Mark
7:1-7 New International Version (NIV)
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the
law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some
of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, 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. 4 When 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.[a])
5 So 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
defiled hands?”
6 He 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.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’
In the previous chapter (Mark 6), thousands of people
rushed to Jesus to hear him teach, to be fed, and to be healed. But here the Pharisees came not to hear the Word of Life; instead,
they came to find fault—and they thought they found it. A decisive failing. They saw how Jesus’ disciples ate and in
their questioning implied that Jesus could not be a true prophet because he did
not uphold the tradition of the elders.
But Jesus did not quarrel with them.
Instead, He rebuked the Pharisees for the lack in their hearts.
The Pharisees tried to
find fault in Jesus in the name of holiness.
The tragedy of the Pharisees is that they couldn’t see that the one true
Holy God was standing right in front of them.
And so it is with us: the God who
calls us to follow is not the God we want.
Except these days we try
to pick God all apart according to what seems reasonable to ourselves. We have our doubts—serious misgivings—about this
God. So much the Bible tells us about
Him makes no sense to us. Some parts
even make us angry. The God we want, the
God that must be the most logical and real, is not the Christ Christians go on
and on about. We are so sure this Christ
is too primitive and barbaric for any modern and intelligent person to believe
in. Yet, there He is. And He deliberately isn’t measuring up.
So, we harbor our
doubts. Sometimes we hold on to them
like prized treasures. In certain times,
we even take them out and use them as weapons to rage against Heaven. And, like the Pharisees, we miss what is
standing right in front of us.
Many of us, from time to time, have found ourselves
sitting in the pew quietly reflecting on what hypocrites we are. If you get to a certain age, perhaps it will
quietly dawn on you that, whatever you may do, in one way or another a
hypocrite you’ll remain. We sing the
hymns and the liturgy; but our hearts speak falsely. We listen to the Word of God; but we live by
our own code. Surely, we think, Jesus would
have harsh words for us.
Yet Jesus comes to us and says “peace be to you”. The rank hypocrite you are and He says to
you “peace”. There is much to say about
all this and rest assured someone will.
But know this: Jesus didn’t come
to give us more rules—or, more in our case, more answers. He came to give Himself—and that is more than
enough.
Turn
my heart to you, my Lord. From dawn
until dawn, fill my spirit and thoughts with Your Word. Let me be as You to all I meet. Amen
