Unclean

Mark 7:1-30

It is a peculiar fact:  Jesus dealt with any number of sins in kindness and gentleness – but the Pharisees he treated with wrath and contempt.  Why is this?

The Holy Bible, New International Version

¹The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from
Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and ²saw some of his disciples eating food with
hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed. ³(The Pharisees and all the Jews do
not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the
tradition of the elders. ⁴When they come from the marketplace they do not eat
unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of
cups, pitchers and kettles.^£ )

⁵So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your
disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food
with ‘unclean’ hands?”

⁶He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it
is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁷They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.’^£

⁸You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of
men.”

⁹And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of
God in order to observe^£ your own traditions! ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your
father and your mother,’^£ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be
put to death.’^{£ 11}But you say that if a man says to his father or mother:
‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a
gift devoted to God), ¹²then you no longer let him do anything for his father or
mother. ¹³Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have
handed down. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and
understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into
him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’^£”

¹⁷After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him
about this parable. ¹⁸“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing
that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go
into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this,
Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)

²⁰He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ²¹For
from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and
folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

Unclean

This business of being unclean can be hard to understand.  Think of it this way:  it is the shadow of sin.  It is the portrayal of what sin is like.

Sin is caused by…

Being unclean is caused by any number of things in the Old Testament.  It is useful to classify them.

Crime and Punishment

Lest you think this to be something which is ceremonial only, remember that God gave these regulations to the Jews for a purpose.  We should have a sense of remaining clean, in God.

Passover and being unclean

In the Old Testament, Moses was confronted once with a tough theological problem.[2]  The Jews were commanded to celebrate the Passover.  But some of them came to Moses with the problem:  they were unclean because they had just buried someone.  Should they celebrate the Passover or not?

Moses passed the buck – to God.  God’s answer was that they should celebrate indeed – but on the same day the next month.  This shows us, in shadow, that the Christ (the Passover Lamb for all the world) is above the commands of the Law.

Diagnosis

How can we know if we are suffering from this disease of the Pharisees?  It’s not easy to tell;  especially if we’re talented at keeping up appearances.

The example

The example in the Scripture here needs a bit of explaining.  Corban means that which has been dedicated to God.  This had become quite a racket at the time (and it’s been used nicely since).  Often a man would decide upon a pious act of giving to the synagogue some property or money he owned.  As is common in our time, the gift could be made effective at the death of the owner.  To this day churches and religious institutions will solicit such charity.  The custom had arisen, however, that once this decision was made it was irrevocable. 

See the problem coming:  suppose I’m a young man with aged parents to support.  Suppose I think I have better things to do with the money.  By dedicating everything to God, I can use it my lifetime,  not be burdened with my parents – and still appear pious.

Most of us don’t have this problem today.

More general symptoms

There are four things you should look for in yourself, if you wish to discover this.  These four are the internal methods.

Examine the results

It’s an old categorization but still useful.

Why does Christ give us this list?  He wants us to examine our outward lives to see if these are present.  If so, it’s a certainty that your inward life is not right with him.  We see next:  what we can do about it.

The Cure is found in Christ

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.^£ He entered a house
and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.
²⁵In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was
possessed by an evil^£ spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek,
born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her
daughter.

²⁷“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to
take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

²⁸“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the
children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your
daughter.”

³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

The woman

The woman here is a model of one who truly seeks Christ.  This incident takes place in a different locale, but it appears to be a continuation of the previous thought.  At the very least, it follows logically.  The Pharisees got it wrong;  she got it right.

Self examination

Some questions to ask yourself: