cover, Jesus mentioned that the Pharisees would ignore the needs of their parents in order to give the money to the church. Why? Because that’s what their elders told them to do. Any cow or donkey would have know that their parents needed it more than the church, but they decided to leave their own parents starve to death so the temple could get some new gold handles on it’s door. Jesus said, “whatever happened to the Fourth Commandment?”
Traditions are fine and good, but we need to be careful in distinguishing between what is tradition and what is commanded by God. Jesus is telling you to really take a close look at what you regard as “clean worship” and make sure it is at least not setting aside a commandment of God before you either condemn something or condone it. For instance, the Mormons use WATER in their Lord’s Supper and some Baptists only use grape juice. They claim that this is a “more holy” way of worshiping. But where does God’s Word say that drinking in moderation is a sin? Didn’t Paul recommend Timothy to drink a LITTLE wine? (1 Timothy 5:23) God’s Word also says that gluttony is a sin, so does that mean that everyone who eats food is sinning - because they aren’t running from temptation? Other religious groups claim to be celebrating a “believer’s baptism” by only baptizing adults by immersion! We say, “show me the passage!” They say, “well, the word baptism means to dunk, and only adults were baptized in the Bible.” We say - what about this very passage in the KJV, that states they would “baptize” or “wash” dining couches! Would they take their couches down to the river and dunk them under to “baptize” them? Bible context PROVES the word for baptize is NOT limited to dunking. Bible passages PROVE that Jesus said to baptize ALL NATIONS and that five WHOLE HOUSEHOLDS were baptized. Are you to tell me God DOESN’T want infants baptized? Their TRADITIONS are very clearly setting aside the very WILL of God - to use wine in the Lord’s Supper and baptize INFANTS as He commanded.
Let’s turn the table on ourselves. Just because someone raises their hands when they pray or shouts out “Amen,” is that evil? Just because our tradition doesn’t go that way, does that make it wrong? Show me in God’s Word where it says we have to follow a liturgy or have a confession or have three readings or stand up and sit down in a worship service. Where does it say this is “unclean”? “Show me the money,” “where’s the beef?”,Jesus says. We need to be careful that we don’t label something as “sin” that really isn’t. What Jesus was trying to do with His statement was to turn the tables on the Pharisees. Instead of having them ask Him, “why AREN’T you washing”, he turned the tables on them and asked, “WHY ARE you washing?” It’s nothing but hypocrisy!
After this, Jesus really drove the dagger home. He completely messed up their spiritual cleanliness with the following words. "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.’ " 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.’" What was Jesus getting at? He was saying to them - “if you want to rid yourself of evil - you’re starting at the wrong spot! Instead of worrying about what’s outside you - look at what’s INSIDE you. You’ve got a heart that pouring out greed, vulgarities, envy, slander, arrogance, and all kinds of garbage. If you really want to clean yourself, the first thing you’re going to have to do is to rip your own heart out!” Even King David knew that when he prayed to the Lord, “create in me a CLEAN heart.” He knew his heart was full of filth and he needed God to CREATE a clean one.
Doesn’t this just dirty your whole system? So you thought you could make yourself clean by refraining from alcohol? You thought you could be pretty acceptable to God by not watching dirty television shows? You really thought that if you got good grades you would really be acceptable in God’s sight? You really thought that by coming to church or giving money you would somehow be “cleaner” than the rest of the world? You actually thought that you could blame your sin on the world and the devil? Even if you did manage to refrain from these outwardly evil things - you’d still have a filthy heart. You can’t brush it like you can your teeth. There is no soap that you can buy at the store - no heart medicine that will make it clean. Even if you tore it out and replaced it with a pig’s heart or a mechanical one, it would still be filthy. The fact of the matter is no matter how much you try to cleanse yourself through your outward rituals - whatever they may be - it won’t work. YOU are sinful down to your heart - and there’s NOTHING you can do about it.
III. The Cure
That’s where Jesus left it. Like a handful of two year old kids He walked into the Pharisees seemingly clean system and left it in complete shambles. With a master in God’s Word He said there was no cure in their man-made cleansings- it was all vain - pointless! That is what led Luther to ultimate despair! No matter how many times he confessed or whipped himself or slept on uncomfortable cots - he couldn’t cleanse himself.
But there is a cure! Oh yes, my friends, there is a cure, when we ask ourselves, “What was Jesus’ ultimate lesson?” Jesus said, “unclean things don’t come from the outside, they come from within.” Obviously, then, we would have to conclude that we SHOULDN’T look within ourselves for cleanliness. Don’t think that anything you do IN YOU can make you clean. Even if you stop drinking or stop cussing, or even stop lusting or hating, don’t think that you’ll somehow be clean. No matter how much you reform your life or how many “clean” things you eat or drink - they won’t clean your heart. So what’s the conclusion we have to come to then? In spite of everything I’ve been taught or everything that I want to believe, I have to look OUTSIDE of myself for my cleansing!
This is where Luther FINALLY found His comfort, when he read Romans 3:21-24. Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. When Luther read this, He finally realized how he could get this cleansing that he was searching for. Instead of trying to purify himself through his ritual beatings and works, the wounds of Christ could come from heaven and swallow him up. God could take His own righteousness - in the life and death of Christ - and give it to Luther through faith. After all of his working and striving, he finally realized that it was already given to Him in Christ - two thousand years ago! My friends, if you really want a clean heart - if you really want to be holy before God - He wants you also to climb up on that cross, and imagine God as having crucified you. He wants you to envision the perfection of Christ as having come down from the cross and being placed on you, in you, and through you. He wants you to look at yourself as if you were actually as perfect as Jesus Christ - because that’s how God regards you when you believe in Christ.
You want to know what’s really ironic in this whole thing? After denouncing all of these washings of man, Jesus instituted a baptism that would do this very thing the Pharisees were attempting. Jesus told the disciples to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 20:28) Peter said that this baptism would give the forgiveness of sins and the gift of faith through the working of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38). Paul said in Galatians 3 that, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. All of the cleansing that we desire is given to us in a single washing of water and the Word - as prescribed by Jesus Christ Himself. If you’ve been baptized, sprinkled or dunked, young or old, you can always take comfort that through that water and Word God promises you that the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ was applied to you, and your hearts were cleansed. Instead of leaving us hopeless, with no washing, Jesus gave us a free cleansing and provided us with a holiness we could find in no rituals of our own. This cleansing is only found in the blood of Christ - outside of us - and applied to us through water and the Word of baptism - free of charge.
After having four children, I have been driven to the point of despair in keeping my house clean. But then one day Oprah gave my wife the answer. An expert in child rearing said, “we are supposed to be children’s slaves. We are supposed to be the teachers of our children.” Therein lied the answer. Instead of looking at myself to clean the house, I could now make my older children clean the house for me. Life has been much easier since.
If you want to have a clean spiritual house - the answer lies in the same principle. No matter how much you discipline your eyes, your body, or your mouth, you can’t clean your heart - it’s impossible. With this revelation of your heart, Jesus crushes any quest for cleanliness in yourself, and then He provides the cure by saying, “I am what you have been looking for! Instead of killing yourself through your rituals to be clean, look to Me! My perfect life and innocent death has provided a righteousness and holiness for the entire world. Believe in Me, be baptized, and the purity you have been looking for will be given to your body and soul - even your heart - in the blink of an eye.” Amen.
