Mark 7:1-8, 14, 15, 21-23
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 2 September 2018
Rev. John Derme
Are you clean or unclean? The question sounds strange, at first. You might think that I'm asking whether your body is clean or not. But if that's what I wanted to know, I would probably ask whether you are clean or dirty (and you would probably tell me that it's none of my business). But I asked whether you are clean or unclean. That's not a question about the your body. That's a question about your heart.
During Jesus' life and ministry, there was a group of men called the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, and they did not understand what it really meant to be clean or unclean. In the Gospel from Mark 7, they got angry with Jesus, because his disciples ate food without washing their hands. The Pharisees never ate without washing their hands. It was their tradition. They didn't wash to get their hands clean from germs, though. It was a ceremonial washing. And they said that Jesus' disciples were doing something wrong by not washing their hands.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law were wrong. They wouldn't have been wrong if they had simply said that washing was a good idea. They were wrong because they said that washing was required. But this tradition was not God's command. It had come from the elders, from men. The Pharisees were wrong to insist that Jesus' disciples were worse people than they were, because they didn't do what the Pharisees said they should do.
After the Pharisees scolded Jesus, Jesus scolded them. "You pretend to honor God, but you don't do what God commands. You hold to the traditions of people, instead." He went on to explain to the crowd and to his disciples that it's not what's on the outside of the body that makes a person unclean. It's what's on the inside. Evil and wickedness come out of the heart. Jesus listed several examples. A sinful heart makes a person unclean. Outward actions can show whether a person is clean or unclean on the inside. But what a person does can never make him or her clean.
So, are you clean or unclean? That shower that you took may make you clean in the eyes of other people. But Jesus is very clear that it can't make you clean in God's eyes. Washing your body cannot take away the evil you have done. You have a filthy mouth, because you have said evil things. You have a dirty mind, because you think evil thoughts. You have sin-stained hands, because you have used them for evil. All of these wicked acts have their source in your sinful heart. By nature, you and I are unclean.
Then how do we get clean? There is nothing that you can do to make yourself clean. That was the Pharisees' first mistake. They thought that they could wash themselves clean if they followed all the traditions. But no human tradition has the power to make you clean. And we fail to keep God's commands, so we can't get clean through those, either. You and I cannot wash ourselves clean.
Jesus has to make us clean. Jesus is the only person who ever was clean. He may not have kept all the traditions of the elders, but he certainly did keep all of God's commands. He was not unclean by nature, so he never said anything evil with his mouth, never thought anything evil with his mind, and never did anything evil with his hands. He only did, said, and thought what was good and holy.
Yet Jesus took all of the evil that you have done, said, and thought and made it his own. He was punished for your filthy mouth, dirty mind, and sin-stained hands. He paid for all of the wickedness that ever came out of your heart.
For you to be clean, Jesus has to wash you. He doesn't wash your body, though. He washes your heart with his gospel. That's what Baptism is! When the water of Baptism touches your body, Jesus washes the uncleanness away from your heart. And he gives you the cleanness that he earned in your place. That's what happens when you trust his Word! He forgives your sins anew. And he makes you holy in God the Father's sight.
With Jesus' definition of clean and unclean in mind, compare two people. One person takes a shower every day. He uses soap, shampoo, and deodorant, so that he always looks and smells clean. This person is so busy doing things that look and smell good in the eyes of other people, though, that he does not have time for and he does not care about God. Another person hasn't taken a shower in a long time, because he doesn't have a shower to use. He doesn't have a home of his own. So his body looks and smells dirty. But this person has been washed in Baptism. He trusts that Jesus has lived and died for him. Who of these two people is clean, and who is unclean? Don't judge based on outward appearances, like the Pharisees did. Clean and unclean is a matter of the heart.
When it comes to having a clean heart, it doesn't matter how often you take a shower. You can't have a clean heart by anything that you do. So, are you clean or unclean? Jesus washes you clean!