"no Outcastes"

“No Outcastes”

Mark 7:1-8, 14-23

When I was interning in the News Department of a Television Station during college, the Bureau Chief gave me a nasty assignment.

There was someone running for office, he must have already been in government somehow, and she wanted me to dig up dirt on him.

She didn’t have any dirt on him—she just wanted me to dig some up because she wanted some news.

She had me hide-out in the Capital Parking Garage and watch him get into his car in order to find out whether he was using government vehicles for personal use.

She also had me searching the Capital Building itself, searching for anything that might be news-worthy.

I couldn’t find a thing.

One day this politician came to the station for an interview with this Bureau Chief.

I greeted him and then whispered in his ear: “They’ve had me searching for dirt on you for the past couple months and I wasn’t able to find a thing. Good for you!”

A few days later that same politician had a new commercial on the air waves.

In it a news director was screaming into a phone to a guy in a hat, overcoat and with a big micro-scope— and the news director was yelling: “Find dirt on…”--I can’t remember the politician’s name.

Then the investigator or whatever (who was obviously portraying me) called his boss back saying, “I can’t find anything,” to which the boss screamed back into the phone ever louder and more frustrated: “Find dirt!”

Our Gospel Lesson for this morning reminds me of my experience of searching for dirt on that poor guy and also the funny commercial that followed.

The Pharisees and some teachers of the Law are following Jesus around in order to “find dirt” on Him so they can have an excuse to get rid of Him and when they “saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed” they are sure they have found some!

Now this had nothing to do with being sanitary or unsanitary.

They had no concept of germs back then.

And the ritual washing of hands before eating was not a law found in Scripture.

It was a “tradition of the elders.”

In other words, it wasn’t a law of God; it was a tradition created by people.

Now, of course, traditions can enrich life and faith.

Traditions can help bring structure and discipline.

Traditions can be wonderful things.

But, sometimes they can be so ingrained in us that we don’t even know why we practice them.

There is a story about a little rural church that got a new minister.

And he began to notice an interesting thing that would happen every Sunday.

At the beginning of the service the entire congregation would sit on the left side of the sanctuary.

But after the offering, the entire congregation would stand and move to the other side.

They did this every Sunday.

The pastor wondered why they did this and so he kept asking folks in the congregation.

People would answer: “It’s just the way we have always done it.

I’ve been going here my whole life and it’s the way we worship.”

Finally, the minister asked the oldest member of the congregation.

She gave him the answer.

A long time ago, the church had a wood burning furnace that would heat the sanctuary.

Someone would light the furnace a few minutes before the service, but it would take a while for the place to heat up.

So everyone sat near the furnace which was on the left side of the sanctuary.

By the time the offering came around it was too hot on the furnace side so everyone would stand up and move to the other side.

It became a tradition.

Once the furnace was gone, people kept doing it.

That’s a little like this hand washing thing Jesus is dealing with in Mark Chapter 7.

It was just human tradition that someone added to their religion and when the Pharisees see Jesus’ disciples ignoring this tradition they figure they have “found dirt” on Jesus.

“Dirt” they can use to discredit Him, to bring Him down.

After-all, they were the ones in charge of the religious rules and traditions.

They were the ones who told people what God expected of people and what was important to God.

How dare this new carpenter-turned Rabbi come in and upset the apple-cart, and thus, threaten their power structure, their jobs, their status, their Temple rules.

How dare He go against the way things have always been, even if He is healing people, and doing so many other good and loving things—even if He is drawing in huge crowds of folks who otherwise would probably have had no interest in Temple worship and their rules anyway—no interest in God.