September 1, 2024 Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost The text is Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

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¹Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around [Jesus], ²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and 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.) ⁵So 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?” ⁶He 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;
 ⁷in vain do they worship me,
  teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
 ¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.
 ²¹“For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, ²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Adonai, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Thank goodness we have returned to Mark’s gospel; I don’t know how many more “bread” sermons I could come up with, and frankly, how many more you would be able to sit through.

In Mark, Jesus’ teachings focus on a number of varying topics and he performs many miracles as we journey with him as he draws ever nearer to Jerusalem and the cross.  But this morning it seems that some Pharisees have travelled from Jerusalem to observe what this upstart preacher from Galilee is up to.  And they have taken offense that some of the people who were following Jesus were not washing their hands before eating.  It seems that Mark has taken a bit of literary license here, writing that the Pharisees and “all” the Jews wash their hands before eating in keeping with the traditions of the elders.  In the Jewish Law, the Torah, only the priests of the temple are required to wash their hands, in order that they might not risk being ritually “unclean” in any way when they approached God’s dwelling place.  The Pharisees, who have chosen to live their lives as holy as possible and, in their attempt to adhere strictly to the Law have also adopted this practice as ritual.  And while many of the Hebrew people also chose to follow this custom, it was just that, a tradition and was not a commandment in Torah for the everyday day Jew to obey.  But these Jerusalem-based Pharisees were not going to miss any opportunity to critique Jesus and find fault with the behavior of his disciples.

While the great majority of Jewish purity laws were concerned with maintaining a healthy, God-centered life, hand-washing wasn’t a universal requirement for piety.  Although we now know that keeping one’s hands clean is one of the most effective ways to avoid disease, the Covid pandemic made this abundantly clear; still, maintaining hand cleanliness was not always accepted practice.  In fact, it was not until around 1850 that doctors began to wash their hands between patients.  It was commonplace for a nineteenth century physician to conduct an autopsy and then walk down the hall to perform surgery or deliver a baby.  And while the modern world now acknowledges that keeping our hands clean is a healthy, scientifically prudent exercise, for our ancient Jewish ancestors this remained merely a religious tradition practiced only by some.

But clearly Jesus was not against cleanliness; in fact, there is no evidence that he didn’t adhere to Jewish purity practices himself.  Elsewhere, in Matthew’s gospel we read that Jesus said he did not come to abolish Jewish Law, but to fulfill it.

But the topic of whether or not hands should be washed before eating served as a way for Jesus to enter into a much more in-depth discussion on tradition versus God’s Law; custom versus divine authority.  For Jesus, this issue is only a small part of his larger disdain for any self-righteous people, especially the Pharisees, who scold folks for not strictly adhering to custom and tradition while ignoring the needs of those they profess concern for.  He takes the Pharisees to task because they insist on placing traditional practices ahead of God’s Law, giving these customs precedent over the Commandments.  On the other hand, the Pharisees are more concerned with the fact that Jesus is flouting their perceived authority.  “Who does this itinerant preacher from the boonies think he is?”  “We have travelled from the holy city of Jerusalem where the Temple is located and we are the ones who determine what is appropriate behavior of faithful Jewish people”.  For Jesus, it’s about what is right, moral, and in keeping with God’s Commandments; for the Pharisees, it’s about power and authority.

And perhaps the best lesson to be learned here is that it’s all too easy to get confused as to what is most important, what takes precedent; in worship and in life.  A couple of examples from my own personal experiences in other places: “Bluegrass music in the church?  That’s not ‘Lutheran’.  I stay home on Bluegrass Sundays”.  How about, “Young children shouldn’t be offered Communion; they don’t understand it”.  My response; “Neither did Martin Luther fully grasp what happens during the Eucharist, when we take within ourselves the body and blood of Jesus”.  “Oh, and by the way, when Jesus instituted Holy Communion at the Last Supper, I seem to remember he used the words, ‘for ALL people’”.  And my favorite, “the baptismal font doesn’t belong there”.  Really, these are the very same attitudes that Jesus is calling out the Pharisees for this morning.

And, while 21^st century folks have occasionally taken issue with how worship is conducted, which hymns are sung, where the font is placed, and who should receive Communion, Jesus is addressing a more egregious situation with the Pharisees.  He declares that rather than being so worried about whether or not his disciples’ hands were clean when they ate, his critics ought to be ashamed that they stand by while the hungry aren’t fed at all.  If the Pharisees maintain that eating with unclean hands is a grave sin against God’s Law, how much more sinful then is the neglect of any who don’t have food to eat in the first place? 

It's the external behavior of people that expresses “uncleanness”; this is how the ancients defined that which was considered evil.  All the actions that people take that are harmful, demeaning, or damaging to others come from within our own selves; clean or dirty hands have no bearing on how we behave.  Jesus sternly rebukes the Pharisees for their criticism of eating with unwashed hands, saying;     “there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”  And he lists for them an even dozen behaviors that are sinful, while declaring that a little bit of dirt on the hands shouldn’t even be an issue.

And here is the part of Jesus’ proclamation that he leaves unspoken, but we know to be true.  Every single one of the evil deeds he has listed is learned.  Jesus declares that evil emanates from within the human heart; this is the source of all emotion, feeling, and behavior according the ancients.  Today, we know that our behavior is dictated by the thoughts that originate in the human brain.  But the concept is the same; any actions that cause harm to others come from the inside, and again I state without fear of contradiction that these are all learned behaviors.  In a moment we will baptize two babies and they will become the newest members of the family of God.  In their innocence they know nothing about clean or dirty hands, and are completely unburdened by the learned behaviors that cause people to act in sinful ways. 

The best that we can all do to help these two babies and all the innocents we encounter is to live our lives in ways that express the love of God that we are blessed with.  Perhaps if they observe those around them behaving in ways that Jesus would not find offensive, maybe they will be able to maintain their innocence for much longer.  If we do our best to ensure that we don’t teach them the lesson, then they might never come to learn about the evil that humans are so prone to.  For while it is from the heart that the twelve evils Jesus speaks of come, the heart is also where at least a dozen upright and moral behaviors emanate.  Perhaps if we strive to provide the example for these newest members of the family of God, they will grow to express only these, and not the negative ones.  Kindness, virtue, goodness, honesty, love of God, integrity, servanthood, compassion, charity, empathy, grace, and mercy.

These are the traditions that are not at odds with the Commandments of God; they are in fact the very lessons we are commanded to teach to our children.  And the best way for them to learn these is for them to observe us as we live into them.        

Will you pray with me?  Good, and gracious, and holy God, your Son calls us to live in ways that show obedience to your Law, unbound by tradition or custom.  Help us to know when what we do is in opposition to what you would have us do.  Keep our hearts filled with thanksgiving for your grace and mercy, and guide us as we express your love for the innocents of the world by providing them an example to follow.  And we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who calls us his children.

Amen.         

 God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.