Pentecost 15 Year B
Sermon Preached by Reverend Michael Hillier on Sunday, 1 September 2024.
Mark 7.1-8, 14-23
As we listened to our Gospel reading a few moments ago, we may have thought, ‘This is irrelevant and does not apply to me or us. It was about issues 2000 years ago and not now.’ And so our brain might have shifted into neutral and just coasted along. But let’s reconsider. This text, though ancient, holds profound relevance to our lives today in ways we might not have thought about. Let’s explore this together.
But before we do that, I would like to give some context to our reading. Mark wrote this gospel, probably in Rome, around 65 A.D. Tradition has it that Peter was his source of information. This would mean that a number of his listeners and readers would not be Jews but Gentiles.
Consequently, they would need more comprehension of all these purity laws and, like us, would think it was largely irrelevant to them.
We can surmise this because the text mentions some of these purity laws. If Mark were writing mainly for Jews, his explanations would be completely unnecessary, for they would have understood what he was referring to.
If I were writing for an audience about what we do here in Saint Andrew’s on a Sunday morning, and you were that audience, I could safely make assumptions and rightly assume you would know what I was talking about. But if I were writing about us for a different audience, I would have to clarify what I was talking about.
So, from the way Mark told his story, we can assume that he was mainly writing for a gentile audience.
Now that we’ve established the context, let’s delve into our text. How could this seemingly ancient text relate to lives today? Let me guide you through this with some relatable examples.
One of life’s tragedies is that many things begin by being helpful but can ultimately cause unforeseen problems. An example would be all the positive things from drugs to bring healing.
And yet, as we know, in the wake of that has come an enormous drug problem.
Another example is computers and the vast number of benefits that they provide. But we are all now very aware of the downside. In saying this, I’m not arguing against either computers or drugs, merely pointing out that the positives can quickly take on negative undertones.
Today’s gospel focuses on the Law. This is not the Law as we would understand it but the Jewish Law—the Ten Commandments and the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. These laws were intended as moral principles to guide and enlighten us daily.
For a considerable period, the Law was left at that, but humans, being humans, could not leave it alone forever. It can be like modern bureaucracy and ever-increasing red tape.
In the fourth and fifth centuries BC, as people studied these rules and regulations, they wanted greater clarity in particular situations, so they began to focus on definitions, the intricacies of words and sentences, and possible meanings. Confusion resulted, and these great moral principles were parsed into many-minute regulations. In today’s gospel, we see one example with the Pharisees and scribes questioning Jesus concerning His disciples’ not washing their hands before eating. Forget that they were probably out in the countryside and did not have access to water—the issue was not about hygiene anyway. This was about ritual purification. Let’s focus on this.
The water had to be kept in special stone jars and could not be used for any other purpose.
First, it was poured over the hands with the fingers pointed upwards. The water had to run down to at least the wrist, and you needed to use the equivalent of at least a small glass of water.
Then, while the hands were still wet, each hand had to be cleansed with the fist of the other. Of course, this now meant the water was contaminated, so new water had to be poured over the hands. This time, the fingertips needed to be pointed downwards, and the water flowed so that it began at the wrist and ran off at the fingertips. This ritual occurred before the meal and between each course.
This was only one rule, and there were hundreds of them. If you did not perform the ritual correctly, you were considered unclean in God’s sight. It was these minute regulations that Jesus condemned.
When Jesus said that not a dot or an iota of the law would pass away, He meant it. But he was referring to the 10 Commandments and the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. All these other added laws and regulations would neither condemn nor save you, irrespective of whether you kept them.
The tragedy is that what began as a good idea – laws that would be helpful to live by, that would help us in our relationship with God and in the ordering of our society in practical ways, became ends in themselves.
It can happen today in law when technicalities replace the spirit of the law, and someone guilty can walk free from the Court. It is simply a misuse of the intended law.
Jesus said that focusing on the Law in this way, as the Pharisees and scribes were doing, was simply hypocritical. They lacked sincerity. Their religion had become legalistic and not from their hearts. You could be consumed with jealousy and bitterness yet carry out the proper rituals and think you were right with God.
And then Jesus goes on to explain what He meant. He quotes Isaiah (29.13), who said their hearts were far from God. Then, in verse 21, He explicitly says evil intentions come from the human heart.
Now, I don’t believe that Jesus was condemning all Pharisees and scribes but this group. I think there would have been many good, saintly people who tried very hard to live out their relationship with God in the right ways. No, this particular group was hovering like vultures trying to catch Jesus out, and these He rightly condemned.
The question Jesus was alluding to is, ‘Is your heart pure?’ because it is from your heart that comes murderous, evil thoughts, wickedness, deceit, envy, slander, adulterous thoughts, and covetousness. These grow and consume someone (v.21-23).
So, we now begin to see how our reading today explicitly relates to each of us.
Whether we live today or back then, our hearts share many characteristics, and unless we are saints, our hearts are not pure.
To begin with, like those ancient Jews who believed that keeping many rules brought them into a right relationship with God, we can do the same. For example, we can read our Bible, pray, receive Communion, give charity, and so on. We must do all this, but these things won’t save us. Only God can. But what He wants from us is a pure heart. And only He can make it pure, but we must struggle with it. All too often, our approach is like the young Saint Augustine: ‘Lord, help me to stop sinning, but not just yet’.
You and I are called to seek and pursue purity of heart, but as we know, it is difficult and requires effort. Two steps forward and one back; sometimes, three back. But we are not left to our own devices. God is at our side, guiding, encouraging, and admonishing us.
Keeping God’s Law is more wide-ranging than simply keeping a collection of rules. It is not lip service God seeks, the outward signs of obedience that are required, but a deep-seated commitment of our heart to follow God. Those Jews made that mistake we see in our reading today, and we are ever in danger of doing the same. So take courage and remember God walks with you! In the words of Paul to the Ephesians, may ‘the eyes of your heart be enlightened’ (1.18). Now, that’s a paradox to play with! And so like a Japanese koan!