+15th Sunday after Pentecost - September 2nd, 2018+
Series B: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Ephesians 6:10-20; Mark 7:14-23
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s Gospel reading picks up where last week’s left off. Last week Jesus dealt with things external (the washing of hands and so forth). This week Jesus deals with things internal (our unclean hearts).
The Pharisees are gone, taking their spiritual accounting books, and their further contempt of Jesus, with them. Only the crowds and Jesus’ disciples remain.
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
At the heart of the issue (pun intended), is the question: what makes a person unclean? What marginalizes us in the kingdom of God? What draws us away from God’s gifts? What defiles us before God? What separates us from God’s holiness?
What makes us unclean? The disciples wondered. You can just picture them scratching their heads saying, “What do you mean nothing that goes inside of a person defiles him? That’s not what momma and the rabbis taught us. Leviticus 11 is pretty clear about bacon, lobster, scallops, and other unclean foods. You are what you eat; and if you eat unclean foods you’re unclean. We thought the dietary laws marked us as a holy nation? What’s going on here, Jesus?”
We ponder the same question too. What makes us unclean? And if we’re unclean, how can we be clean again? Can we apply some Scrubbing Bubbles to our sinful flesh, hire Mr. Clean to help mop up our sinful messes, or recruit Bill Mays to oxiclean our sin away? No. There are some stains only the cleansing blood of Jesus can wash away.
Jesus begins his cleansing work in a rather strange way. Before he points us and his disciples to the source of our spiritual uncleanliness, he first gives us a biology lesson, gastroenterology 101.
Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”
Again, the human heart, not the food, is the issue. Food goes in and comes out. Our body takes the nutrients we need and “the rest goes into the privy.” Food doesn’t touch the heart. Jesus isn’t talking about our cholesterol and heart health. Nor is the heart the emotional, squishy, lovey-dovey thing we think of on Valentine’s Day either. Jesus is talking about the heart as the seat and center of our will, where we determine what we say, think, do, and so on. Food doesn’t touch that.
That’s why Mark adds that little commentary note. It’s like a road-sign in a one stoplight town, blink and you miss it. “Thus he declared all foods clean.” As Jesus will later reveal in a vision to Peter in Acts, here he reveals that he is the end of the Law. Leviticus 11 and the ceremonial Laws of the OT are fulfilled in him. Cleansing now comes in Jesus, not the Law. We’re to enjoy a lobster tails or bacon covered scallops. Food and drink is not what defiles you.
What make us unclean? Jesus ratchets up the intensity of the Law. It’s not what goes into our mouths that defiles us, but, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts. But surely we’ve never had any of those, right? That’s what really sinful people do. Sexual immorality? Our Lord says that, “Whoever has looked at a man or a woman with lust in their hearts has already committed adultery in his heart.Theft, murder, adultery,coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
That’s quite the list, isn’t it? Reading it feels like a spiritual firing squad, we don’t know which bullet killed us, but all guns are aimed at our heart. No one escapes that list alive, not a one of us. Don’t think so? If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.Food and drink aren’t the problem. Like a plumber, Jesus climbs down underneath the facades we’ve built and inspects the source of the leak. Before our Lord cleanses us, he shows us the source of our uncleanliness and sin and we finally see how bad it is. Not a smudge, something more like Macbeth’s wretched spot.
Jesus’ words reveal our sinful hearts are rotten, sick, and dead to the core. This is why all that language of giving our hearts to Jesus sounds rather absurd when placed next to Jesus’ words. How could we possibly give him our hearts like that? We can’t. We can’t cleanse our hearts.
What makes us clean? Like King Midas, whose touch turned everything to gold, everything is defiled by our unclean heart. Not so with the heart of God. He is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. God reveals his heart to us in Jesus. And in Jesus, all things are clean: food and drink, and most important of all, you.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.Ezek. 36:25-26
Jesus cleanses us, not by telling us to scrub our sin a little harder, not by coaching us to wax on our own forgiveness and wax off our guilt, but in the most remarkable way. Jesus became the unclean one, the defiled one, the one who bore the dirt, grime, and filthy rags of our sin, all for you. Jesus became soiled with our every evil thought, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, so that in him we become as he is: holy, blameless, clean. Jesus was Baptized with sinners to soak up like a sponge all that defiles us and let it be wrung out upon him on the cross. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
Ordinary food won’t fix our sinful heart. But there is a food and drink that will. Our Lord’s body and blood that we receive and as we do, sing, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” For here is holy food and drink that cleanses us without and within.
And if we are clean in Christ, then our mouths that once spewed forth sin, are cleansed by the Holy Spirit and filled with his gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
In Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice on the cross, you are forgiven. Holy. Pure. Without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. In Jesus you are clean.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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