Mark 7:1-23 “Does God want a Dirty Church?”
7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 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 and kettles.)
5 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?"
6 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. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ’Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ’Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ’Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 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.’" [NOTICE- THERE IS NO V. 16- IT HAD BEEN ADDED BY SCRIBES LATER, SO IT IS NOT IN MOST OF OUR TRANSLATIONS TODAY- IT DOESN’T OCCUR IN THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ’unclean’? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him ’unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander [blasphemy], arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ’unclean.’"
Reflections/Reactions:
1. God wants a lean church:
Something we can all relate- or almost all of us- Religion/Church as “Body Fat” metaphor- some body fat is a good thing- but too much is not a good thing-
Just as much religion and tradition as we need to function properly
Not supposed to build up for its own sake- if it does, it slows us down, tires us out and greatly hampers our functions of faith
Our traditions are meant to serve our faith in Christ and NOT vice versa.
religion as covering vs. function
Eating is a basic need/function of life. this is and is not mainly a dietary teaching- though it does fulfill the kosher laws- Jesus came not destroy the OT- but to fulfill it-just as he fulfilled the sacrificial traditions- this shows that he is the clean food that we must eat to have a pure life, we are not cleaned by eating a certain list of foods- but by living on the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Our tradition is here only to help us serve Jesus Christ
2. God doesn’t want a slimy church (deep theo. Word for icky or gross)
using tradition and manipulating scripture to avoid doing good (because doing good would require self-sacrifice)
explaning v. 11: Corban oath- is like saying “if I give you any other money it would be like stealing from God- so I can’t support you any more. The ideal would be then this unspent money would be given for Jewish religious purposes- but this was not always the case. Jesus is saying that the teachers allow for their religion to be a loophole to the commandment of honoring your father and mother- the tradition of a religion should not contradict its own teachings.
3. God doesn’t want a dirty talkin church- but does want a church willing to talk about its dirt. (Our Dirt- not others dirt- big difference)
Lets look at v. 21
v. 21, greek of evil thoughts is literally, the word for dialog- so from within, out of the men’s hearts proceeds the consideration, dialogue, discussion of worthless, injurious, harmful thought- the list of sins- that need to be dealt w
4. Reality: God has a wounded, but healing church
Let’s look at a couple of words here:
koinoo- defile- make unclean vs. katerizo- coterize- to make clean, to purge, to purify, a church willing to admit its own wounds and seek healing for them. James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”You have to clean a wound before you stitch it up.
5. God doesn’t need a well-dressed church
The main Theme: Commands of God vs. tradition of men
Illustration- tradition of men wearing a suit and tie to church. Is that a command of God? Does a flashy suit a good pastor make?
How do we tell the difference between traditions of men and commands of God?
We study the wordeating and digesting the word
Hold ourselves accountable to a worshiping community
letting others tell us if what comes out of us is good or bad
Most churches are full of people afraid to tell the truth
James text says pure religion- is acts of goodness taking care of widows and orphans- you don’t become good by doing good acts- we do good acts because goodness in Christ has come into us- so that is what comes out of us.
There are no pure people, no pure churches- only people and churches who regularly and humbly seek to be purified by the cleansing blood of their savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus says at different times- he came for sick, the lost, and sinners- he does not come for the pure, or the confidently righteous and religiously clean folks
So does Jesus want a dirty church?
Yes- Jesus wants an honest dirty church willing to admit its need for cleansing. Today we have free cleansing available- we have time and elements here that God uses to wash you up to bring more grace and forgiveness in - to fill your heart- your spiritual life-blood with the Spirit of God- Jews believed life was in the blood
For he is the way the truth and the LIFE-aima- blood- let Him be your life today- and he will clean you up and out of you he will bring forth wonderful good.
