Finding Faith ... in knowing that its the impurities in our hearts that defile us

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Sept. 2, 2018.

After studying this week’s Gospel text, I was reminded just how hypocritical we Christians can sometimes get. … Can’t we? … I don’t know about you, but there are times, I can get up on my soapbox with the best of them!

And ironically, as in today’s Gospel, I think we look back to the Pharisees of Jesus’ time and think, “Man, they were a self righteous bunch, weren’t they?”

But, whether we want to admit it or not, we Christians can also be a faithful people who are no different than the high priests and the scribes that Mark writes about in today’s gospel: While our actions may come from the best of intentions, sometimes what those actions really do is reveal our impure hearts.

I was reminded of this on several occasions over the past week, and I’m a little embarrassed to tell you that on one of those occasions it was me who had the impure heart. … But I’ll get to that a little later.

This week’s Gospel text deals with this notion of our hypocrisy, but in this particular case it’s the pharisees -- or Jewish high priests -- and scribes whom Jesus gets upset at.

And in common Jesus fashion he takes a highly respected Jewish law and flips it on its head to make his point. … And that point is: That while it may be our best intentions that drive us to create holy rituals -- or rules or traditions -- that separate us from they who are unholy, our very act in doing so violates the Gospel that Jesus was trying to teach us.

… Sound a little topsy-turvy? … Well, then let’s dig a little deeper.

Early in this text Mark tells us that the Pharisees are ecstatic because they believe they have caught Jesus’ disciples in a major violation of Jewish law. … They, and the scribes with them, notice that some of Jesus’ disciples are eating with “defiled hands,” or hands that hadn’t been washed prior to eating. (Remind you of anyone, siblings tattling on siblings maybe? Or maybe you and I when we catch someone in the act?)

Now, you could search the entire Old Testament -- the Jewish Bible -- and you would find no biblical scripture requiring Jews to wash their hands before eating. It’s just simply not a law that God laid out for them. ... And so, despite the Pharisees’ objection to how Jesus’ disciples were eating, there was no actual scriptural law forbidding the practice.

This is actually how the law originated: In the early days of Judaism, Jewish elders established the rules that high priests were required to wash their hands before doing their work in the holy temple. So, for instance, before offering a sacrifice they would wash -- or cleanse -- their hands of their earthly impurities, so that they did not defile any offering they made to God.

And, so those Jewish high priests did what many of us religious leaders do when we have authority: They decided that if the hand-washing ritual was fit for them, it must be even more appropriate for the people. ... And so the Jewish fathers from so many thousands of years ago got on a power trip and declared that all of the Jewish people thus had to wash their hands before eating as a symbolic cleansing of the hands to honor God.

And, if one religious law is good, two … or three ... must be even better!!! … So the Pharisees extended the requirement to not only a person’s hands before a meal, but also to any foods purchased at the market and any pots or kettles used in the actual cooking process. … All had to be “cleansed” in tribute to God. … And then viola! … You have a perfect and widely accepted religious law ... that actually had no foundational support in the Bible.

Sound familiar? … It’s a scenario that will play itself out over and over again throughout the Bible … and even four thousand years later in today’s world.

Well, in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees couldn’t stand the thought of this nobody from Galilee who showed such contempt for Jewish tradition, but yet he attracted such masses of followers. … It angered the Jewish leaders of the time without end. And so they called him … and his disciples ... on the violation of clean hands.

And what was Jesus’ response? … Well, as always, he turned over the tables on the Pharisees. Not literally, of course, but definitely figuratively.

So after the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples do not follow the laws established by their Jewish elders, Jesus very bluntly says, “Because they don’t act like you bunch of hypocrites.” … OK, I might have hyperbolized a bit, but it’s not far off. Jesus is pretty hot in this scripture.

As you can imagine, this doesn’t sit well with the Jewish priests. … Turns out that Jesus could be quite bothersome to those in positions of power, including his own religious leaders.

He, very frankly fires back that it is the Pharisees who are the hypocrites in this situation, adding that while the religious leaders may have been honoring God through their lips, it turned out that they were not lifting up God through their actions. … Mark writes: “his people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’”

Human precepts such as the law requiring hand washing before eating.

In fact, just so that Jesus leaves no doubt about how hypocritical the Pharisees are being, he tells them it is they who are abandoning God’s commandments for their very own human constructs, or traditions.

Jesus is so angered that he turns to the large crowd following and said: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” (And there is actually a pretty graphic verse that was omitted from the reading today that even says we as humans just pass those impurities through us and into the sewer. … Again, there is nothing boring out the Bible!)

In other words, what Jesus is telling us … is that evil intentions come from within the human heart: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. … Jesus says, “All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” … Very pointedly, he reminds the Pharisees that it is what our heart reveals that make us sick. … Not the earthly impurities that we should be frightened of.

This is the point in the story where many of us might be tempted to get on our soapbox and cheer Jesus on. … You know, “You go Jesus! … Atta boy! You hand to to those self-righteous, smug priests!” … After all, isn’t it we Christians that like to believe that we are the ones who are inclusive, the ones who proclaim Christ’s love for all … for EVERYONE.

That is … until it is our human precept, our human religious ritual that is trampled on. … Until, it is our ox that is gored.

We can’t deny it: Just as the Pharisees in this gospel text, each of us Christians, each of our churches … our denominations … all of us have made idols out of some religious law. And it is OK for us to preach love and understanding and that others need to love thy neighbor right up until it is our religious line crossed.

I told you earlier that there were multiple times this week I witnessed this gospel text in action. And embarrassingly, I found myself caught at the center of such a hypocrisy.

We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in the past year. It likely will come as no surprise to any of you that I tend to get a little preachy when it comes to the manners of dealing with other folks. My poor family has to endure endless times when they’ll be doing some everyday grousing about someone who wasn’t kind to them … a friend who was fickel, a rude clerk at the grocery market, a crabby teacher or too demanding coach. … And in every case I tend to get on my soapbox, defend the one who was unkind and kindly rebuke my family members to be mindful that we never know what that person is going through.

Most of my family are not here today to confirm this trait of mine ... but Shelley is. … And she is not afraid to share with you that indeed I can be an annoying preachy sort at times.

And so it was two Friday mornings ago. … Shelley and I were in the car, on the way to the Cities to catch the Joyce Meyers revival. … And full on admission here: I was a crabcake that day. Just a general louch to deal with. I’d had a bad morning and I was taking it out on the world.

In particular, as I drove, I was relaying to Shelley an encounter with a school district employee that morning who had been rude to me, and frankly had treated me in a manner that I felt was disrespectful. … And so I was grousing about it. … Just a fowl character I was that morning. … I finished the story, leaving out nothing that the woman had done that I found offensive. … I mean, I laid it on thick.

And that’s when Shel looked across the car from the passenger's seat and said, “Now, honey, you don’t have any idea what was happening in her life.”

Burn-n-n-n! As our kids are fond of saying nowadays!

No kidding! … More like: sizzle!!!!! … Straight up busted.

No one had better cross that Christian tenet of being kind to the other. … Well, that is, unless it’s me, and I have a very good reason. … Hypocrisy, your name is Devlyn. … Not just Pharisee, but Devlyn.

This is a small example of course. Maybe its a story that isn’t on par with the level of hypocrisy that Jesus was calling out in the Pharisees. But, it’s in the same vein. I’ve created a religious law that separates others from me. I’m holy because I know when others haven’t rightly extended grace to others. But, lo and behold, it’s perfectly fine that I don’t it.

In other words, just as the Pharisees created laws to separate the holy from the unholy, so do I. … So do all of us. … So does the church.

But thankfully Jesus reminds us over and over again that it isn’t about the laws that separate us, the holy ones from the unholy ones. … It’s in fact the unholiness, or the impurities in our own hearts that separate us. … Such as mine for holding myself above others in the ability to give grace -- that defile us.

But that is why the earth needed Jesus in the Pharisees’ time, and still needs Him now … in our time. To continue to remind us holy ones that it is not the earthly impurities that defile us, but the impurities in our hearts that do so.

Of course, what’s important to remember is that despite those impurities in our hearts, God’s grace still is enough for all of us … enough for the Pharisees … enough for me … enough for you.

And that is the Good News for this Sunday. … Amen.