Dearest e-votees,
There are lots of expectations from polite and tidy society that we keep ourselves clean on the outside: wash our hands, watch our tongues, live decently and morally. These can be wonderful expectations that keep us safe and healthy, foster good relationships and provide wholesome examples to others.
There is, however, in all of us the tendency to go the other way: to dabble in the dirty and unhealthy, to slander our neighbors and especially our enemies, to choose the indecent and the immoral. There is a reason that we start worship so often with confession. There is a reason that our unbridled passions lead to dark and harmful places. There is a reason that Cain killed Abel, that David wreaked havoc on the lives of Uriah and Bathsheba, there is a reason that Judas betrayed Jesus, there is a reason that our world full of resources is so very unequally divided, etc., etc. There is a reason that the horrible things that happen in front of our eyes on the TV and on the internet while troubling and sinful might not be so surprising. There is in us the potential for horrific evil. That is part of why Jesus tells us so clearly to remove the speck from our own eye before judging the log in the eye of another.
Peace,
Karl
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1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of [Jesus'] 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; 4 and 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.) 5 So 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?” 6 He 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;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, NRSV
You have certainly heard the turn of the phrase “cleanliness is next to godliness.” What that is suggesting is that if we live clean, pure, shiny, pious lives we draw closer to God. It says that if we abide with the expectations of a clean on the outside society we will fit in and find ourselves closer to God. It is a way to coerce and shame us from the outside to toe the line. With the implicit threat that God will reject us if we don't do what's expected.
The Pharisees and the scribes in the gospel text are pointing out that Jesus' followers, and Jesus too through guilt by association, were not doing what was expected. They were not measuring up to the good and clean society. They were distancing themselves from God and God's people.
Jesus pushed back calling those who were accusing hypocrites. He claims that their pious practices were more important to them than the posture of their hearts. He quotes Isaiah in his response. He doesn't dismiss the purity laws or the rules of a decent society but says that they pale in comparison to what is in a person's heart. It is what is inside that makes any of us--all of us--unclean.
The truth is that we can't get clean enough on the outside, let alone on the inside, to be worthy to draw near to God. “cleanliness is next to godliness.” is a condemning word if we are honest about our cleanliness. We are beyond help to get clean under our own power and self-monitoring.
The good news--the gospel--is that “godliness comes next to uncleanliness.” Jesus comes into this world and draws near all manner of broken and sinful lives--prostitutes, gluttons, adulterers, tax collectors, demon-possessed, lepers, Gentiles, etc., etc. He comes close and makes them clean. He calls them and their insides begin to change. He speaks love and truth and forgiveness and the saints are born. Jesus calls us and our hearts draw near to him. In this lifetime our outer cleanliness will not come to completion. No matter, Jesus loves us anyway. And when we get that we find ourselves called and compelled to be so much kinder to fellow indebted slaves, hungry beggars and other sin-stained sojourners.
God, continue to come close to us. Give us hearts that draw near to you. Give us hearts to love others as we ourselves have been loved by you. Amen.
There are lots of expectations from polite and tidy society that we keep ourselves clean on the outside: wash our hands, watch our tongues, live decently and morally. These can be wonderful expectations that keep us safe and healthy, foster good relationships and provide wholesome examples to others.
There is, however, in all of us the tendency to go the other way: to dabble in the dirty and unhealthy, to slander our neighbors and especially our enemies, to choose the indecent and the immoral. There is a reason that we start worship so often with confession. There is a reason that our unbridled passions lead to dark and harmful places. There is a reason that Cain killed Abel, that David wreaked havoc on the lives of Uriah and Bathsheba, there is a reason that Judas betrayed Jesus, there is a reason that our world full of resources is so very unequally divided, etc., etc. There is a reason that the horrible things that happen in front of our eyes on the TV and on the internet while troubling and sinful might not be so surprising. There is in us the potential for horrific evil. That is part of why Jesus tells us so clearly to remove the speck from our own eye before judging the log in the eye of another.
Peace,
Karl
------------
1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of [Jesus'] 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; 4 and 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.) 5 So 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?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
You have certainly heard the turn of the phrase “cleanliness is next to godliness.” What that is suggesting is that if we live clean, pure, shiny, pious lives we draw closer to God. It says that if we abide with the expectations of a clean on the outside society we will fit in and find ourselves closer to God. It is a way to coerce and shame us from the outside to toe the line. With the implicit threat that God will reject us if we don't do what's expected.
The Pharisees and the scribes in the gospel text are pointing out that Jesus' followers, and Jesus too through guilt by association, were not doing what was expected. They were not measuring up to the good and clean society. They were distancing themselves from God and God's people.
Jesus pushed back calling those who were accusing hypocrites. He claims that their pious practices were more important to them than the posture of their hearts. He quotes Isaiah in his response. He doesn't dismiss the purity laws or the rules of a decent society but says that they pale in comparison to what is in a person's heart. It is what is inside that makes any of us--all of us--unclean.
The truth is that we can't get clean enough on the outside, let alone on the inside, to be worthy to draw near to God. “cleanliness is next to godliness.” is a condemning word if we are honest about our cleanliness. We are beyond help to get clean under our own power and self-monitoring.
The good news--the gospel--is that “godliness comes next to uncleanliness.” Jesus comes into this world and draws near all manner of broken and sinful lives--prostitutes, gluttons, adulterers, tax collectors, demon-possessed, lepers, Gentiles, etc., etc. He comes close and makes them clean. He calls them and their insides begin to change. He speaks love and truth and forgiveness and the saints are born. Jesus calls us and our hearts draw near to him. In this lifetime our outer cleanliness will not come to completion. No matter, Jesus loves us anyway. And when we get that we find ourselves called and compelled to be so much kinder to fellow indebted slaves, hungry beggars and other sin-stained sojourners.
God, continue to come close to us. Give us hearts that draw near to you. Give us hearts to love others as we ourselves have been loved by you. Amen.
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