On Being Recognizably Christian

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

September 3, 2006

Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

This story about Jesus could play out like a melodrama. We could cheer Jesus and the disciples and boo the Pharisees and scribes. The latter groups are focused on the little details of rituals while Jesus and his friends are concerned for the desperately poor and sick. In this drama, we, of course, would see ourselves as being so enlightened that we do not observe such external religious rules as washing hands (or observing Sabbath laws or dietary laws). And we could congratulate ourselves and go home.

But----not so fast!

Some sympathy for the Pharisees and Scribes, please--- especially since we may recognize some of their tendencies in ourselves. They wanted to protect the distinctiveness of the Jewish people in their obedience to God, their creator, savior and judge. They believed that Israel was called to be a holy people, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. They were passionate in their insistence that the Hebrew people not worship the gods of the powerful people around them. So, they understood their calling as leaders to interpret the Torah and the commandments so that the faithful would know how to obey God in the midst of the many other options available to them.

We do this kind of work all the time in the church. We ask how can we be in the world but not of the world?  We ask what it will take to be sure that we and our children do not simply adopt whatever values we happen to pick up on the internet, or in the movies or on TV? How do the ancient traditions of our faith remain vital to us now? What would it mean to be reconcilers in a world so fractured?

When the Pharisees and scribes heard that this widely popular rabbi and healer and his followers were not observing their long-held tradition about hand-washing before eating, they would be fearful that Rabbi Jesus would just throw out all of the behaviors and observances by which their people could be distinguished.

So, the Pharisees and scribes come out from Jerusalem to find Jesus. They confront him about his disciples’ behavior.  “Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands.”

Maybe Jesus was weary. Here he is helping the masses and he is asked to respond to a question about technique. Maybe he was feeling overwhelmed by the crowds who were surrounding him, asking for him to heal them. For, in answering, Jesus very bluntly calls the whole enterprise of Pharisaic law, including the custom of washing hands before meals and the dietary laws, into question and calls them hypocrites. Why such a harsh response to a reasonable question?

The reason Jesus is this: the Pharisees and scribes have forgotten that the commandments of God (the 10 and others) were based on compassion and respect for people and their needs. But by their concern for outward signs of holiness, they have allowed their hearts to grow cold, to forget the basis for God’s instructions.

 The example Jesus gives (in chapter 7:9-12) is their interpretation of the 5th commandment, to “honor father and mother.” In interpreting this command, the Pharisees had created a loop-hole by which a son could declare that the support he was giving his parents could be declared an offering to God---thus unavailable to his parents. This little embellishment on the law simply did away with the concrete aid a son was required to give his parents (in the days before any kind of public old age assistance). The Pharisees and scribes, by permitting this behavior, had revealed that their hearts were far from God.

That the Pharisees and scribes would be concerned with the hand-washing habits of Jesus’ and his disciples when they would allow such cruel behavior on the part of others made of them hypocrites: those who only pretended to care about God’s commandments and the distinctive values of the Jewish people.

It would be like us getting all exercised about the breaking of one of our church customs, while we had sufficiently watered down the command to love the neighbor so that it meant simply wishing them well.

I remember a little church which was absolutely scandalized when the pastor decided to wear a robe in the pulpit. The whole church was in an uproar. Months were spent arguing about whether this should be allowed. Robe-wearing was not a practice the elders of the church thought proper. Meanwhile, the abjectly poor people of the community were going without food or decent clothing and the children and youth were in need of direction and nurture.

Jesus wants to put “heart” back into the life of faith. The “heart” was the thinking, willing, feeling self. Rather than focusing on externals such as hand washing or dietary laws, Jesus said that we must pay attention to what goes on within us. In Jesus’ understanding of the spiritual anatomy, the heart trumps the digestive track: the dietary laws are not nearly as important as are hearts that are wise, compassionate and forgiving. To have a compassionate hearts was the true sign of being God’s people. God recognizes such people and rejoices in their works.

The prevalent idea among religious leaders of the time was that, in order to approach God, we must purify ourselves. When we are ritually clean, God may accept us. So, careful observance of the law, and all of the details by which the law was applied, was necessary for forgiveness.

The vast majority of people were simply outside the covenant, so far as the religious leaders were concerned.

Jesus’ approach was 180 degrees different. He proclaimed a God who reached out to people, ministered to the poor and sinners and sick----in their misery. Grace is offered before people cleaned up their lives. And the change is first and foremost a change of heart.

“Repent and believe the gospel” was an invitation to draw near just as you are and be forgiven and begin a new life.
A great danger for religious observers is that we can look the part and act the part and talk the part of faith----but still be very lost and miserable and cruel.

 Jesus gives a specific (don’t you hate it when he gets this specific?) catalogue of destructive behaviors and attitudes: “evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness”----and says that these all come from within us, when our hearts are small and curved in on ourselves, anxious and full of pride.  

Paul gives a list of the good things to be and do in contrast with Jesus’ list of sins:  When the heart is filled with God’s love, the fruits of that heart are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.” (Galatians 5) What a contrast! Almost like a new person. Such behaviors might be aided by rule-keeping, but they obviously come from the heart more than from a check-list.

A 3rd or 4th century desert sage was approached by a rookie, a “wannabe” sage. The rookie talked at length to the desert sage about wonderful philosophical ideas of God; but the venerable holy man did not respond. When the holy sage was asked later by another why he had not said anything to the rookie, he said: “He spoke of high and lofty things, of which I know nothing. All I know about are the passions of the heart.” Being told this, the rookie returned to the sage and said: “Help me, please; the passions of my heart control me.” The sage did respond and they had a fruitful visit.

The “heart” is what needs changing most. Jesus came, not to lay out a new philosophy or a new law but a new way of being and doing, starting within and working outward. This personal holiness will lead to many outward deeds of justice and mercy; but we begin at home, with our selves, just as we are.

It is important to add that Jesus was not opposed to rituals and rules. You may remember that he observed Passover at what we now call the Last Supper. In our day, we are rediscovering the value of rituals, in family life and in church life. The proper ritual for Holy Communion is something I would want to maintain.

You may have some customs that are precious to you: kneeling for communion, for example, or proper attire for worship, a certain form of baptism, or a certain manner of praying. In the end, all our religious customs and observances are vanity unless we can remember their purpose: to remind and connect us with God’s grace and God’s call upon us.

The world is desperate for genuine, authentic agents of reconciliation, for the love of Jesus as it is incarnated in people who really have compassion for those who are desperately seeking Jesus---and who have the ability to act and speak with wisdom.

In the Lord’s Supper, we reenact an ancient observance. It was Jesus’ renewing and personalizing of the Passover meal, the meal of liberation from slavery.

 We come to God just as we are, knowing that we want to be Christian in our hearts, not merely in appearance. We are invited to “feed on him in our hearts, by faith, with thanksgiving,” as the old liturgy of the Lord’s Supper puts it. (That’s traditional wording that I have a hard time giving up!) We come with all of our incompleteness and troubles. Here we receive Jesus’ healing presence. As with the crowds, we are desperately seeking a fresh start. Only he can soften our hearts and give us courage to be loving toward our selves, God and our neighbors.

“Come sinners to the gospel feast. Let every soul be Jesu’s guest. You need not one be left behind. For God hath bid all humankind.”