It's An Inside Job

Zephyr United Methodist Church

Early First United Methodist Church

July 30, 2006

Rev. Eddie Smart

Mark 7:1-23 (NRSV)

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, ²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and 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.) ⁵So 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?" ⁶He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

'This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

⁷in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.'

⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." ¹⁶

²¹For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, ²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

My friend, Toby Pugh, sent me an e-mail this week. It took us back to younger days. Long before the interstate highway system, we traveled from coast to coast on two lane highways spreading in all directions. It was in 1925 that Allan Odell pitched the idea to his Dad, Clinton. He would place little red signs with white letters, one after the other along the road to draw attention to the family product, a "brushless" shaving cream called Burma Shave. I wrote to Toby, "I'm too young to have seen the signs, but I have heard about them." His response to me, "Thou shall not lie." Those of us traveling in the 40's and 50's especially remember the signs being great entertainment on long trips.

This shave / Is like / A parachute /

      There isn't / Any substitute / Burma Shave

I can see Jesus and his disciples walking down a long dusty road. There on the side of the road Jesus points to the first roadside advertisements. He tells his disciples, those who have eyes let them see.

Washing hands / Is but / A tradition /

      Look inside / To know the condition / Homes by Jesus

To this point in Mark's gospel Jesus has healed one person right after another. Jesus has fed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. He has calmed storms at sea. Most recently he lands his boat at Gennesaret, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galliee. In that one town people come from everywhere to receive the healing touch of Jesus. The word has spread about this one who brings wholeness into the lives of people.

What happens next is interesting? The Pharisees and some scribes leave Jerusalem and come to see Jesus and his disciples. Do they say, "Well done, blessed be the name of Jehovah." No. Do they say, "Shame on you, we saw you heal a man on the Sabbath." No. Do they say, "Quit trying to set these people against us." No. Do they say, "You have broken God's law." No.

They say to Jesus, "Your disciples eat without washing their hands." That's the best they can come up with after traveling all the way from Jerusalem. "Your disciples eat without washing their hand."

They are not talking about hygiene here. Louis Pasteur will not teach us about germs until the 17th century. They are talking about the ritualistic use of a small amount of water. This was a "spiritual" thing. Its origin is in Levitical law. The priest who would once a year enter into the "holy of holies," that sacred home of the arch of the covenant, the home of God Almighty. Before entering this most sacred space, the priest had to be ritually clean. By the time of Jesus this ritual cleansing had been expanded to include everyone at every meal. This was a part of what was know as "the tradition of the elders." In other words, Jesus disciples had not followed traditions established by mortal men.

Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites and goes straight to scripture, quoting from Isaiah 29:13. (Jesus had not read any Dale Carnegie books.) Straight from Isaiah come three indictments.

1) You honor God with your lips, but not your hearts.

2) In vain you worship God when you replace doctrines with human precepts.

3) You substitute human traditions for God's commandment.

Jesus finishes with the Pharisees with the admonishment that following the traditions of the elders does not honor God.

You will notice gaps in today's scripture readings. The first comes between verses 8 and 14. We have discussed before how Mark has a habit of interrupting one thought with another. That is what is happening with our readings today. The lectionary and I have chosen to overlook the interruptions.

Next Jesus addresses the crowd. While he brushes off the Pharisees with the notion that it is they who ignore God's desires, he is more direct with the crowd. Jesus gets down to the very center of the issue. He says listen and understand. Then he says, "there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." (vs. 15) Without further explanation, Jesus is finished with the crowd.

Many of us have been to the doctor with an illness. They may swab the throat and say they will "culture the specimen." You saw them in high school chemistry. Petri dishes. Flat glass containers filled with a gelatin medium which helps microorganisms grow quickly. The cultures are grown in petri dishes because they are an ideal environment for growing such things.

The human heart / is like / a petri dish /

      inside what grows / is evilish / Salvation by Jesus

Jesus now addresses the disciples and warns that it is inside the human heart that evil intentions are cultured. They stay within that heart until they are multiplied. They grow and grow and without warning they pop out. It is that which comes out of us that reveals the evil being cultured within us.

Jesus doesn't stop with the generalization. He gets more specific than evil intentions. There is fornication, adultery, murder and theft, these alone represent 3 of the 10 commandments. Then there is avarice, too great a desire to have wealth. How many times did Jesus teach on that subject. Sexual sin repeated with licentiousness, but it could include other unrestrained immorality. Wickedness, deceit, and envy. Add one more from the decalogue offered through Moses. Then there is slander, pride, and folly. Did you notice? With all of these we place ourselves first.

They spring from the human heart, Jesus tells us. Right straight from the heart, our inner being. Cultivated, cultured, nurtured within us.

Think with me of the human heart as that clear, flat, glass dish. Inside the dish is the medium for growing things. Could it be that the nature of the medium is important? If the human heart is filled with cheating songs, the environment is right for growing adultery. If the human heart is filled with lust filled books, movies and tv, fornication and licentiousness thrive. If the human heart is filled with the things our society says are important, we will find averice, envy, deceit, wickedness, slander, and yes even pride.

Is our heart so filled with ME, that we commit murder. Oh, we may never shoot, stab, or poison anyone, but what about murdering them with our thoughts or our tongue. Jesus had something to say about that.

Is our heart so filled with ME, that we rob someone. We may not take their TV, computer, or money, but what about stealing their reputation, self-esteem, joy, peace or dignity.

Did you know that if one were to grow HIV in a petri dish, all the growth would be destroyed by pouring common chlorine bleach over it?

What will happen when we pour into the human heart scripture, prayer, Christian fellowship, devotional reading, study, worship, service to others, and God's grace?

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 (NRSV)