Mark 7:1-13
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Jesus was again confronted by the “scribes and the Pharisees” (S&Ps) on the issue of his disciple's departure from traditional ideas of ceremonial cleanliness and righteousness. It seems that they weren’t performing the ritual washing before they ate. The idea behind the tradition was that just by brushing up against the Gentiles and things of the world in the streets and marketplace one became defiled or unclean and needed to ritually wash their hands. In our current pandemic culture, we are urged to wash our hands more than ever before. Clean hands are good, but the handwashing spoken of in this passage was more ceremonial than sterile. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of their position. Jesus’ problem here was not with clean hands, but that the S&Ps were very concerned that hands and cups should be washed, while at the same time that they were unwilling to let God wash their hearts. They looked at sin as coming from the outside and working in, but Jesus taught that it was already inside and working its way to the surface.
The main issue in Jesus' mind was that the S&Ps hypocrisy placed the traditions and commands of men on a higher level than the commandments of God. The Word of God was being set aside in certain situations because they preferred the traditions of men, the enlightened religious teaching of the day. Specifically, the setting aside of their biblical obligation to care for their parents for some phony "Corban" vow certainly offended God and any modern equivalent is to be rejected. There was no social safety net for his aging parents. They depended on their sons to care for them in their old age. Jesus not only makes a theological point here, but he also makes a strong social justice point. The vow to “give to God” what you would have done for your parents was not self-giving worship, but self-serving injustice!
Lord, please forgive us and help us to submit the inside of the cup of our life to the washing water of the Word of God. Search us and know us and reveal that which is within our hearts that must be exposed to the light of your love. Purify us so that we do not inadvertently spread the wrong idea about you, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your Spirit and make us a blessing to others.
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| Photo by Izzie R on Unsplash |
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Jesus was again confronted by the “scribes and the Pharisees” (S&Ps) on the issue of his disciple's departure from traditional ideas of ceremonial cleanliness and righteousness. It seems that they weren’t performing the ritual washing before they ate. The idea behind the tradition was that just by brushing up against the Gentiles and things of the world in the streets and marketplace one became defiled or unclean and needed to ritually wash their hands. In our current pandemic culture, we are urged to wash our hands more than ever before. Clean hands are good, but the handwashing spoken of in this passage was more ceremonial than sterile. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of their position. Jesus’ problem here was not with clean hands, but that the S&Ps were very concerned that hands and cups should be washed, while at the same time that they were unwilling to let God wash their hearts. They looked at sin as coming from the outside and working in, but Jesus taught that it was already inside and working its way to the surface. |
| Kitchen Shelf in Nazareth Village |
Sarcasm Alert: We would never do that today! We would never place the traditions of self-esteem needs, co-dependency, and self-actualization above Gods' commands regarding confession of sin, repentance, and humility. We wouldn't prefer the traditions of legalism to the Word of grace. Nor would we prefer the traditions of situational ethics to God's command to true holiness which is rooted in the transforming love of God. We wouldn't hold to the traditions of demanding our rights over the command to surrender all.
We would never make such a mistake today… and yet we must confess that we do just that.
As we begin to "reopen" our economy, it is a very bad metric to see some church leaders protesting for their "rights" to open "their" churches. While I have mixed feelings about the current Covid-19 shutdown, the mission of God is not for us to demand our rights (no matter how justified) but for us to humbly serve others in love. We should advocate for the oppressed and against the injustice directed at others. However, I see no biblical mandate to establish the practice of my own rights (as much as I want to do so), only an opportunity to lay those rights down in worship of God and in the service of others. May the residue of selfishness on the inside of our cups be cleansed anew by the meekness of the Spirit of Christ (See Matt. 20:28; John 13:3-5; Phil. 2:3-8).
We would never make such a mistake today… and yet we must confess that we do just that.
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| "Irony" Photo by Greg K. Dueker |
Lord, please forgive us and help us to submit the inside of the cup of our life to the washing water of the Word of God. Search us and know us and reveal that which is within our hearts that must be exposed to the light of your love. Purify us so that we do not inadvertently spread the wrong idea about you, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your Spirit and make us a blessing to others.
 |
| Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash |
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