SermonStudio

There was a time, long ago, when families had just one car and when all the children gathered at the one house on the block that had the only television. This was a simpler time. A time when a computer took up several floors of an entire building and virtual pets hadn't been born. This was a time when an exceptional amount of creative spirit and energy came from children who constantly congregated along the curb at the street corner. A time when the Cleaver and Nelson families were the norm and Father always knew best.

I recall one afternoon when Joey showed up after lunch. He carried a small instrument called a magnifying glass. Magnifying glasses can be quite magnificent, you know. In a short time we were doing all sorts of things with that magnifying glass. We turned tiny bugs into tremendous beasts. We observed the hairs on the back of a cat. We looked closely at petals of flowers and studied the veins of leaves. This got to be so popular that before you knew it, we all carried magnifying glasses. We either brought them from our homes or purchased them with our allowances at the local Woolworth's store.

Somehow we came to discover that getting the sun to shine through the magnifying glass produced an awesome power. Tilting the glass just right and moving it toward or away from an object harnessed the energy of light. The circle of light created by the sun's rays passing through the magnifying glass became like a laser which we used to cut holes in leaves and sticks and to burn our names in baseball bats. One boy burned holes in his US Keds. We all thought it was great; however, we soon discovered his parent's didn't appreciate it at all.

The scripture verses from Mark come to us today like the separate rays of the sun. The verses are scattered throughout the first half of chapter seven of Mark's Gospel. This being the case, I want to challenge you to use your mind as if it were a magnifying glass. I ask you to bring together and to concentrate on the common central theme these scattered verses create. When you do this you will discover a very precise picture of a faith-related issue that has crossed the centuries. The issue was brought to light by the ancient prophet Isaiah. The issue is dealt with by Jesus in today's text. The same issue also presents itself to us who live at the threshold of a new century. This extremely ancient, yet also contemporary, issue is about a struggle in the life of each and every one of us. This is the struggle we have of attempting to live a life which follows the will of God.

The lesson begins with the Pharisees and scribes gathered around Jesus. These religious leaders of the time had not come to greet Jesus graciously. They didn't show up to inquire about how his ministry was going nor to acknowledge the tremendous good he had done for others. These religious men had come with pointed fingers. They had come with an agenda to criticize. They sought to discredit our Lord. They couldn't wait to tell Jesus what they had seen! Jesus' disciples had eaten without washing their hands. God forbid!

Now it is very important for us to know that the handwashing these religious leaders were confronting Jesus about was not handwashing as we might perceive it or engage in it today. People of Jesus' time didn't often wash their hands before eating. Hand-washing was not done for hygienic reasons or to comply with the universal health standards. What these religious leaders were confronting Jesus about was that his disciples did not obey the intricate, detailed rules and laws of religious ceremonial handwashing. Simply put, the disciples had neglected tradition. They had failed to carry out what had become the all-important externals of religious policy and procedure.

This had nothing to do with obeying the will of God. This, in fact, was what Jesus saw and addressed as the entire problem of his time and culture. The people's faith practice was no longer based on living the commandments of loving God and loving their neighbors. The people's faith practice had become a complicated nightmare of trying day and night to follow thousands of trivial traditions. People actually believed this was the way of doing God's will.

This is seen in the passage which adds, "and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles" (Mark 7:4b).

True, the disciples may have been eating with defiled hands, but as Jesus pointed out the religious leaders were living with defiled hearts.

Have you ever been to a New England bean supper? Bean suppers are a New England tradition which are exactly what one imagines. Everyone brings a pot of beans. Sounds really appetizing, doesn't it? Kind of like attending a broccoli bake-off. However, let me continue. Each recipe is distinctly different in taste and flavor. What makes this so is each individual bean pot. When corn bread is added and the supper is concluded with a piece of apple pie and a slice of cheese to top it off, you've had a meal!

One evening my wife and I were invited to dinner at a friend's house. This life-long resident of Maine had a pot of beans as part of the dinner. They were fantastic! The best beans I'd ever eaten.

Later as my wife helped wash the dishes, while vigorously scrubbing deep into the bottom of the bean pot, our hostess blurted out, "Hey! Don't ruin the bean pot!" What she meant by this was quite simple.

The bean pot was an antique that had been in the family for over a hundred years. This glazed, surface-cracked pot had been used by this woman's great-great-grandmother for her beans and by every mother since. The bean pot was like a seasoned iron skillet, a family heirloom. The stains, along with its crusty bottom and color differences, were permanent. Vigorously scrubbing and scouring it might result in breakage. The pot might become too clean. The inner heart of the pot which produced its unique family taste and flavor of beans might become forever destroyed. You see, it wasn't so much what went into this bean pot that mattered. What counted was the magical, almost mystical flavor that came out of this bean pot. That's what made it so very special.

This is what Jesus was basically saying to the Pharisees when they asked him about the disciples not washing their hands. Realizing how caught up in external religious rituals the Pharisees had become, Jesus said, "It's not what goes into one's body that counts but what comes out of one's heart." Jesus' words could easily have been, "Hey, don't ruin the bean pot!" In other words, don't make God's kingdom and love less than it is. Jesus was making it known that the religious leaders' passionate pursuit of ceremonial cleanliness was hindering their faith life. Their obsession with washing hands, cups, pots, bronze kettles, and just about everything else had become a real problem. A real faith-hindering problem. Their engaging in thousands of other trivial traditions had destroyed the people's ability to follow the commandments of God properly. No longer were they involved in loving others.

Jesus told them exactly how it was, using Isaiah's words, "This people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me" (Mark 7:6b).

Isn't it interesting? The problem that Isaiah and Jesus identified in people thousands of years ago remains the very same problem we have today. We, too, honor God with our lips while many times our hearts remain far from God. We, too, magnify rules and hold to traditions that aren't easy for us to give up. These same rules and hard to change or let go of traditions many times prevent us from being about and doing the very thing God calls upon us to do.

Jesus makes very clear what's most important if we are to have a healthy relationship to God and others. He says what matters most is not the external activity of what we do, like cleaning bean pots. What does matter most, however, is what comes forth from the inside of our heart.

We live in a world in some ways not much different than the world of Isaiah and Jesus. We, like the people of their time, are a people seeking and searching to be more spiritual. We honor God with our lips, and yet what we all seem to miss and really want is to have our hearts closer to God.

Jesus made an extremely profound statement for all persons of all times when he said, "The kingdom of God is within you." Repeat these words with me, "The kingdom of God is within you."

The point Jesus was making is that our spiritual relationship with God begins from deep inside our hearts. Our deeper, more spiritual relationship to God will come about only after we individually realize that change is needed. Not external change as the Pharisees and scribes tried to bring with all their washing rituals. Not change in those people different than us who we want to conform to our way of thinking and doing things. Change is needed within us. Internal change that takes place in the deepest part of our hearts. Your heart is the source of your spirituality. Your relationship and my relationship to God is simply a matter of the spirit and not a matter of our following a list of do's and don'ts. Approaching life and God in any other way other than through the Spirit tends to ruin the bean pot.

If I may take you back to the illustration of the magnifying glass for a moment, only after we were able to get the heart of the glass correctly positioned and properly focused on objects could we see clearly the wonders God's world had to reveal. Likewise, for each of us, it is only after we are able to get our hearts spiritually positioned and focused on God that we will be able to live faithfully according to God's will. When God is first in your hearts, God will be first in your life. When God is first in your life, then your every word and action will flow from your heart to others. When you allow God to become first, above all else, you will not only find the spiritual richness your life has been seeking, but you will discover the kingdom of God in your midst as Jesus proclaims and promises. And when that kingdom is discovered in your midst, life will become focused and God's will shall be clearly seen.