Mark 7 - clean hearts

Mark chapter seven covers three different encounters in Jesus ministry. I want to do things a little different this week and only focus on the first story. It begins with some religious leaders coming from Jerusalem to see Jesus. Jerusalem was the home of the temple, the capital of the nation. It was, in a word, important.

 Jesus fame has spread now to the religious elite there. When they show up, they are not happy. Immediately they find fault with this miracle worker. His disciples are defiling themselves, eating with unwashed hands.

Jesus defends his disciples and turns the accusation on its head. The disciple’s hands are dirty, but the Pharisees hearts are dirty. What is important to God is the condition of the heart.

There are two things that I want to focus on in this passage. First, is the application of the law. This law was the law given to Moses in the first five books of the bible, also called the Torah. The Pharisees were extremely concerned with following the legal requirements of the Torah which included a host of dietary restrictions. 

Jesus makes this amazing declaration: it is not what goes into you that defiles. He declares all foods clean. This must have come as a real shock to the Pharisees. Was Jesus just throwing out the entire Torah? But Jesus said himself that he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfil it (Matt. 5:17). This is a question that many believers encounter sooner or later. Why is that we follow some of the old testament laws (i.e., not to murder or commit adultery) but not others (like dietary restrictions)?

There are three types of law in the old testament. The civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law. 

The civil law was for the purpose of governing the nation of Israel in those times. These are laws that were not meant to be applied universally but were meant to provide a legal system for the people at that time. This would encompass some of the punishments that were required for certain sins. How can we be sure that this part of the law has passed away? Jesus himself does not follow it. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before him, the law required that she be stoned. Jesus offers her forgiveness (John 8). Mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13).

The second type of law was the ceremonial law. This law was given to teach the Israelites how to worship. They all revolve around the proper way to provide a sacrifice. These were fulfilled by Jesus when he died on the cross. “For by on sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy (Hebrews 10:14). There is no longer any need to provide those sacrifices, because Jesus was the perfect sacrifices. That whole sacrificial system was simply a stop gap measure, meant to point us to Jesus. The law “can never, by the same sacrifices continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1). But “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

The third type of the law is the Moral Law. The Moral law governs how we treat each other and how we treat God. Jesus summed it up neatly. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. In these laws everything else is fulfilled (Galatians 5:14. Mark 12:30-31). These are binding for all time. The ten commandments are a good example of these laws. Jesus really simplified it for us. Love God, and love others.

God has always put higher priority on the moral law than the ceremonial law. Look at these passages. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). “The sacrifices of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him (Proverbs 15:8). “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” (1Samuel 15:22).

The Pharisees were concerned about the outward expression of worship, but they neglected what’s on the inside. Jesus calls them out: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…” (Mark 7:6). If you want to really be clean, wash the heart. The ceremony means nothing if we are not committed to following God.

The second thing that I would like to point out here is that traditions can sometimes interfere with the plans of God. The Pharisees had all these terrible traditions that were opposed to God’s rules. The illustration Jesus gives is the “Corban” or gift devoted to God. Instead of supporting your parents, you gave that money to God. And the Pharisees would not let you help your parents after that.

It seems so obvious that this tradition is exact opposed to God’s law, but we have a better perspective than they did. We might well ask: what traditions or habits do we have today that are in opposition to God’s plan? I think we should consider that question carefully lest we make ourselves hypocrites.

To be clear, I am not talking about matters of preference. There has been a lot of division in the church over unimportant things, like the style of music we play. I can not think of any reason why playing either traditional or contemporary music would be opposed to God’s plan. Or the color of the carpet or a million other things that spilt churches. I fear that much of that argument has to do with prioritizing selfish motives. If you are not the one in charge of a particular aspect of ministry in your church, maybe you should leave those decisions to those God has placed in that position of authority.

What I am talking about here is how you follow God. Is your spiritual walk based on what it says in the word of God, or is it driven by habit? How many things do we do that are just going through the motions? Are we just honoring God with our lips? Maybe it’s time to ask God if he wants to make any changes in your life. We need to be flexible with God. 

Remember a few chapters ago, Jesus told the disciples, new wine must be put in new wine skins. If you want God to do something new in your life, you need to be flexible. You need to be yielding. God may need to stretch you.

The washing of the hands was symbolic. It was to remove the defilement. The idea of defilement was that it made something dirty, or filthy, or unholy. It was not longer set apart.

To give an example, I once had a toaster. On morning as I walked up to it, I was shocked to see a mouse jump out of the toaster and run behind the refrigerator. I looked at my toaster and realized I could never use it again. How do you clean a toaster? All I could imagine was the little mouse feet running all over my bagels. I got a new toaster.

My toaster was defiled. I could not use it anymore for the purpose that I had set it apart for. Hand washing was a good symbol for defilement. It was easy to see the grime that was swept away as the hands were washed. But the Pharisees had missed the point. What we really need to be kept clean is our hearts. Our spiritual life needs to be pure, because that is set apart for communion with God.

Today handwashing is particularly relevant. One of the top things the CDC recommends to protect against the spread of the coronavirus is handwashing. It prevents the spread of disease. But even more important is our spiritual cleanliness. We need our hearts to be washed. We need to protect ourselves from spiritual disease. Jesus gives a list of things that defile our spiritual lives: “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, pride, foolishness” (Verse 21-22). Let’s come in repentance to God and let him wash our hearts. Let’s yield to the Holy Spirit and let him work out him his love inside of us.