VOICE OF THE TEACHER: part 4

Mark 7
March 1, 2009
with Matt Johnson

INTRO:
"Hey, You’re a Christian right? Why do you… ?"
I hate questions that start that way! Drives me crazy. The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I’m immediately running through the gamut of common questions, like the ones based on the common assumptions that people have about the church – Sing such old songs? Cross your chest when you pray? Have so many rules to follow? Or maybe it’s one of the ones directed at me, like - Have wine in your house? Smoke a pipe occasionally? Have a tattoo? Work at a coffee shop if you’re a Pastor? Or maybe it’s one of the questions about what our church doesn’t do (these are my favorites…) – Not practice confession? Not wear collars as Pastors? Not have pews?

Here’s one I get each year around this time… Hey, You’re a Christian right? Why don’t you celebrate Lent? I typically try to answer in with a politically correct response so that I don’t end up in a theological debate with people about it, so I ask if they want the long answer or the short answer… The short answer is usually something like this: “It’s not something that I choose to celebrate based on my interpretation of scripture.” The long answer is, “The practice of Lent is a part of a much larger “Christian calendar” that was put into place over hundreds of years of the Catholic Church establishing and adjusting tradition. It’s observation and celebration has changed a lot over the past 2,000 years after Christ’s death, and has become something greatly distorted from it’s original conception. Even then, it’s only a practice that is pieced together from various scriptural ideas, and not an observance that is directly discussed anywhere in scripture. Because of that, it’s not anything that the first century church celebrated in any way. Passover is the biblically accurate “Christian Festival” to be celebrated at this time, but because of it’s Jewish origins, most churches stray from it out of a lack of understanding of Old Testament practices. By this time, most people’s eyes have rolled into the back of their heads and they’re completely disinterested in my answer. But hey, they asked…

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not at all that I think the concepts of Lent are bad. Spiritual sacrifice in the form of fasting to focus your thoughts on Jesus is great. Actually taking time to prepare your heart for Easter so that it’s more than a long weekend with an extra church service on Friday, egg hunt on Saturday, and early church service on Sunday is a great thing! Anything that makes you pay attention to Jesus I’m all for. However, the cynic in me is skeptical that most people that observe Lent in today’s culture are doing it because of those things. I’m inclined to believe that most people observe lent because of a sense of religious social obligation, guilt, and tradition.

Jesus found himself fielding questions pretty regularly from the Pharisees that basically started out, “Hey, You’re a Jew, why do you… ?” In his answers, we get a great amount of insight to Jesus, His values, His purposes, and His heart… If we can tune out the rest of the world long enough to listen to his voice, we can learn a lot.

Let’s catch up on the background of where Jesus’ has been recently before this passage. He’s just done some miraculous things that have really gotten people’s attention – both the crowds and the disciples. He just fed the five thousand with a few fish and a few loaves of bread. Then that evening he walked out along the surface of the water to join the disciples in their boat as they crossed the lake. If those things don’t get your attention, I don’t know what will.

Mark 7:1-8 – When Jesus speaks, His words are pointed.
Mark gives us some great insight here to the background of the Jewish culture of the time and the ridiculous expectations the Pharisees have set for the Jewish people. One of the things the Pharisees were best at doing was putting rules and regulations in place to make themselves look more spiritual. At the peak of the Pharisees rule of Judaism, there were over 600 laws and rituals that they attempted force the Jews to follow.

Some of the Pharisees come to Jesus because they want to know why his disciples are not practicing one of those rituals – the ceremonial washing of hands before each meal. This isn’t an issue of cleanliness, but of proposed spiritualness. They’re coming to Jesus in an attempt to corner Him into trapping himself by saying something that would oppose the law, and therefore discredit his ministry. The problem is, when you have a conversation with Jesus, you’ll find that He’s got a way of turning the conversation to you. Jesus rarely answers questions with a straight answer, but he always answers with pointed words that are exactly what needs to be said.

He calls the Pharisees out, clearly seeing their motives for the question. His response is simple. Let’s talk about you – your question is hypocritical at best. You offer lip service to God while your hearts are not in it. You’ve placed your own man made teachings more important than God’s laws. Your worship is a farce. You want to talk about obedience to God, let’s start with you. When Jesus speaks, his words are pointed – straight to the heart of the issue.

Mark 7:9-13 – When Jesus speaks, His words are piercing.
Jesus doesn’t just speak to the issue, he brings it completely to light. He sees the need not to just speak in generalities with the Pharisee’s, but to drive the point by giving an example. You reject God’s laws for your own traditions and benefit. A more accurate translation could read, “You beautifully nullify the commands of God…” Can you hear the biting sarcasm in the voice of Jesus – His words are piercing, making his point abundantly clear and breaking down the legalistic walls that the Pharisees have worked so hard to hide behind.

His example calls to light the situational ethics that the Pharisees promote by breaking even one of the most basic of God’s Laws – one of the Ten Commandments – Honor your father and mother. He calls out an old practice called “Korban” which is the practice of setting aside possessions as God’s. By doing so, you were allowed to use the item until your death, and then it would be sold and the proceeds given as an offering to God. When done for the right reasons with pure motives of setting aside your possessions for God, it’s a beautiful thing. However, the problem is that the Pharisees turned a blind eye to the corruption of the practice for their own good. The more that was set aside as Korban, the more their pockets got padded. In the process though, it gave people an out to use God as an excuse for not assisting the needy, even their own parents.

With that, he says “you break the Law of God in order to protect your own tradition. And this is only one example. There are many, many others.” It’s as if he asked the Pharisees “Would you like me to go on or do you get it? There’s more examples of your hypocrisy where that came from.” With that, Jesus turns to address the crowds that have gathered around, listening in on the spiritual grudge match. The Pharisees don’t say another word, and you get the idea that they’ve scoffed off in frustration with Jesus. No doubt, when Jesus speaks, his words are piercing to the core.

Mark 7:14-19 – When Jesus speaks, His words are purposeful.
Jesus takes the opportunity to address the gathered crowds to set the record straight on the original question the Pharisees raised on ceremonial cleanliness. Jesus never wastes words – they’re always spoken with intent and purpose. His words here, first to the crowd, and then again to the disciples, are purposeful in teaching about true cleanliness. It’s not the stomach that God is concerned about, but the heart. This would have been hard to hear as a Jewish listener in the crowd, knowing that since the Levitical code was given hundreds of years ago, there had been strict dietary laws that prohibited them from eating some food. Jesus reinterprets the laws though, saying that your actions will defile you, not your diet.

Mark adds a small line of commentary that’s extremely helpful as we read his letter, acknowledging that with this, Jesus showed every kind of food to be acceptable to eat. With this, Jesus opens the door to allow fellowship between Jews and Gentiles. For the first time, they could sit down at a common table on even grounds even with bacon on the table. Apparently old habits die hard though, as we’re reminded of Peter’s struggle to accept Jesus’ acceptance of all food types and therefore accept Gentiles who ate unclean foods. Even Peter, one of the disciples, had a hard time in letting go of tradition and law to follow Jesus’ commands. He’s not willing to openly accept sharing a meal with Cornelius, a gentile, because of the old Jewish dietary laws. It was only through a spooky dream and extreme prodding from the God that Peter got it and shared a meal with Cornelius. Jesus’ words were very intentional in opening the door for the gospel to be shared with all people because what you eat doesn’t affect your standing with God. When Jesus speaks, his words are purposeful in sharing the heart of his mission and ministry – salvation is available for all!

Mark 7: 20-23 - When Jesus speaks, His words are purifying.
Mark apparently is a sarcastic as well. I love the subtlety of his commentary, saying “oh yeah, and then Jesus added…” the point of the entire conversation! It’s the inner life that defiles you and makes you unclean before God. It’s the evil thoughts, the sexual struggles, the theft, the murder, the envy… the ugliness of the heart. That’s what will truly make you unclean. The bottom line is that if you want to be clean in God’s eyes, you’ve got to be purified from the inside out. Jesus understands that it’s what’s happening inside you that causes your sinful thoughts and actions. What enters your mind as a tempting thought turns to sin in your heart which shows itself in your speech and actions. Over in Matthew, Jesus says “out of the overflow of a man’s heart, his mouth speaks…” The things you say give your heart away. Jesus words are meant to bring purification to the people hearing it. His words strip away the legalism and hypocrisy of the religious folk of the day and expose God’s true desire – a pure heart! Jesus isn’t concerned with outward spirituality, but inner purity. Not with empty tradition, but with genuine worship. When Jesus speaks, his words purify the hearts of those who listen.

At the time of Jesus, it was the Pharisees who, for better or worse, set the standards for what it looked like to “be a good Jew”. It’s interesting that in today’s culture, there seems to be an accepted standard of what it looks like to “be a good Christian”. Both as a Jew then, and as a Christian now, your observance of the day, your diet, and your dress tell most people about your faith.

THE DAY: In the Jewish culture, if you were a Good Jew, you honored all of the days designated as Holy Days. This included attending weekly at the synagogue, celebrating holidays and festivals, and sacrificing at the proper times. In today’s culture, you’re a Good Christian if you attend church every Sunday, especially on Easter and Christmas weekends. You’re a really good Christian if you go to Wed. night prayer groups or sing in choir as well. Those give you bonus points.

THE DIET: In the Jewish culture, if you were a Good Jew, you strictly followed the Levitical laws of not eating unclean animals. No pork or seafood was allowed. No eating food that was in contact with anyone that was unclean at the market place. No food handled or sold by Gentiles. In today’s society, you’re a good Christian if you have a strict abstinence from alcohol and tobacco. And then there’s the figurative diet of Christians – no taking in rock and roll music or other music with electric guitar, and nothing but animated Disney movies.

THE DRESS: In the Jewish culture, if you were a Good Jew, you followed the commands for proper attire in your daily life. If you were fasting or mourning, you tore your clothes or wore sackcloth, and you covered yourself in ashes to display your suffering. Women always wore modest head coverings and men were not to trim the edges of their beards. In today’s society, you’re a good Christian if you wear your Sunday best to church each week. Suites, ties, dresses, Easter bonnets, the whole nine yards. You don’t wear black unless your going to a funeral because that’s the devil's color, and you get bonus points if you wear Christian T-Shirts on a regular basis.

Seem sadly accurate to how society views the church, or even more depressing, how some Christians set the standards for other Christians? Yet when we read the words of Jesus, it’s not human traditions and expectations that matter to Him at all. In fact, as he confronted the Pharisees, He actually actively works to break down the walls of tradition and societal standards.

In Rochester, I worked at Applebee’s for a while as a host. When I got the job, I was very intentional in not sharing with my co-workers that I was a Pastor. I didn’t want them to have preconceived ideas about me before getting to know me. If it came up in conversation, I would openly talk to them about it, but I didn’t wear my “I’m a Pastor” flare to work every day. Over the first few weeks, I got to know one of the other Hostesses pretty well. She was 18 or 19 at most, and was pregnant with her first child. Her boyfriend left her when he found out that she was pregnant, so she was on her own trying to stash as much cash as she could before the baby was born. When she found out I was a pastor, she said “I’m probably going straight to hell for having a baby when I’m not married, aren’t I?” I said, “No, you can probably make it to heaven with a baby out of wedlock – but not knowing Jesus, that will definitely keep you out.” How much has the voice of Jesus been distorted to her to think that one bad choice was going to eternally condemn her to Hell?

You know, in my more honest moments with myself, I realize that I relate more often to the Pharisees in this passage than I’d like to admit. It’s so much easier to play the judgmental Christian that points out others shortcomings than it is to let Jesus’ words first penetrate my life. We Christians tend to excel in completely missing the point of the Christ our namesake bears. Maybe if we’re quiet long enough to let his words soak in, we’ll learn that bearing the name Christian is not about legalism or tradition or a self promoting spirituality, but a purified heart that trys to mimic the Jesus we claim to follow.

So next time you get one of those, “Hey, you’re a Christian, right? Why… ?” questions, may your answers be based on the words of Jesus and not the traditions of man.