For the last few weeks we’ve been hearing about the threat of Coronavirus - seeing the devastation in parts of China, and watching how it has been spreading to different parts of the world, coming closer, to north Italy, and now, inevitably, to Northern Ireland. Coronavirus is here, and there’s all the advice about self-isolation if you’re at risk, and if you cough or sneeze, to catch it in a tissue, bin it, and wash your hands. To try to prevent the spread of this virus, and to try to make sure you don’t get it, it’s important to practice good hygiene and good hand washing.
In our reading this morning, we find a group of people who are also concerned about washing hands. But it’s not really about preventing the spreading of disease. No, their concern was about being clean and keeping clean - in a ceremonial, ritualistic kind of way. And as we’ll see, they get upset that Jesus’ disciples aren’t as concerned about it in the same way.
So who were these people? They were the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law. Remember them? We haven’t encountered them in this whole section, but we’ve previously met them in Mark’s gospel, back in chapter 2 and 3. They’ve already fallen out with Jesus over Jesus’ teaching on fasting, and Sabbath, and about him eating with tax collectors and sinners. And that whole row ended up with them plotting how they might kill Jesus (3:6).
For a few chapters they’ve been absent, but now they’re back. They’ve come from Jerusalem for more observation and investigation of this man on their hitlist. And they’re watching closely, to make sure that things are being done properly (or maybe they’re watching to note down all the things that are being done incorrectly in their eyes). If we’ve got the Public Health Agency advising on the coronavirus; then these guys see themselves as the Spiritual Health Agency.
And what do they see, as they gather round Jesus? They see (verse 2) ‘some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean”, that is, unwashed.’ And immediately, their alarm bells are going off! They can’t believe what they’re seeing! Unclean hands making the disciples unclean.
Now, it’s not that the disciples’ hands were filthy. It’s just that they hadn’t done what the Pharisees would have done. We see that in the brackets in verses 3-4. They ‘do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders... And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.’ What they mean by a ceremonial washing was pouring water over the hands from a wee jug - not washing hands with soap and water as we would expect.
Do you see the issue? The Pharisees do it, the disciples don’t, and so they ask Jesus the question in verse 5: ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their hands with ‘unclean’ hands?’
The Spiritual Health Agency have noticed a problem. They’ve made an intervention. But they didn’t expect Jesus to say what he says to them: ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”’ (6-7)
Jesus confronts them, and calls them hypocrites. They seem to care about God, they honour him with their lips, but their hearts are far from God. So they say that they care about being clean, but it’s all on the outside, all show. They can wash their hands as many times as they like, but it won’t make them clean. Why? Because they’re only following their own rules, not God’s word.
Did you notice that? It’s all about the tradition of the elders; other traditions; the tradition of the elders. That’s what they’re concerned about, rather than God’s word. And Jesus summarises it for us in verse 8: ‘You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.’
If you can only hold on to one thing, which do you hold onto? God’s word or human traditions? The Pharisees had chosen to drop God’s word, to let it go; and they were clinging on to their traditions, elevating them to the ultimate level, and seeking to obey them.
Now Jesus isn’t saying that traditions are bad. We have lots of traditions in the Church of Ireland. The Prayer Book is part of our tradition of how we do church. But our traditions always must submit to God’s word. If we have to choose between them, then God’s word must come first. And the Pharisees had gone the other way, holding on to their traditions, insisting everyone needed to do what they did, even though God hadn’t commanded it.
Jesus then gives them an example of how they had chosen to set aside God’s commands in order to observe their traditions. In the commandments we heard earlier, we heard God’s word say that we are to honour our father and mother. But the Pharisees had a special procedure called Corban (not Jeremy Corbyn!) - rather than spending your money looking after elderly parents, you could instead dedicate your money to God, and keep it for yourself. So their tradition trumped God’s word. And that was just one example.
Could it be that we care more about our traditions than about God’s word? Could we have formulated rules that we live by and expect others to follow, but which aren’t mandated by God in his word? Could we be like the Pharisees in trying to be the Spiritual Health Agency, judging others based on our rules or preferences or traditions? May it not be so!
The Pharisees were concerned about being clean and not being unclean. It was a good desire, but they were going about it the wrong way. By insisting on outward rituals and pouring water, they thought they would be clean. But Jesus goes on to show us that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
He calls the crowd to him and says, verse 15: ‘Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.’ Do you get it? Do you grasp what he’s saying? Yes? Maybe? No? Well neither did the disciples. we said last week that they’re slow to grasp what’s happening. And it’s the case here as well, so they ask Jesus later, privately about it.
He explains it in verses 18 onwards. Nothing you eat will make you unclean, whether you’ve washed your hands or not. (Now, if you haven’t washed your hands you might get an upset tummy, but it won’t make you unclean spiritually). Why? Because the food goes in your mouth, into your stomach, and eventually out again (and we’ll say no more about the process). It doesn’t go into your heart, to make you unclean.
So what makes us unclean? Look with me at verse 20: ‘What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils comes from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’’
That’s quite a catalogue of corruption, an index of iniquity, a shopping list of sin. And they all come from within, from our hearts. The Pharisees were concerned about the outside, all those washings, all those ceremonies. But no matter how many times you wash the outside of a cup, it won’t make the inside of it clean. And so, despite their outward concern about purity, they were unclean on the inside, where the washings couldn’t reach.
Isn’t that the same with us? Now, we scrub up well on a Sunday, we look respectable and clean and tidy; we look as if we have it all sorted. But inside each of us, at the heart of the matter is the matter of our heart, and our hearts are manufacturing all kinds of evil thoughts and desires and actions. Each of us will be different, tempted by and prone to different sorts of sin, but our hearts are all the same. It’s why we have to pray a prayer of confession when we meet together, acknowledging that this is us, that this is what we’ve been like since we last met together.
We’re unclean. And so some people use religion (any religion!) to try to improve themselves. And others use traditions and man-made rules. And others just try really, really hard to be better. But all those efforts can lead to more sin - pride in our achievements. Or they’ll lead us to despair at our predicament. Is there any answer to our uncleanness? Any hope of being made clean?
Our only hope is in the only one who is clean. That list of sins that flow out of our hearts - they are our normal existence, our daily reality. But they were completely absent from the Lord Jesus. Take each one - evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly - they were not to be found in Jesus’ heart, or Jesus’ life.
Peter, who spent three years with Jesus, summed it up with these words: ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ (1 Pet 2:22) The only person who is clean. He perfectly obeyed God’s commands, every one of them, so that he could take our sins upon himself, and die in our place. As Peter goes on to say:
‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.’ (1 Pet 2:24)
With Coronavirus here now, good hygiene will be important. Washing hands will be vital. But even more important than that is to be cleansed - not by water, but by the blood of Jesus, who died to take our sins and make us clean and pure and new. Don’t be tempted to seek your own cleansing routine, or to try and do it yourself. Come to Jesus, and be cleansed by him. Every sin, paid for. And a new heart provided for you. Come for the first time, and trust in Jesus to be your Saviour. Come for the hundredth time, as you seek his grace for the ways you’ve messed up. But come to Jesus, the Saviour, the one who brings cleansing.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 1st March 2020.
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