Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “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. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
We love when Jesus lets the Pharisees have it. When they say something stupid or selfish or unholy and self-righteous and Jesus puts them in their place with a well-cited piece of Scripture. He does it more than once in the Gospels and it’s awesome. He calls them blind guides and blind fools. He compares them to a brood of vipers and white-washed tombs. It’s one of the ways I want to be more like Jesus sometimes.
And that’s what he’s up to this morning. The scribes and the Pharisees are getting after Jesus for letting his disciples eat with defiled hands – for not washing them, first – as their history and tradition instructed them to do. This wasn’t just about cleanliness and hygiene, either. The handwashing they were after had as much to do with religious ritual and piety, so the Pharisees and scribes were pointing out the supposed sinfulness of the disciples and judging them for it.
So, Jesus pulls that quote from the prophet Isaiah out of his back pocket and uses it to call them all hypocrites. “Hypocrites” because the Pharisees and scribes and religious people of all stripes were using the letter of the law to shame and scare and pass judgment on others, while they, themselves, had plenty to be ashamed of.
There’s an interesting bit of scripture, removed from this lectionary text for some reason, where Jesus gets specific about it, too. He calls out the Pharisees for creating a loophole, where they could avoid “honoring their father and mother” by declaring the portion of their income they would, could, and should be using to care for their elders, as “corban,” or as an offering to God, which was exempt from such worldly purposes. (In other words, maybe they didn’t want to pay for mom’s nursing home, so they designated that money as holy, sacred, and blessed by the synagogue so that it was off-limits in some way.)
And we know they threw stones, too – literally, threw stones – at women and girls for adultery and divorce and prostitution in ways men didn’t have to suffer.
And they declared food unclean and people unworthy and sins unforgiveable – which is what all of this with Jesus and his disciples is really about, in the end. These religious people were so good at pointing fingers and casting judgment and declaring who was in or out, who was loved or not, who was chosen or damned, and all the rest.
And Jesus’s point, I think, is that it’s easier to fight and point fingers and cast judgment about the stuff “outside,” than it is to look within ourselves or to wonder about what’s within the heart of our neighbor, too.
For the Pharisees, this “outside” stuff that left a person “clean” or not was stuff like handwashing … or all of those dietary laws they had to follow … or who was sleeping with whom.
For us – these days it seems like the “outside” stuff marks a person – is stuff like masks … and vaccines; political parties … and still, too much of the time, who’s sleeping with whom, for crying out loud!
We can throw all the proverbial stones we want – and we do, and we are as good at it as the Pharisees, some of the time – but, the genius of God, in Jesus, is that, because he looked so much like those Pharisees and because he looks so much like us, just the same, Jesus compels us all to look in the mirror, and deeper into our own heart of hearts, too.
Where are we throwing stones, when we could be offering mercy?
Like, maybe that person isn’t connected to a community of faith because they’ve never been invited before or because they’ve been burned by them in the past.
Where are we casting judgment when we could be asking better questions?
Like, is it a coincidence that, four of the states with the lowest levels of COVID vaccinated people are also among those ranked lowest in education in our country?
Where am I arguing about what’s on the outside instead of trying to understand, forgive, maybe even heal, what’s on the inside?
Like, maybe that really angry, ignorant, naive social media rant is the only vehicle for being heard that those special someones in my Facebook feed have at their disposal.
Where am I getting angry when I could be turning the other cheek?
Where am I being more proud than humble? More afraid than faithful? More selfish than self-sacrificing? When, where, and why would Jesus let me have it, just like he did those Pharisees so much of the time?
There’s a line in a Brandi Carlile song called “Looking Out,” where she sings, “Some people get religion. Some people get the truth.” Brandi Carlile, a lesbian who was denied the waters of baptism as a teenager because of her sexuality, sings about how she never got the truth. And I think that’s the case for too many people in our world these days.
“Some people get religion. Some people get the truth.”
Misguided religion draws lines in-between and divides based on differences. Faith and truth draw a gathering circle around to celebrate those same differences.
Misguided religion finds fault and flaws. Faith and truth promise forgiveness.
Misguided religion stokes fear. Faith and truth offer hope.
Misguided religion points fingers. Faith and truth lends a hand.
Misguided religion does the same-old, same-old, just because it is the same-old, same-old. Faith and truth get out of the boat and try new things.
Misguided religion counts sins. Faith and truth count blessings.
Misguided religion lives in scarcity. Faith and truth trust in God’s abundance.
“Some people get religion. Some people get the Truth.”
The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were all about religion. Jesus was and is all about the Way, the Truth, and the Life:
The WAY of discipleship that calls us to follow in his loving footsteps…
The TRUTH of God’s grace for the ways we stumble and fall as we go…
And the LIFE everlasting that belongs to each of us because we all belong to him.
Amen
Check out this performance of Brandi Carlile’s “LOOKING OUT” for a little inspiration.
