The Root Problem. (Mark 7: 1-23)
1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands,]they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘The people honour Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” 20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
(Mark 7: 1-23)
We have all heard many times about young people getting into trouble and we are often told that their trouble is caused by their background. Sometimes it is suggested if people had just been born in a different family, or in a different town or city, or a different area of the city, then maybe they would have turned out differently. In some cases, we are told their crime is because of poverty and that is the root cause of their problems.
The question I would like us to consider this morning what the real cause of things going wrong in the world, but it not just young people I want us to think about, it is about all of us. What is the problem that is the root cause of all that is wrong in the world and cause people to go astray? Jesus himself once had a conversation with religious leaders of his day, a conversation that could almost be described as a head on collision, and it was over this exact subject. That’s the passage we are going to look at today.
William Barclay in his introduction to this passage says, this is the most “revolutionary passage in the New Testament”. As far as I am concerned this passage contains one of the most important spiritual truths in all of the New Testament. If you get this wrong, you pretty much get everything wrong, when it comes to understanding your relationship with God. Misunderstand this and you will misunderstand many things taught in the bible. Get this right and you’re on the road to getting most things right. This passage begins by recording for us a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisee’s, or the teachers of the law (scribes in some translations). (Mark 7:1)
These are the religious leaders given to responsibly of correctly ensuring the application of the laws of God within that society at that time. The opening to this passage tells us that what these teachers of the law thought about Jesus and His followers. The King James version helpfully adds to the understanding by saying when they saw this “they found fault”. However, in this case it’s not being pointed out because of hygiene, this is a religious issue. The washing of the hands mentioned in verse 3 was not being picked upon for reason of personal hygienic reasons, this is to do with a special way of washing according to the tradition of the elders. Notice it does not say, according to the word of God, it does not even say, according to the Mosaic law. It just says according to “the tradition of the elders”.
This is very important because the Mosaic law made a distinction between that which was sacred, and that which was ordinary. It did indeed involve somethings being declared clean and unclean but over time the teachers of the law began to add to these things. Eventually they came up with not only special rules about meat and its preparation they also came up with rules about washing your hands in a special way. That is what it means when it says they had to wash their hands in a ceremonial way. To forget to ceremonially wash your hands meant you were liable to suffer poverty, even possible demon possession or out and out death/destruction.
Historians say some people were denied ceremonial burials if it was found out they had not washed their hands correctly in their final days. My point is these rules had become very serious matters for the religious people of Christ’s day. Then Jesus appears, and he does not require his followers to go through this “tradition of the elders”, in washing their hands this way. The Pharisee’s and the teachers of the law were livid. This is not just like a mother being annoyed at her children not washing their hands, this is the wrath of a religious system coming against Jesus and what he stood for.
This is where it gets really interesting. The pharisees answer in (Mark 7: 6-7) is a quote from Isaiah. Very importantly Mark adds; (Mark 7: 8-9) It not that they had just kept the Mosaic tradition of washing hands and added to it, but they have set aside the commands of Moses and replaced them with human traditions. Their traditions had actually replaced the commands of God, they have become so focused on the traditions of men, they had forgotten the commandments of God. Jesus then gives them an illustration which shows how their traditions are actually preventing them from keeping the word of God. He says, You can’t even recognise the plain truth of God anymore because you are so absorbed in your traditions. He tells the people, it’s not what goes into a person that is ever corrupt or defiled, it only what comes out of them. Jesus has widened the perspective beyond just breaking rules around traditions and he is putting the emphasis more widely on anything external. This is because Jesus knew tradition always put it focus on the outward external acts of what you physically do, and not on the truth of God.
The truth of God is more concerned about who we are and what we be than what we do religiously. Jesus is putting his finger on a very critical point here which is to say it is not what enters a person that taints them, but it is what come out of them that potentially can be sinful. To put it another way, a person’s environment (external) can be a profoundly bad influence, but it’s not the heart of the problem. The potential hazardous environment has to enter the person before it can do any damage. Your ship may be in the storm, but it does not matter as long as the storm does not enter your ship.
At this point in the passage, they enter a house away from the crowd (Mark 7: 17). His disciples actually ask him to explain the parable. (Mark 7: 18) You can sense Jesus’ almost exasperation at the question, are you so thick he says that you still don’t get this. (My paraphrase of (Mark 7: 19-21a) Even unclean food doesn’t defile a person, it’s not the stomach that’s the problem, it the heart. It the heart of a man or woman that is distant from God, and that is the root of the problem. It’s what pours out of us that defiles us, and it what pours out of us a lot of the time is a whole bunch of bad stuff. We then get a list of sins.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
(Mark 7: 21b-23).
Some people have a whole lotta fun going through these sins one by one and grade them according to their seriousness, however I think they are missing the point. Because every outward act of sin is preceded by an inward thoughts and choice. The thought is the root, the action is the fruit. Obeying traditions or religious rules will not alter the heart, and it is the posture of the heart that is the root of the problem and It is the source of all sin.
Notice the progression of this passage. He begins by saying to the Pharisee’s, your traditions have replaced the truth of God. He then says to the crowd, it’s not the external that matters but the internal and he says to the disciples the real root of the problem is the thoughts that rise up in our hearts. I do not doubt that someone’s environment can be a huge factor in how there life might work out.
Summary.
Let me summarise by saying one final thing about following the traditions of men .
Some Christians are proud that they are what they call Protestant, or Catholic or Charismatics’ or Methodists, or Baptists, and they focus on their particular theology. To the point that if they convert you to their particular view on things like, believers’ baptism, or Gifts of the Spirit, they feel that they have done their job. Some Christian believers have such a narrow point of view, and they want to convince you of that narrow point of view. It seems if these people can convince you of their one pet issue, they seem satisfied that they have convinced you of the high point of the Gospel message and delivered you from error. I am aware of people who on their death bed have been robbed of their assurance because they were told they must not only accept Jesus as Lord, but after doing this they must live a demonstrably good life by standards that have been put upon them, or they believe they even risk hell because they are not up to date with their confession and repentance.
Please hear me but hear me carefully. I believe in the fundamentals of the faith. I believe in believers’ baptism, I didn’t grow up in a Baptist church, I am a Baptist by conviction. I imagine some of you listening to this and are Baptist because you grew up in a Baptist Church. I am a Baptist by conviction and theology, and I am not ashamed of that, but I am not trying to make a Baptist out of you or anyone else here this morning. As a Pastor my objective is to teach you as best I can the unpolluted word of God so that you can become a mature loving Christlike person who believes in and has surrendered their life over to Jesus Christ. The issue beloved is not external it’s internal, the issue is not what you do or don’t do, the issue is the posture of your heart and the way you think.
What we all need is the word of God applied gracefully in our lives and compassionately in the lives of those around you that you come into contact with. Jesus tells us the problem is not what goes in you but what comes out of you. The problem is uncharitable thoughts, the problem is malicious words, and the problem is gossip. In fact, the main problem in most churches, most of the time, is gossip. The problem is sin. The problem is you and your sinful drives and motivations. If you go to a physiatrist and he will probably tell you it your mother’s fault. Go to your mother and she will tell you it the friends you hang around with fault. Go to some religious people might even tell you the devil made you do it. Please hear me I am not saying that our environment doesn’t influence us or even impact us. What I am saying is that it only does that as much as you let it, you always have a chance to make a freewill choice. The root problem is the state of the human heart, and if that is so then let me suggest that the first thing you need is a new heart. If you want a new heart, you get is through a new birth, which come through surrounding your life to Jesus Christ.
I promise you that your problems in life are not just because of your background or upbringing. Your problem is that you are poor, but not financially your problem are because you are spiritually poor. When Jesus got down to it, he simply said your problem is your evil thoughts, however, the bible tells us how to deal with those types of thought.
Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
(2 Cor 10: 5)
This verse, that is your answer. When it comes to evil thoughts, you may not be able to prevent that bird from landing in your tree, but you can sure prevent it building a nest there. When those evil thoughts or drive or motivations come into your head, you immediately take it into captivity. You say Lord, that is external, that is what the crowd is saying to do. That is what the world is trying to get me to do. I however, am going to think about what the word of God says and do what it says, not what all these other external things say. If we thoroughly change the inside, the outside will take care of itself.
The problem every Christian believer face is that our daily conduct is so influenced by custom, or by environment (or even by church tradition). It becomes easy to assume we are living for the Lord when in fact all we are doing is fitting into a social or a religious mould. Are you following the traditions of men? Or are you filled with the World of God, and controlled by that? Or are you just being conformed to the culture of your religious life, even if that might be the religious life within our local Church.
Let me tell you a way anyone can tell if they are conforming to custom and tradition or being transforming by divine truth into the likeness of Christ. The litmus test is, when you are in the midst of trouble, what is it that come out of you. Is it profanity, is it anger? Is it wrong choices and decisions, or is it the truth of God? Is it love that wells up, “Is it joy, is it peace, patients, endurance, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5: 22-23a)
If I was to thump this desk hard enough, the glass of water might sit on it might just get toppled and the cup and get spilt on my notes. When we come up against external trouble it is only what is in you can spill up and come out of you. Nothing can burst out of you uncontrollably that was not already there in the first place. That’s the test friends, of whether we are filled with the ideas of the world, or we are filled with the truth of God.