The Holy Toothbrush
Mark 7:1--23
9/17
† In the Name of Jesus! †
Grace and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
The Sacred Toothbrush
There are many words that we use in church language today, that I do not think we truly understand. We might have an idea, but if asked to explain them, we would stagger a bit, stammer a bit, maybe even say, well, my pastor can explain it better than I, let me get him to come over. To be honest, I don’t mind, because I love to share the meanings of these words, to make them come alive – because they are incrediblee. Not only that, it provides a bit of job security for me.
Often they are really big words, multi-syllable words that take about a page of notes and scripture quotes to define. Things like redemption, sanctification, or propitiation! When we really want to sound really “churchy”, we combine a few of them, making comments about forensic justification, eschatological prophecy, or substitutionary atonement, or put them in a different language, like Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, or Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Christo, Sola Scriptura. Each one of these words, really has an incredible meaning for us, for they attempt to describe aspects of our faith, but in the maze that is our language, that meaning gets lost.
There is a simple four letter word, that I think we lose the meaning of, all too often. It is at the core of today’s gospel reading, it is what the Old Testament reading calls the people of Israel to, and when we are this, the whole armor of God protects us, that we may remain so. The word is,
Holy.
Being Holy is, I think, made far too complicated in this day and age. Part of that is do to how difficult holiness is to envision. That is because it is a state of being, not something we do, or attain. In today’s gospel, the lack of holiness is so easy to describe. Often, in today’s passage, the word that means the opposite of Holy is defiled.
There is a really easy, visible illustration of what being defiled means. It uses the “holiest” item in your house, or in mine. It is what our sermon is titled, except, I left a blank for you to write it in, in your notes.
It is, the Holy…… TOOTHBRUSH!
This is Kay’s toothbrush, and I will now defile it….
(put toothbrush in transmission oil, then in the dirt)
Anyone want to borrow my toothbrush to use to brush your teeth with?
I imagine that brushing one’s teeth with this toothbrush right now, would be horrible. It is not clean, it is defiled, it has not been used for that which it was created. To be holy, means to be set apart to a task, a special usage. This toothbrush can no longer be used for what it was created to be used for. It is unclean, defiled, and will never be used for what it was set apart to do.
When we talk about a person being defiled, we are talking about the effect that sin has on us. Both our own individual sin, and the corporate sin of humanity.
The Problem of being Defiled/Common
Pharisees saw this as an outward problem
We do today, as well, don’t we?
The Filth Jesus was concerned about
That doesn’t come from not washing hands
A great deal of the Old Testament, was written about being Holy. When Israel marched through the wilderness with Moses, the commandment specified that those who were defiled, that became unclean, were to be kept outside the camp, cut off from the people of God, until they could be considered clean again. The scriptures also tell of how long it took, for a person to be considered clean again.
Somewhere along the line, the leaders of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, started to really go overboard with this idea of cleanliness. They assumed that physical cleanliness equaled Godliness. If a person ate or drank something out of dirty cup, or off a dirty plate, or sat on a dirty couch, this could result in being unclean “spiritually”. They therefore had all of these ceremonial washings, literally ceremonial baptisms, of things they considered unclean.
Their problem Jesus notes, when confronted by the accusation that his disciples were defiling themselves, because they didn’t perform the ritual hand washing. WE are not talking about just washing your hands as you come in for dinner, but a special prayer with rituals that God didn’t create. But the Pharisees and scribes note that the disciples did not set themselves, especially their hands, to eat. They are convinced that not doing so, that eating without this proper cleaning, will result in the disciples becoming unclean, and they confront Jesus with this. He will take a few moments now, to clarify the question of being holy, of being clean, of being undefiled.
It’s not about the hand washing, that is not the kind of uncleanliness that Jesus is talking about. He says, after all – that which goes into us, ends up coming out. Literally in Greek – it goes through us and into a latrine!
But there is another kind of unclean, of being unholy, or sinful. It is seen by what comes out of man. Jesus even gave a small list of examples, evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. One who does these things is truly not holy, nor clean, but instead has been defiled. Our sinful acts show that we have a problem that needs to be dealt with. We need to become clean, to become holy, to be restored to the reason we were created! Is there any hope for us?
The Possibility of being Holy?
Pharisees – scrub, scrub, scrub,
Do you ever really get clean?
Does it clean the big stuff?
In order to try and deal with this uncleanliness, over the years the jewish people created various “washings”. They symbolically developed extra biblical rituals to clean everything but that which needed to be cleaned. In another passage, Jesus talks about how they could make the outside of a cup gleam, but inside, it could still be filthy. And so it is, in the lives of sinner. We can attempt to clean ourselves up, but that is not what God intended, nor does it work.
They invented this cleansing ritual, and that ritual, but those rituals only dealt with the outside of man, they didn’t deal with what caused the filth in the first place. It is as if I rinsed this toothbrush off in a toilet, and then declared it clean! It might appear a little cleaner, but is it?
People sometimes think their lives are cleaner. They stopped doing this sin, and maybe that, but they still haven’t really made themselves holy, for they cannot.
The way to Holiness/Cleanliness
In Christ
Through the Holy Spirit’s baptizing us
White Robes in Revelation
Circumcised Hearts
In our gospel reading today, the passage ends with Jesus saying, all these evil things come from within a person, and they defile them. Because the Pharisees and Scribes did not want to deal with real cleanliness, it was where they were left, in their own defilement. Thanks be to God, who did not leave us in a similar place.
For those who listen to and believe Jesus, there is something that takes our defiled, unclean, unholy lives, and makes them again holy and undefiled. For we have an undefiled Jesus, according to Hebrews, who has paid for our unholiness. He has taken on our filth, and died in order to cleanse us from it, for it died with Him. Paul’s letter to Titus, shares with us, how we are incredibly cleansed,
Titus 3:4-7 (ESV) 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
According to His own mercy, God baptizes us, washing us, making us new again. He washes us, and gives us His Spirit, just as He did to the people of God in Acts 2. In uniting us with the death of Jesus, God gives us the gift, the grace of the very righteousness of Jesus.
We are again, counted Holy, separated out to be the people of God. We are righteous, justified, holy, because of what Jesus did. Here this again, this rime from Paul’s letter to the Colossian church,
Colossians 2:11-13 (ESV) 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
When we are given the gift of faith, the gift of trusting in Jesus’ work for us, we are circumcised. Literally, that means to cut around – to have removed that which is not necessary, but only hides that which is harmful – sin.
In our baptism, God does this, not because of the water, but because of the faith He gives us, in Him. For He keeps His promises, and we are forgiven of our sin, and made holy. We are separated off from a sinful world, to be His people; to be His children. The only cleansing agent, able to cleanse us from our sin, the Blood of Christ, covers us in our baptism, as we are united with the death of Christ, and raised with Him through faith!
The illustrations in scripture of this are so incredible! The saints in Revelation, who washed in the blood of the Lamb, wear pure white, because they are holy and precious to God. That is not just those who have died, my dear friends, but each of us, who knows and trusts God.
We have been made clean, purified by the Blood of Jesus, applied to us in word and sacrament.
This is something to celebrate, something to rejoice in, for that which was defiled, was made pure and holy. We have been made pure and holy!
In a moment we sing “It’s Your Blood”, as the sermon ends. But this day, as you sing it, recognize it’s truth. That once we were sinners, committing every kind of sin and vice. But now, because of His grace, we are again holy, and undefiled, set apart for a specific purpose – not to clean teeth, but to be people of God. So rejoice today, and every day, knowing you have been saved, washed, cleansed, redeemed, MADE HOLY.
In Jesus.
And may the unsurpassable peace of God, guard your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus.
AMEN? AMEN!
