“Defiled?”
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
“…now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.” (Song of Solomon, 2:11-13, NRSV)
That’s certainly not how the Pharisees saw
it. They didn’t see Jesus and his disciples
as vines in blossom that give forth fragrance. The way the Pharisees saw it you
might want to say that faith and religion were dead and ritual and human
tradition were alive and well.
Christians also add traditions and ritual to
the essentials of the faith, apply them legalistically, and treat them as if
they have been ordained forever by God.
The famous last words of a church or an individual…both failing at
ministry are “We’ve always done it this way.”
They feel no less troubled or angry than the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day
when anyone challenges or undermines those traditions and rituals. Today let’s look at the concern for purity,
the problem of establishing boundaries, and the danger of hypocrisy that are in
our world.
Most Christians today do not believe
that food is likely to be religiously defiled.
Most of us eat pork sausage and cheeseburgers…forbidden by the old
law. Some may worry about high cholesterol
or chemical additives, but not about the religious law when it comes to food.
Yet…the issue of purity…so important to the
Pharisees…is a part of contemporary life.
Purity has to do with the way a person orders and classifies other
people…things and time…often in ways that are unwritten. Purity regulations label people…objects…and
places as pure or polluted…fit or unfit…likely to become impure or to cause
others to become impure…defiled or not defiled.
The idea behind today’s impurity laws is
familiar in the phrase “a place for everything and everything in its
place.”…often acted out as “a place for everyone and everyone in their
place.” Impurity occurs when the wrong
thing or wrong person appears in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, many enjoy firecrackers
exploding on the Fourth of July. These
same people, however, have problems with firecrackers exploding on the fifth of
July. Another example…some will tell us
that women do not belong in the pulpit…or in other leadership roles in the
church…family or nation.
Many people have clear ideas about what is pure
and impure…what tradition says is right or wrong…whether we are fully conscious
of them or not. The universal dislike
for dirt…disease and death causes these concerns. What a person regards as “dirt” can take many
forms. The danger is that a person can
develop a defensive religious belief…as the Pharisees of Jesus’ day did…and
become all-consumed in keeping out…or away from what they might see as
“dirt”…rather than focusing on what comes from their heart.
Many people engage in heated religious arguments
over what they regard to be life and death issues that to the outside world and
to the average Christian are much ado about nothing. The root issue has to do with what a person
considers proper or pure…which becomes a person’s sacred tradition…and what a
person considers improper or impure.
Jonathan Swift made fun of this pettiness in the Lilliputians’ war on
whether an egg should be cracked at the big end or at the little end. Garrison Keillor does the same when he
describes his religious heritage in Lake Woebegone Days. He wrote that he came from an “exclusive”
group that believed in keeping itself pure of false doctrine and avoiding
association with the impure. He wrote,
“We made sure that any who fellowshipped with us were straight on all the
details of the Faith.”
This kind of attitude results in a church
devoted to turning Christianity into a fortress by building all kinds of walls
that keep those seen as pure in and others considered impure out. This concern for purity has a direct and negative
effect on evangelism…on our ability to do as Jesus commanded…”Go! Make
disciples.” Such a closed system often
shuts people off from fellow human beings and from fellowship with God. God meant for the church…and its members…to
get mixed up in messes and with people who have messed up their lives. Unlike the Pharisees we are to involve
ourselves with those who don’t wash their hands in the ritual manner…and who
eat food that might violate religious law.
Jesus wants us to run the church for those who
do not yet attend…as well as for those who are here every time the doors
open. How do we include them in the
family rather than find reasons and ways to exclude them?
Jesus’ teaching had a profound impact on
Christian missionary practice when Paul told the Corinthians to eat whatever
was placed before them and told the Romans that no food is unclean in
itself. He wrote that we should quit
judging others. Quit put stumbling
blocks in their way. Learn to live in
harmony. Build one another up rather
than build walls of separation.
We can imagine how we would respond if guests
turned up their noses at the food we offered them because it somehow did not
meet their religious standards. What if
their rejection of our food also suggested that we were somehow impure…or
untouchable? If so we would hardly be
interested in hearing their message. In
applying Jesus’ response to the Pharisees to our daily lives we should ask if
there are subtle and not so subtle ways in which we communicate to others that
they are “dirty” and unfit for contact with us.
How might that get in the way of our ministry with them?
The Pharisees believed that others would know
they were God’s people by seeing their purity…washing hands…cups…pots…eating
kosher…keeping the Sabbath. Paul
understood the real meaning of Jesus’ teaching when he said, “For the kingdom
of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17)
We sing the words “they will know we are Christians by our love.” The inner purity of our heart that radiates
love and morality is what should make us stand out in the world in which we
navigate…not ritual and tradition that are visible.
Jesus accused the Pharisees of being
hypocrites. The Pharisees did not corner
the market on hypocrisy…hypocrites continue to plague the church…and
society. Jesus wasn’t against the overt
act of doing God’s will…but he refused to cotton to any attempt to reckon something
as moral and pleasing to God that was not a true expression of God’s love of
and for…all of His creation…all in His creation…and God’s grace-filled
character.
The greatest hypocrites are those who try to
cloak the evil within them with a show of external piety. Judas best fits that category of hypocrite in
the Gospel. He went to Gethsemane with a
show of affection and honor…but it was all a sordid ploy to capture the
Master…Jesus. Other hypocrites deceive themselves
as much as others. The Pharisees best
fit this category. When Jesus called
them hypocrites…he revealed how easily sincerity and a desire to do precisely
what God commands can go astray and ignore what God requires…when visible
tradition and ritual are the determining factors. The Pharisees’ lip service and religious gestures
fooled others and themselves into thinking that they were pious…when they
were not.
It’s so easy for religious people to obey all
the regulations and believe all the correct doctrines in a visible way…yet
their heart is not in it. They might
also concentrate on executing religious actions that demonstrate their external
purity while totally neglecting issues of inner purity. Hypocrites may fool themselves into thinking
that they have done all that God requires by being seen doing this or that act
with the greatest care. They play by the
rules but allow their interpretations of the rules to run roughshod over
others. How many times do Christians
ignore the vices that Jesus listed and concentrate on minor actions and rituals
that appear to make them pious? They
wind up with a religion that affects only the hands and that never touches the
heart. The church needs reminding again
that it can be correct in outward form and theology but not have the spirit of
Christ. Goodness comes from inner
purity…a life transformed within…rather than the pure observance of rules and
doctrines.
It’s not about political correctness. It’s about Christian candidness…that comes
from having a heart filled with love and God-given grace…to share…with the
least among us.
Over the next few weeks…as we discuss and
evaluate our current ministry…and consider new ministry possibilities to reach
out to our current church family…those in our community in need…and those
brothers and sisters who could become part of our church family…how can
we…individually and collectively…become vines in blossom that give forth
fragrance?