Pentecost 15
– Proper 17 – Series B (September 2, 2018)
“Cleansed on the Outside and the
Inside” (Mark 7:14-23)
INI
It’s important
to watch what you put inside your body. Healthy
fruits and vegetables. Proper proteins. Nuts, fish, chicken, and go easy on the red
meat. Plenty of fiber. Some folks need to be careful, though. You may be lactose intolerant. You may have a gluten allergy. Or you may have a more serious allergy to things
like peanuts. You get a little bit of
peanut in you, and your throat begins to tighten. You become short of breath and begin
wheezing. If you don’t seek medical
attention soon, you could die. We need
to put things from the outside into our bodies for nourishment and sustenance,
but some of those things from the outside could be harmful, even poisonous!
Yet Jesus
says that “nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.” Of course, Jesus is not speaking about complications
from poor nutrition or the danger of food allergies. He is responding to the situation we heard about
in last week’s Gospel. The Pharisees were
concerned about the traditions handed down to them from their forefathers about
washing hands and eating utensils and drinking vessels and furniture in order
to be ceremonially clean. This was not
prescribed in Scripture, but they were treating it as if it was. And they criticized Jesus and the disciples
for not doing as they did. Jesus
responded by criticizing them for being so concerned with ceremonial cleanness,
yet without having true faith and trust in their hearts. And then, in our text today, Jesus follows up
this discussion by bringing up the dietary laws of the Old Testament. These laws were given by God to set the people
of Israel apart from their neighbors.
The laws forbidding certain foods as “unclean” instilled an awareness of
God’s holiness and the necessity of avoiding them so they could come into his
presence in the temple courts. But here,
Jesus says, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside
cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is
expelled?” And then Mark adds, “Thus he
declared all foods clean.” Right on! So pork out on those pork ribs! Love that lobster! Devour that octopus (well you can … I think it’s
like chewing on an eraser)! And above
all else, bring on the bacon!!!
But there’s
a deeper problem. It’s not any food that
you put into you that makes you unclean.
There’s already something inside of you that is unclean at its very root. That’s what truly separates you from God and
his gracious presence. Evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality,
envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Quite
the list. It’s not just actions that defile
you. It’s those attitudes that you find
deep in your heart. Like a polluted
river that collects all the sewage that flows into it, our heart spews forth a
never-ending stream of filth.
But there’s
another never-ending stream that God gives us to counteract this stream of
filth from within us. In John chapter 7,
Jesus stands up during the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem and says to the crowd, “Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers
of living water’” (John 7:38). St. John
adds, “This is said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to
receive” (John 7:39). God gives us the
Holy Spirit – poured into us from the outside in the waters of Baptism and the
Word of God that is preached to us – and streams of living water flow from
within us … the clean, pure, refreshing streams of faith and peace and joy because
of what Jesus has done for us.
When
Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan at his Baptism, he began to take on
all the filth and uncleanness of all humanity … all of your uncleanness and
mine. It stuck to him like glue, like fly
paper, like a magnet. He absorbed it
like a sponge and he carried it with him all the way to the cross. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried
out sorrows … by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many
to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their inquities … he bore the sin
of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:4, 11, 12). Jesus absorbed your sin and poured out his
blood for you … his blood which now cleanses you, totally, both outside and inside.
“Wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,” we pray with the psalmist. And you are washed. In Christ Jesus, you are whiter than snow.
“Create
in me a clean heart, O God,” we pray.
And it is done. God has given you
a new heart and made you to a new creation in Christ Jesus. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord promised,
“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.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you”
(Ezekiel 36:25-26). And in 2 Corinthians
5, St. Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2
Cor. 5:17).
That
means you never have to fear being cast away from God’s presence. That means that, after confessing your sin,
the joy of God’s salvation is restored to you … joy because of what Jesus has
done for you … joy because, by faith, you are keeping your eyes on the cross … joy
in the words of absolution … joy as you put on the armor of God. Truth.
Righteousness. The Gospel of peace. Faith.
Salvation. The Word of God. Prayer.
This is
the protection we need against the devil who will always direct us back to our
own efforts to be cleansed rather than relying on the blood of Jesus. We need protection from the devil’s weapons
from the outside, all the unclean things of this world that he would pour back
into our eyes and ears and hearts. But
we also need protection from the awful artillery that barrage us from the
inside, too … those flaming darts that stick and jab and wound and try to
ignite a fire of doubt within us and to destroy our confidence in Christ. The devil will always direct you back to your
own efforts and to the remnants of the sinful nature that remains within us and
rears its ugly head and often appears to overshadow the new creation that we
are in Christ Jesus.
God’s armor will help us to “keep [our] soul
diligently” as Moses urged the Israelites in Deuteronomy. “Keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the
things you’re your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the
days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”
So, pass
the word along. Not the word that you
need to cleanse yourself. That will only bring despair and frustration. Pass the word along that Jesus is the one who
cleanses. Come here to be reminded of
that. Hear it over and over again. Tell it to yourself over and over again. Tell it to your children. Tell it to your grandchildren. Bring them to church and Sunday School.
Remember
this joyful knowledge that in Christ Jesus you are clean! Cleansed on both the outside and the inside! Completely! INI
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